Johnny collar

The johnny collar is built the same way as a standard polo collar — a self-fabric or pique knit band folded flat around the neckline — but drops the button placket entirely, leaving a plain open V at the front. That means one less set of buttonholes and interfacing to sew, which shows up as a small but real cost and time savings on bulk uniform orders compared to a full placket polo.

Retailers and uniform suppliers spec the johnny collar mainly on women's-cut polos and knit tops — Devon & Jones and Port Authority both carry ladies' styles in this cut — as a softer, less structured alternative for front-desk or hospitality staff who don't need the placket's formality. For decorators, the open collar means there's no button stack to route embroidery around, so a left-chest logo can sit exactly where it would on a men's polo without adjustment.

Buyers building mixed men's-and-women's uniform programs should expect the johnny collar's fabric and colorway to match the men's placket polo from the same line, since suppliers usually offer both cuts from a single fabric run, keeping a team's look consistent even though the collar construction differs.

The mistake we catch is customers assuming "johnny collar" means collarless — it isn't a crew or henley substitute, it's a full flat knit collar without buttons, and treating it as a plain tee neckline in a spec sheet leads to a garment mismatch when the order arrives.