Custom shirts - So you’re not the Prince of Wales who gets his bespoke (made-to-measure) shirts from Turnbull and Asser nor can you or would pay for such a service. Who cares anyway! There are ways you can fake the look of a custom shirt, but first you have find the right shirt to begin with--a canvas so to speak.
If you haven’t already, get measured for your shirt size. Any decent department store or suit retailer can do this for you. Sized shirts will allow you to find a shirt with neck size (measured in inches) and corresponding sleeve length (also measured in inches). Sometimes I find shirts that are sized small, medium, large and so on that have the right proportions and work well, but no matter what, just be sure to follow the five rules I have outlined below when shopping for your shirt.
1) Find a shirt that fits well in the neck and shoulders since it is the most important thing to look for in a shirt. The collar should be snug around the neck but not so much that you feel uncomfortable and the seam that connects the shoulder to the sleeve should come close to the end of your shoulder—this will allow it hang well.
2) Don’t buy a shirt that pulls across the chest.
3) On a nice shirt, seams should never pucker.
4) Be certain the sleeves are long enough, and if they are too long, no worries, they can easily be shortened.
5) And if a shirt rides back over the shoulders, forcing you to keep pulling it down in front, it doesn’t fit.
Now here’s the fun part. You’ve shopped around and made your selection, so the next thing to do is take it to a tailor. You might find that the store you bought your shirt from can provide tailoring services (and sometimes will do it for free) otherwise you can find a local tailor. The trick is to pull in the sides of the shirt or add darts in the back to give that custom fitted look. As I mentioned before, if the sleeves are too long, they can be shortened to fit like it was made just for you. And since you started out with a shirt that already fit well in the neck and shoulders, the end result is you look like you dropped a few coins for your custom shirt.
