How to Buy a Man's Custom Dress Shirt

How to check if your custom shirt fits?

While the shirt is buttoned, you should be able to slide two fingers between your neck and collar.

When you move your arm in your custom dress shirt, the sleeves should be long enough so that cuffs do not ride up your wrist.

The cuffs of your custom made shirt should just be tight enough that they do not hang over your hand. You should not be able to slip into shirt sleeves without first undoing buttons on the cuff.

To make sure your custom fitted shirt is comfortable and not too tight, check that the shirt does not pull uncomfortably across the shoulders, chest or waist.

Check the buttons of your custom shirt; they should be secure, no loose threads and well-placed with no gaping holes exposing your chest or waist.

To check the proper shirt length of your custom shirt, raise your arms and make sure that shirt tail does not come out of your pants.

Tip:

It takes up to 9 washings for a custom dress shirt to fully shrink. For this reason, make sure the collar of a brand new shirt has a half inch extra room or it will become too tight.

How to check the quality of a custom shirt?

Check the fabric content of your custom shirt. Finer dress shirts are made of two-ply, which make the fabrics stronger, softer and wrinkle less.

Inspect the seam running down the side of the shirt for smoothness and make sure it does not pucker. A high-quality custom shirt has only one line of stitching visible on the side seam, while most commercial shirts have two visible rows of stitches.

Examine shirt sleeve a couple of inches above the cuff for a gauntlet button that closes up the sleeve. A gauntlet button and a horizontally placed buttonhole also usually indicate good craftsmanship.

In Custom striped shirts, check how stripes are aligned. They should match making a straight line.

The collar of a great fitting custom shirt should be firm and crisp. It should not be limp and under no circumstances it should have any wrinkles or bubbles (puckering)

The design of the fabric should match where any two pieces of fabrics meet. For example where sleeves meet the shoulder.

A well made custom shirt should have removable stays or built in stays for a crisper and firm look.

The collar of a fine custom dress shirt should be constructed in two pieces and hand turned.

The buttons of a high quality custom shirt should be sewn with a cross locked stitch to ensure your buttons stay firmly attached. Tip:

Two-piece yoke

Top quality custom men's shirts have a two-piece yoke (the part that covers the shoulders). This creates more work but allows for a better fit and more natural drape.

For two decades Janine Giorgenti has dedicated her life