No, this isn't about bestselling author E.L. James' book, it's about my new&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Anvil-1202-Cotton-Deluxe-Henley-Tee-Shirt/dp/B0002FHFWY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Anvil 1202 Cotton Deluxe Henley Tee Shirt</a>, which I did order in grey. It's only one shade, Heather Grey, not fifty.

No complaints about this shirt at all. Ordered it as a XL intentionally, knowing that even though it's listed as preshrunk, they can and usually will shrink a bit after a few washes. Mine came in as a 90/10 cotton/poly shirt, made in Honduras, and after a few washes it's now softer and more comfortable, as expected. It's now a men's large, with just the right amount of wrinkles to look comfortably casual.

There's a legend about these shirts where some think they were initially designed by Don Henley, the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971-1980, when the band broke up. Maybe that legend came from the first track of the&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Actual-Miles-Henley-s-Greatest-Hits/dp/B001NYTWYM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits</a>&nbsp;album, released in 1995, but in any case it's just a legend, and not a fact.

The actual fact is this: the Henley shorts were so named because this particular style of shirt was the traditional uniform of rowers in the English town of Henley-on-Thames. Regarding their popularity since the 1970s, that's simple as well. In his biography&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Genuine-Authentic-The-Real-Life-of-Ralph-Lauren/dp/0060958480/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren</a>, journalist Michael Gross quotes a New York merchant who recalled showing a vintage shirt to a Ralph Lauren buyer: "I showed this fellow underwear---a three-button long-sleeve shirt by Johnstown Knitting Mills. He said, 'This is a new shirt.' That's where he got the idea for the Henley shirt." It's all there on page 22 in the hardbound edition... and now you know the real story.

The shirt is good and it's quite comfortable, and you really can't ask for much more than that. Highly recommended, and I will be back for more.

7/28/2012