Fivefold Cotton Dress Shirt: Pentagons — Berry
Fivefold Cotton Dress Shirt: Pentagons — Berry
Giving it as a gift? Print its story card to tuck in with it.
Penrose’s first tiling: pentagons, stars and diamonds.
A never-repeating pattern: This pattern never settles into a repeating rhythm. Part of Fivefold, our family of never-repeating patterns built on the number five.
Five pentagons fit around a sixth, with a gap. In 1974, Roger Penrose showed that if you fill those gaps with three more shapes, a five-pointed star, a ‘boat’ that is three-fifths of a star, and a thin diamond, the result covers the plane forever without repeating.
The process to generate a tiling is recursive: Split every pentagon into six smaller ones, fill the gaps by the same rule, and the whole tiling can rebuild itself one size smaller.
Never-repeating tilings are important puzzles in computation, too: no computer program can always tell whether a given set of tiles will cover an endless floor; a geometric version of the halting problem.
Even simple rules can result in extraordinary complexity: Some tiles can fit together to cover a floor forever, but only if the pattern never repeats. This pattern is one beautiful example.
Who it’s for
With connections to geometry, computation and the structure of materials, this pattern will resonate with mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, materials scientists, architects and designers.
A formal shirt with a conversation in it: for conference talks, thesis defenses, interviews, weddings and dinners. A thoughtful gift for the scientist, engineer or programmer with great taste.
Love this design? Make it yours.
Your colours, your occasion: a keynote, a wedding party, matching shirts for your team. We'll create it with you, made just for you.
Custom colours from US$150 · new designs from US$500
Start a custom order →The Cotton Dress Shirt
- Lightweight 100% cotton (110 g).
- Long sleeves with buttoned cuffs, collar and a single chest pocket.
- Printed edge to edge, across collar, cuffs and pocket.
- European sizing: please check the size guide below before ordering.
- Wash by hand or on a gentle cycle below 45 °C. Do not soak or bleach.
- Not quite the right fit? Tell us within 30 days and we’ll make it right.
Size guide
Measurements around the body, in cm (inches). Allow 1–3 cm either way.
| Size | Length | Chest | Shoulder | Sleeve |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | 74 (29.1) | 108 (42.5) | 52 (20.5) | 61 (24.0) |
| M | 76 (29.9) | 114 (44.9) | 53.5 (21.1) | 62 (24.4) |
| L | 78 (30.7) | 120 (47.2) | 55 (21.7) | 63 (24.8) |
| XL | 80 (31.5) | 126 (49.6) | 56.5 (22.2) | 64 (25.2) |
| 2XL | 82 (32.3) | 132 (52.0) | 58 (22.8) | 65 (25.6) |
| 3XL | 83 (32.7) | 140 (55.1) | 60 (23.6) | 66 (26.0) |
| 4XL | 84 (33.1) | 148 (58.3) | 62 (24.4) | 67 (26.4) |
| 5XL | 85 (33.5) | 156 (61.4) | 64 (25.2) | 68 (26.8) |
| 6XL | 86 (33.9) | 164 (64.6) | 68 (26.8) | 69 (27.2) |
Every Zenzicube design is grown from a real piece of mathematics. Find more in the Mathematical Menagerie.