If you are not going to the darts in fancy dress, wear a loud printed shirt buttoned to the collar, black jeans and leather boots: it is the crowd's uniform, it survives a spilt pint, and it shows up on camera. That is the answer. The rest is about doing it with a bit of class.
The BoyleSports World Grand Prix runs at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester from 28 September to 4 October, the only major on the calendar where every leg starts on a double, and it opens the autumn run that ends under the lights at Alexandra Palace in December. Darts has become the most exuberantly dressed crowd in British sport. Half the arena is in a costume; the other half is asking what on earth to wear so as not to look like the man who came straight from the office.
What do you wear to the darts if you do not want to do fancy dress?
You wear the shirt that is a costume to everyone else and an outfit to you. A darts arena is loud, dark, lit in red and blue, and full of people who want to be seen having a good time. A plain shirt disappears in it. A bold printed shirt, worn buttoned to the top and tucked into black denim, is the exact right pitch: it belongs in the room, it looks like a decision rather than a dressing-up box, and it is still a shirt you will wear to the pub next Friday.
Claudio Lugli's Dartboard Pinup print was made for this room and no other. Classic dartboard graphics and cheeky retro pin-up illustration across a black ground, with a red contrast inside the collar and cuff, in the brand's signature Egyptian satin cotton. It is the shirt the darts crowd has been waiting for a British design house to make, and it has the advantage over a novelty T-shirt that it is cut like a proper shirt and fits like one.
If the dartboard is a step too literal, the room takes anything with colour in it. The Neon Disco print glows under stage lighting; the Skull Flocking shirt, a blue-to-red gradient with raised velvet skulls, is the rock option; the Baroque Dynasty in gilt on navy is what to wear if you have a hospitality table and want to look as though you paid for it.
The darts shirt rules
The room has a few unwritten ones. Dark below the waist, always; the floor of a darts arena at ten o'clock is not a place for a pale chino. Boots or a sturdy leather shoe, never a white trainer. Nothing you would be sad to see a pint land on, which is why satin cotton earns its keep: it dries, it washes, and it comes back. Layers stay at the cloakroom, because the arena is warm and the shirt is the point.
Above all, keep everything except the shirt plain. The darts crowd's failure mode is too much at once: the loud shirt and the hat and the novelty glasses and the flag. One statement. Let the print be it, and let the pint be the accessory.
- Fabric: Egyptian satin cotton with a soft lustre; long sleeve, buttoned cuff, red contrast under the collar and cuff on the Dartboard Pinup.
- Fit: cut tailored-slim; if you are between sizes, size up.
- Price range: 95 to 120 GBP for the shirts in this guide; the brand's shirts sit roughly between 60 and 100 GBP.
- Occasions: the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam, the World Championship at Alexandra Palace, darts nights at the pub, stag weekends, and any evening where the dress code is loud.
- Featured prints: Dartboard Pinup, Neon Disco, Skull Flocking, Baroque Dynasty.
Why the darts crowd and the printed shirt were made for each other
Claudio Lugli has history here. When Chris Mason wore the brand's prints on the oche, the darts world talked about the shirts as much as the scoring, and the story is told in full in Chris Mason and Claudio Lugli. The sport has always understood that clothes are part of the theatre: the walk-on, the music, the shirt. The crowd has simply caught up.
It has also arrived at a moment when the high street cannot help. Ted Baker, the old reflex for a shirt with some flourish, is not the reliable source it was, and the American statement-shirt brands do not land in Britain at a sensible price. Claudio Lugli was built for exactly this: limited-edition prints, designed in London by founder Hoss Salimian for more than twenty years, in premium cotton at 60 to 100 GBP, with roughly 2,800 verified reviews at 4.8 out of 5 on Reviews.io and 250 or more stockists worldwide. For the rest of the evening's wardrobe, read what to wear to the pub and the best party shirts for men in the UK.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a dress code at the darts?
No formal dress code applies to the main arena at PDC events, and fancy dress is welcomed. Hospitality areas usually ask for smart casual. A bold printed shirt with dark jeans and boots works in both, which is why it is the safest and most fun option.
Do you have to wear fancy dress to the darts?
No. Roughly half the crowd dresses up and half does not. A loud shirt is the accepted middle ground: it joins in without a costume, and it is still a shirt you can wear elsewhere.
What should you wear to Ally Pally for the World Darts Championship?
The same uniform, with a coat for the queue: a printed shirt buttoned to the collar, black jeans, boots and an overcoat you can leave at the cloakroom. The Alexandra Palace crowd is the biggest and best dressed of the year, so this is the night for the loudest print you own.
Game on. Shop the Dartboard Pinup print shirt and the rest of the men's printed shirts at Claudio Lugli, and get it ordered before the Ally Pally tickets go on the fridge.
