About this gallery

Drake’s makes some of the most admired menswear around, and its archive is full of pieces that are no longer sold, or never came in your size. Proper Cloth makes shirts, trousers and tailoring to measure from a large library of cloth, with most details open to choice. This gallery joins the two: for each Drake’s piece that Proper Cloth can approach, it shows the closest Proper Cloth design.

How it was made

Drake’s catalogue, current and archived, was read piece by piece. For each piece the nearest Proper Cloth cloth was chosen by colour, pattern, weave and weight, and every design option Proper Cloth offers was set to follow the original: collar, cuffs, placket, pockets, yoke and buttons on shirts; style, pockets, fly, waistband and hem on trousers; construction, lapels, pockets, vents and buttons on jackets. Cloths with stretch, gloss or a large share of synthetic fibre were left out, as were fused jacket constructions.

Each shirt page leads with Proper Cloth’s own drawing of the design, as its shirt designer draws it, and each trouser or jacket page with Proper Cloth’s photograph of the model in the chosen cloth. The Drake’s original follows, for comparison: the Proper Cloth version follows its spirit, with Proper Cloth’s own pockets, collars and construction.

Before you order

Get the sizing right. Everything here is made to measure, and the result depends on the measurements you give. Read Proper Cloth’s sizing guidance carefully, measure a garment that already fits you well, and consider starting with a single piece before ordering several.

It is not Drake’s. Drake’s cloths are often woven for Drake’s alone, and that cloth is much of what makes a Drake’s piece. Proper Cloth has very good cloth of its own, but it is different cloth. Each page says plainly what carries over and what does not.

Shirts open ready to order. The button on a shirt page opens Proper Cloth’s designer with the cloth and every detail already set; you choose your size and add it to your basket. Trousers and jackets open on the right Proper Cloth model in the right cloth; the page lists what to set in its Customize drawer.

Favourites and collections

The heart on any design keeps it in your favourites, in this browser. With an account they follow you to any device, and you can sort designs into collections. An account holds a username, an email address and those lists, and nothing else; it uses one cookie to keep you signed in, and you can download or delete it from its settings at any time.

Not affiliated

This is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Drake’s or Proper Cloth, and it earns nothing from either. Drake’s and Proper Cloth images are shown from their own websites and belong to them.