Dutch East India Company Men's Sport Polo Shirt

Product Details & Size Guide

GhostCorp Apparel - resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Bring Dutch corporate history into everyday style with this Dutch East India Company men's sport polo shirt. Founded in 1602, the VOC became known for its Asian trade network, with Batavia serving as its headquarters from 1619. Its commercial story reached from Amsterdam to trading bases across Asia and the Cape of Good Hope, before the charter expired in 1799. A distinctive pick for collectors and history enthusiasts, it reflects a company whose legacy connects early global commerce with a complex colonial past.

The United East India Company, widely known as the Dutch East India Company or VOC, was established on 20 March 1602 when the States General of the Netherlands amalgamated existing companies. Its charter granted a 21-year monopoly on Dutch trade in Asia and powers that included making treaties, maintaining armies, and establishing colonies. The company began with the aim of profiting from the Malukan spice trade. In 1619, after taking Jayakarta, it established Batavia as its Asian headquarters; the city is now Jakarta. It developed trading bases across Asia and beyond, including at the Cape of Good Hope, where a resupply station was founded in 1652. The VOC traded in spices and later expanded into goods such as tea, coffee, cotton, textiles, and sugar. In the late 18th century, declining trade, rising costs, corruption, and wartime losses weakened the company. After the Dutch Republic was replaced by the Batavian Republic in 1795, its management was reorganized. The company’s charter expired on 31 December 1799, and its possessions and debt passed to the government of the Batavian Republic.

	S	M	L	XL	2XL	3XL
Width, in	20.25	21.75	23.75	24.75	26.25	28.25
Length, in	29.00	30.00	31.00	32.00	33.00	33.50
Sleeve Length (from center back), in	18.50	19.25	20.00	20.75	21.50	22.25