Placket

Run a finger down the button opening of a polo and the placket is the doubled-up strip you feel underneath — a reinforced panel, not just a row of holes punched through single-layer fabric. Most run 3 to 4 buttons and 3.5 to 5 inches long, backed with a second layer of fabric — sometimes fused with interfacing — so the opening keeps its shape wash after wash. Henleys typically run shorter, 2 to 3 buttons, and skip the interfacing since the knit underneath is usually lighter to begin with.

That extra layer directly limits decoration options: a left-chest logo has to clear this strip's width, which on a slim opening like Next Level's 3110 henley leaves more usable chest space than a wide one on a Port Authority K500 polo. Resizing a logo mid-run because nobody accounted for that panel eating into the left chest is a mistake we've made ourselves, more than once, before we started measuring plackets first.

When laying out a left-chest design on this kind of garment, measure from the placket's outer edge, not the center front seam, and keep embroidery at least a quarter inch clear of the topstitching so the needle doesn't have to punch through doubled fabric. Contrast-color versions, common on retail-styled polos, also rule out tone-on-tone prints that would otherwise blend into the body color.

Buyers sometimes assume any button-front opening qualifies, but a full button-down shirt front isn't one — a placket specifically refers to the short, reinforced opening at the neckline of a pullover garment, not a shirt that opens all the way down the front.