Why The Cuban Collar Shirt Is Summer 2026’s Smartest Holiday Buy

For something that started life on Caribbean beaches in the 1940s, the cuban collar shirt has had an unusually long second act in British fashion. It has cycled through revival, parody and quiet ubiquity, and as of spring 2026 it is back at the top of the list every UK retailer wants you to be tempted by. The cuban collar shirt is no longer a one-week-in-Mallorca curiosity. It has become the shape British shoppers are quietly defaulting to whenever the temperature inches above twenty degrees, and the high street has finally caught up with the demand.

The interesting thing is how unobtrusively it has happened. There has been no breathless launch moment, no Bottega tribute or Loewe campaign single-handedly responsible. Instead the shirt has crept back into the mainstream through a thousand smaller signals: Uniqlo expanding its camp collar range three times, M&S putting one on its homepage in early May, Cos turning a cropped women’s version into a viral lookbook image. By the time the bank holiday weekend hit, it was clear the shirt had quietly become summer 2026’s most considered holiday buy.

What a cuban collar shirt actually is

The cuban collar shirt is a short-sleeved (occasionally long-sleeved) buttoned shirt with an open, notched lapel-style collar that sits flat against the chest. There is no top button. The collar points fold outward in a small V at the throat, which is what gives it its relaxed, slightly retro look. Tailors will also call it a “camp collar” or, in its boxier guayabera form, a “Cuban shirt.” All three names describe roughly the same thing.

It is not a polo shirt. Polos have a placket of two or three buttons, ribbed collars and trims, and a fitted cut designed for sport. The cuban collar shirt has none of that. It is also distinct from a standard summer shirt, which has a closed collar designed to be worn buttoned to the throat with a tie. The cuban version is drafted to be worn open. Buttoning it up looks wrong, which is part of why it has earned such loyal followers among men who have always found dress shirts a bit fussy.

Why summer 2026 is the moment it has gone fully mainstream

Three things have happened at once. The first is the slow drift away from the gym-aesthetic, body-conscious silhouette that dominated men’s fashion through the late 2010s. As British Vogue’s spring trend coverage noted, the dominant shape this year is loose, dropped-shoulder and a touch deliberately too-big, and the cuban collar shirt was practically engineered for it.

The second is the quiet-luxury crossover. The look that came out of the Loro Piana corner of the wardrobe a couple of years ago, all neutral linens and unfussy tailoring, has filtered down hard. The camp collar shirt is the everyday version of that aesthetic – elevated enough to wear with a linen trouser to a garden party, casual enough to wear with shorts on holiday.

The third is the women’s market. Cuban collar shirts have always sold to men, but the menswear-cut, oversized women’s version is where the real growth is. Trade publication Drapers has flagged camp-collar women’s shirts as one of the standout categories for high street womenswear this spring, with several UK retailers reporting double-digit sell-through. ME+EM, Arket and & Other Stories have all expanded their offer.

The fabrics that actually work in a British summer

This is where most cuban collar shirts get decided. The wrong fabric kills the shape. The right one carries it for years.

Linen is the obvious choice and the one most people will reach for. Look for a mid-weight linen of around 180 to 220 GSM – heavier than a handkerchief, lighter than a jacket weight. Pure linen will crease, and that is the point; a too-stiff linen never relaxes into the collar properly. If creasing genuinely bothers you, a linen-cotton blend in something like 55/45 gives most of the texture with a little more recovery.

Cotton seersucker is the underrated alternative. The puckered texture lifts the fabric off the skin and stops it from sticking in the way a smooth cotton will, which matters when you are walking around a UK city in twenty-eight degrees and no air conditioning. Viscose and rayon versions feel lovely in the shop but tend to cling and discolour at the underarms; skip them unless they are blended with something more breathable. Polyester deserves no place in this category at all.

How to style a cuban collar shirt without looking like you are going to a foam party

The single biggest mistake people make is pairing the cuban collar shirt with bottoms that are too relaxed. The shirt is itself a loose, open garment; if you put it with baggy shorts or drawstring linen trousers, the whole outfit floats away from you and starts to look like beach pyjamas. The fix is to anchor it with something with at least one clean line.

