This startup is using its expertise in activewear to make a lightweight, stretchy, and comfortable performance dress shirt - and it's worth the $118 price tag

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Rhone

• Popular men's activewear brand Rhone is now making performance dress shirts.
• The Rhone Commuter Dress shirt features a lightweight, breathable, four-way stretch material that resists wrinkles, wicks moisture, and dries quickly. It's also machine washable, so you'll never have to dry clean it.
• The dress shirt is just as comfortable and stretchy as some of my favorite Rhone T-shirts. While I don't have a reason to, I'm positive that I could complete my workouts just as easily in the Commuter Dress Shirt.
• Priced at $118, Rhone Commuter Dress Shirt is a pretty solid value.

Sticking to a formal or even a semi-formal dress code every day of the week is a task in and of itself. Spending an abundance of time ironing dress shirts only for them to get wrinkled before arriving at work, having to spend hours of the day trying to ignore a constricting fit and egregious pit stains, and always having a bill at the dry cleaner are just some of the everyday struggles some of us deal with.

While men of yesteryear (and those who have yet to see the light) had no choice but to simply deal with it, modern performance dress shirts have helped alleviate or resolve some of those issues. The premise is simple: by using a lighter, stretchier material, you can make a more comfortable, wrinkle-resistant shirt - and scores of brands have come out with their own versions using that basic formula.

But Rhone, a men's activewear brand, is using its experience with sportswear to make a new performance dress shirt that exceeds most options on the market in terms of quality and value. The Rhone Commuter Dress Shirt features a lightweight and breathable four-way stretch fabric from Italy that naturally resists wrinkles, wicks moisture, and dries quickly.

Rhone

What it's like to wear

I regularly wear Rhone's workout clothes to the gym because its activewear has those same properties, so I had to try the new dress shirt as both a service to you and part of my own personal quest for comfort. The shirt came cleverly packaged in a garment bag with a note saying "This is the last time you'll see this dress shirt in a dry cleaner's bag."

So, I accepted the challenge. I immediately took it out of the packaging, balled it up, and stuffed it in my backpack. The next morning, I took it out of my bag and it passed the wrinkle-free test. It came out completely ready to wear and I'm usually very particular about ironing out creases even if shirts have non-iron or wrinkle-resistant labels.

My first impression when putting it on was that the overall feel is strikingly similar to my favorite T-shirts from the company. While comparing a $118 Italian dress shirt to any T-shirt might sound like a bad thing, it's a major compliment in terms of comfort. Among the various performance dress shirts I've worn, Rhone's is definitely one of the stretchiest. I'm positive that I could complete all of my usual workouts in the Commuter Dress Shirt, although I don't have a real reason to try. However, it kept me cool, dry, and comfortable during my long commute to New York City and throughout the entire day.

Rhone/Amir Ismael/Business Insider

The Rhone Commuter Dress Shirt features hidden collar buttons and a more than enough stretch to keep you comfortable all day long.

The bottom line

Another thing that makes this dress shirt impressive is the price. At $118, its cheaper than a handful of our favorite performance dress shirts, and, in my opinion, it's a better-performing shirt. After all, Rhone had been making activewear long before venturing into workwear styles like this.

Let's be clear: $118 is still a lot of money for a dress shirt, but if you need to wear a clean and crisp dress shirt every day of the week - not just once in a blue moon - then it's absolutely worth the money. You'll save yourself the from the headache of ironing shirts or taking constant trips to the cleaners and you'll be comfortable all the time.

Right now, Rhone only offers the Commuter Dress Shirt in two styles (blue stripes and blue micro check), but I'll be adding more to my closet as soon as more colors are released.

Rhone Commuter Dress Shirt, $118, available in two colors

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