I was casually looking at the Dover show shirts and most of them are $200… I just can’t wrap my mind around that for a glorified t-shirt with a collar!
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I’m with you. If it were the same shirt made for something other than equestrian, it would be a lot cheaper. Then again, the styles are mostly unique to riders. But seriously, it doesn’t cost that much to make, I’m pretty sure. Where are those companies that want to make show attire for “the rest of us”?
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Throw breeches and coats in there as well. Sooo expensive for what I feel like isn’t crazy material. I’m looking for a shadbelly that isn’t $500+
I’ll admit le fash is expensive but they do go on sale and you can find last years colors discounted. If anyone knows of any other form flattering, no frump shirts I’m in! I tried the romhf and Essexs ones but they make me feel like a shapeless blob.
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My show shirts are Cavallo and B Vertigo.
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The Dover CoolBlast show shirts are my favorite, great material and they go on sale pretty often
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Goode Rider have a show shirt which has a stand up collar which doesn’t overlap so you don’t feel like you are being strangled.
Can I ask the importance of the stand up collar?
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Rules: 1.5 Shirts and Neckwear. Shirts with tie, choker, stock tie, or integrated stand-up collar are required. Ties, chokers, or stock ties may be any color. If jackets or coats are not worn per DR 120.1.2 and DR 120.2.1, shirts may be any color, must have sleeves and a collar, and separate removable neckwear is prohibited. (See DR 120.3 Logos.)
You can wear a shirt with a regular collar and a tie if you want, but neckwear is prohibited if you’re not wearing a coat, so then you need the standup collar. 
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I don’t wear a show shirt at all - just a regular tank top in a moisture wicking fabric under my show jacket, covered up with a pre-tied stock tie and yes, I have a nice pin in mine. Only caveat is if jackets were waived due to heat you could not show in a collarless shirt like that. But I would always wear my jacket for the 6 minutes I’m in the ring, no matter the temperature. I like the mesh jackets like the AA Motionlite.
If you are in Canada, the store that carries the Elation brand has a budget friendly mesh jacket in several colours. Definitely navy and I think a very pretty pale blue too.
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I just came on here to type this very statement! And have gone one further- my dickie is cream and I wear it under one of those Elation jackets mentioned in dark hunter green (on a bay, not chestnut, but I think the colours would work, as would my ‘stock’ with a navy jacket).
Also, I just bought from Amazon, some 1/4 zip sun shirts with a stand up collar, for <$30Cdn. Now, they are long sleeved, and those sleeves aren’t vented, but they seemed cool enough and the few vented arm shirts I do have don’t seem to make a difference to my core heat, which is where I really want the venting 
. They come in about 20 different colours including navy.
Since you say you’re planning on showing bronze, you could get away with a long-sleeved shirt and a vest, not even a jacket. You just wouldn’t wear a stock and/or pin, I believe, but I haven’t read this or next years’ rules.
I couldn’t find a vest in my price range, so I went with the jacket and stock, but with these shirts I may restart a search for a suitable vest…
I have a few of this brand’s shirts (this one in burgundy and black and a long sleeve with mesh in all white) that I bought from Dover (looks like they no longer carry them). I like that the collar is low and stretchy and looser than any other shirt I’ve had (I must have a thick neck, I always felt like show shirts were choking me). You could even get away with not buttoning the collar as it buttons in the back. The burgundy color is very pretty in person. My colors are blue and black - I was so impressed with the burgundy I kept it even though it doesn’t “go” with my normal scheme. They are/ were very affordable when I got mine this spring.
If you show in a place where coats aren’t waived often, or won’t take your coat off even if they are waived, you can wear any shirt you want and just put a pre-tied stock tie with an attached panel underneath. Even some without the panel work fine because they fill up the space under your lapel.
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