For most people that means a tailored chino, a pleated cotton trouser, or a proper linen trouser with a defined waistband. On warmer days, a tailored bermuda short works in a way that swim-style shorts do not – the longer line and structured waistband balance the shirt’s looseness.

Footwear matters more than people think. A leather loafer, a suede driving shoe or a quietly preppy boat shoe all read correctly. White trainers are fine if the rest of the outfit is structured. Flip-flops or pool slides drag the whole thing into beach territory unless you are actually on a beach, in which case carry on.

The cuban collar shirt for women

The women’s version is having a slightly different moment. Two cuts dominate. The first is the oversized menswear cut, worn open over a vest or a slip dress, sleeves rolled, sometimes knotted at the hip. The second is a slightly cropped, more structured women’s-fit version, which sits between a shirt and a blouse and reads cleaner with high-waisted trousers or denim.

Both work, but neither flatters everybody equally. The oversized cut wants a defined waistline somewhere in the outfit, whether that is a high-waisted short, a wide-leg trouser pulled tight at the waist, or a small belt cinch. Without it, the volume can stack and add bulk through the middle. The cropped version is the easier pick for petite frames, and it lifts a basic jeans-and-loafer combination into something that looks intentional. Sleeveless cuban collar shirts, where the silhouette stays but the short sleeve is cut away, are everywhere this season and worth considering if you run warm.

Where to buy on the UK high street right now

For under £40, M&S, Uniqlo and H&M all have credible camp collar shirts in seasonal patterns and solid linen blends. Uniqlo’s Linen Blend Open Collar Short Sleeve Shirt is the best value in the category and turns up in actual fashion editor wardrobes despite the price.

In the £50 to £100 range, Cos, Arket and & Other Stories cover both menswear and womenswear with cleaner cuts and better fabric weights. Arket’s heavyweight linen camp collar tends to sell out in the prettier colours by early June, so do not dither if you have spotted one.

Above £100, Sunspel, Drake’s, Reiss and Percival sit in the proper-investment bracket. These will keep their drape and colour through several seasons of UK summers, and the cut on a Drake’s or Sunspel cuban collar shirt is noticeably better than anything on the high street. For women, ME+EM, Toast and Boden have all gone deeper on the category this season; ME+EM’s longline linen version is the sleeper pick of the spring.

The styling mistakes to avoid

A handful of small errors will let down an otherwise good shirt. Buttoning it all the way up is the most common – the shirt is drafted to sit open at the throat, and forcing the collar closed turns it into an awkward facsimile of a Sunday-best shirt your father owned in 1994. At the other extreme, undoing more than one button below the collar is not a styling decision, it is a Eurovision interval act. One button below the open notch is the right answer.

Avoid tucking it. Almost every cuban collar shirt is cut with a straight, slightly cropped hem that is meant to sit untucked. Tucking it bunches the fabric at the waist and pulls the collar out of its natural position. The exception is the women’s cropped version, which is designed to be tucked or half-tucked, and the longer-line guayabera, which can take a French tuck on a tailored trouser.

Be careful with the print. A bold ditsy floral on a viscose camp collar can absolutely work, but a busy print on a cheap fabric will read like fancy-dress within an hour. If you are buying your first one, start with a solid stone, ecru, mid-blue or chocolate brown. Build up to the prints once you know the shape suits you.

A final word

The cuban collar shirt has become the most relaxed thing in a British wardrobe that still looks deliberate. It is the rare summer item that gives you somewhere to land between a t-shirt, which says nothing, and a proper shirt, which can say too much. After three or four seasons of trying to make tailored shorts and slim shirts work in heatwaves they were not designed for, British shoppers seem to have finally accepted that summer dressing needs to be both light and a little bit ugly in the right way. The camp collar is exactly that compromise.

If you already own one, the question is whether you trust it in a print this year, or stay with the solid you have learned to wear. Which way are you leaning?