As nice as some of them can be, most inexpensive dress shirts are sized in the very general small, medium, large, extra-large and even double-extra categories. Some purveyors have refined slightly further with slim fits. This is all fine if you happen to be the exact sample size of a S, M, L or XL. But a proper dress shirt has more exact size measurements, specifically in the neck and sleeve.
While most properly-sized shirts can be much more costly than a $40 S/M/L/XL shirt, dress shirt maker Paul Fredrick has made the process (and purchase) more accessible. They are currently running an introductory offer through the end of April 2012 of up to four white pinpoint oxford dress shirts for each new customer. Options include your choice of collar (get a traditional straight collar) and a choice of barrel or French cuffs. As an added bonus, they’re even throwing in monograming on the cuff or breast pocket at no extra charge. You can have your choice of three different typefaces (block, diamond or script) in one of twelve different colors.
The best part? These Paul Fredrick shirts ordinarily run for $50, and the monogram costs an additional $10. In the introductory offer, each shirt is $20, including the collar, cuff and monogram.
For those who’ve been living with S/M/L/XL shirt sizing, Paul Fredrick has produced a brief and informative video on how to measure yourself for a shirt. Watch it here:
Like any shirt, these will shrink within a few washings. Paul Fredrick has accounted for this and deliberately “upsized” the shirts by about a half an inch, which means that they should be slightly large when you put them on right out of the package. After the first few washings, the requisite shrinkage will bring them down to your proper size.
2 Comments
I tried PF. Unfortunately they don’t fit. I ordered my sleeves to the right length and they came out perfect. I ordered my collar size an inch bigger and it came out as expected. I ordered the trim shirt and the lower torso fits perfect. Unfortunately the shoulder seems are significantly on top of my shoulders and the shoulders are too tight.
PF suggestion is to order the shirt with yet another inch on the collar to make the shoulders fit better. Yet to their admittance this will make the collar look funny and be too baggy lower.
Do you have any suggestions for shirts that fit swimmers with big shoulders?
Hi, Bob… I’m sorry to hear about that. No, you should not have to endure a larger neck size, which would not look right. Fortunately, PF has a solid return policy, of which you should take full advantage. Another ready-to-wear shirtmaker you might want to try is Charles Tyrwhitt. They also have a solid return policy if the shirts don’t work out. Finally, a slam-dunk Plan B is to go custom. For reasonably-priced and very well-made custom shirts, try Indochino. Sure, they’re not quite a “4 shirts for $199” deal, but as custom goes, they’re extraordinarily reasonable. I’m both a customer and a fan. Let me know how it goes. George