Onam Printed Shirts for Men, Designed Around the Festival

An Onam printed shirt for men should look like it belongs to the season. Too many festive shirts are ordinary holiday prints with a seasonal label attached, and you can tell within seconds of putting one on. Every design in this collection takes its name from the festival and the Malayalam calendar, and the artwork follows from there. Thiruvonam and Uthradam mark the days the whole season builds towards. Chingam opens the Malayalam year. Ponnonam is the season at its richest. Keraliyam, Kalabham, Nandanam and Mandara draw on the colour of a Kerala home during Athapookalam week, when the floor is covered in flowers and nothing in the house is understated. Each print sits on a Cuban collar, which lies open and flat at the neck instead of buttoning up stiffly. That relaxed shape suits a day spent sitting on the floor for sadya and moving between houses.

What Makes a Kerala Style Shirt for Men Different

There is a real difference between a Kerala style shirt for men and a shirt that happens to be sold in Kerala. The difference usually comes down to restraint. Onam prints go wrong when they try to say everything at once, and it is tempting to crowd a shirt with elephants, snake boats and Kathakali faces until none of it registers. We design and print from Trivandrum, and our Experience Centres in Marthandam, Chennai and Bangalore put the work in front of people who grew up with the festival. Their reactions shape what we keep. For plenty of men the standard is still a mundu with a plain shirt, and that will always look right. What has changed is that a printed shirt now sits comfortably beside it. A half sleeve print with a kasavu mundu works for the morning, and the same shirt over dark denim carries into the evening.

Half Sleeve, Full Sleeve, Regular and Oversized

Buying an Onam shirt for men online usually goes wrong at the fit, so we have kept the choices simple. Every print comes in half sleeve and full sleeve, and in regular and oversized. Half sleeve is the sensible pick for the humidity, especially if you will be helping in the kitchen or serving. Full sleeve photographs better and holds up in air conditioned halls and office celebrations. Regular fit follows the body with enough room to move and pairs cleanly with a mundu. Oversized drops the shoulder seam and sits looser through the chest and waist, which is what most college students and men in their twenties are looking for. Sizes run from 22 through 52, so the chart on the product page matters more than the size you usually order. Measure a shirt you already own across the chest and match it to ours.

Matching Onam Shirts for Men, Women and Boys

Every design here exists in a men's and a women's version, each cut on its own pattern rather than resized from a single one. Coordinated family dressing becomes possible without one person ending up in something that fits badly. The range starting at size 22 also means Onam shirts for boys are the same prints their fathers and uncles are wearing, in sizes actually made for them. This is where most searches for a boys' Onam shirt end in disappointment, since the usual options are either shrunken adult shirts or cartoon prints. Some designs are produced in limited runs and sell through before the season ends, so it is worth deciding early if you want matching pieces across a family, a group of friends or an office team. You can also see the prints in person at any of our four Experience Centres before you commit.