[Diversification]

Hi guys, I was hoping to get some suggestions on the best places to look for slim fit, tapered shirts. I am tired of shirts that fit my chest but only have a 1"-3" drop/taper from chest to waist. I understand tailoring ill fitting shirts or going bespoke is an option, but I'd like to have some OTR options.

I am looking for dress shirts, sport shirts and polos.

My measurements:

• Height = 6' 1"
• Neck = 16.5"
• Sleeve = 36"
• Chest = 41" - 42"
• Waist = 34" - 35"
• Thin arms

Obviously, my drop is about 7" - 8", so a 1" - 3" taper on a shirt leaves too much excess fabric (I am fairly lean so my stomach doesn't expand out much when I sit down.) As I start going to the gym I expect my drop the get even larger as my upper back and chest expand and my waist sheds inches.

For details about my personal experiences, see the following post.

 

[Diversification]

Dress shirt experiences:

• I have recently purchased TM Lewin Fully Fitted shirts (16.5" neck / 36" sleeve). They work pretty well, but still could be an 1 - 3 inches slimmer through the chest and waist to fit better. The arms could be about half an inch longer and I fear that they'll shrink and be too short after a wash or two. The cuffs could be a bit tighter as well. They unfortunately also wrinkle at the elbow extremely quickly.

• I have also tried Charles Tyrwhitt Tailored shirts (16.5" neck and 36" sleeve). They are slightly looser through the chest, waist and arms than the TM Lewins, yet the collar is tighter. The cuffs are so tight that I can't take the shirts on and off with them buttoned (not good). The poplin material on these feels thinner and inferior to the TM Lewin poplin shirts, but the twill is thicker and more luxurious than TM Lewin's twill.

Sport shirts:
I have been looking for more casual shirts to wear outside of work (think dress shirts with more casual patterns, colors and perhaps different materials and constructions). I don't need to get the neck spot on like I do with dress shirts: even if I wear a tie with a more casual shirt, the top button will be undone. What I've found is that casual shirts are even MORE geared towards thicker ppl: I'm still window shopping b/c it seems impossible to find find any sport shirts that will fit me closely. Just because it's not being worn with a tie doesn't mean that they should add 3+ inches to the chest/waist/arms! :mad2:

Polo experiences:
I have begun attempting to reform my summer wardrobe: I see myself sticking mainly with polos in warm weather. Although I have had luck finding polos that will fit my chest, most of them seem to maintain the same width from the chest through the waist (and some even expand in the waist!) Also, for someone like me with quite slim arms, it's important that the sleeves not be too large: if the arm opening is bigger than my arms by more than an inch, it makes my arms look even smaller and makes it look ill fitting. Ideally it would be tight against my arms.

 

[godan]

Before you spend serious money on very high end shirts, try LE tailored fit, BB slim fit and RL custom fit.

 

[smujd]

BB slim fit, Rugby, J. Crew.

 

[PMRuby]

for polos, RL makes something called a "custom fit," which I've worn almost exclusively for the past 3 years or so. probably want to go up a size from your normal one, though.

 

[Leighton]

RL custom fit or Lacoste whatever its called polos work for me. I have a 10" drop and while the actual shirt just drops straight down more or less, it looks a lot better when worn. Although the chest is kind of small.

LE tailored fit polos also work. As do J Crews.

 

[StephenRG]

BB slim fit

I think "BB extra slim fit" is better. BB slim fit is slim only relative to their regular spinnaker-like fit.