Collar stay

Plastic collar stay removed from shirt collar

Underside of a men's shirt collar showing removable collar stay

Metal collar stay are often used to replace plastic ones.

Adjustable-length collar stay

Collar stays (sometimes known as collar thingies, collar sticks, bones, knuckles, tabs, in the UK, collar stiffeners, and in Eastern Canada collar stiffs) are shirt accessories.

Collar stays are smooth, rigid strips of metal (such as brass, stainless steel, or sterling silver), horn, baleen, mother of pearl, or plastic, rounded at one end and pointed at the other, inserted into specially made pockets on the underside of a shirt collar to stabilize the collar's points. The stays ensure that the collar lies flat against the collarbone, looking crisp and remaining in the correct place. Often shirts come with plastic stays which may eventually need to be replaced if they bend; metal replacements do not have this problem.

Collar stays can be found in haberdashers, fabric- and sewing-supply stores and men's clothing stores. They are manufactured in multiple lengths to fit varying collar designs, or may be designed with a means to adjust the length of the collar stay.

There are also some brands that manufacture metallic collar stays with a magnet for keeping collar straight and stiff.

There now is a collar stay that is designed having a button hook on one end that helps with buttoning the small buttons on dress shirts.

Collar stays are removed from shirts before dry cleaning or pressing, as they could damage the shirt in the process, and then replaced prior to wearing. Shirts that are press ironed with the collar stays are vulnerable to damage, as this results in a telltale impression of the collar stay in the fabric of the collar. Some shirts have stays which are sewn into the collar and are not removable.