| Common Questions About Custom Shirts:
Why should I buy custom shirts?
Properly proportioned custom shirts have the most dramatic impact on upgrading your appearance of any purchase you can make.
The most important benefit of wearing custom shirts is to make your face look good. Your face is framed by your tie and collar of your shirt. The design of the collar below the face has a significant impact on the way the face shape is perceived. A skilled custom shirt maker evaluates an individual’s face shape, length of the neck, and personal style to create a collar that is most appropriate.
Secondly there is generally no correlation between the size of a man’s neck and the size of his chest. Ready to wear shirt makers don’t have a choice. As the neck size increases they must increase the fit of the body. This creates a lot of ill-fitting shirts.
How do I know the shirt will fit?
We take up to 25 measurements and digital pictures of our clients that we send to our shirt makers. We guarantee a comfortable fit. With clients who are difficult to fit or want to place a large initial order, we recommend making one or two shirts first before placing the rest of the order.
Do all my shirts have to be the same?
Absolutely not. We offer over 600 fabrics in our custom shirt program. You can vary the collar, cuff, button closures, monograms and other details at will.
How much do the shirts cost? Is there a minimum order requirement?
The cost of the shirt is determined by the quality of the fabric and options chosen. Our shirts range from $98 for our most basic fabrics to $300 on fabrics from some of our European mills. Additional options such as Perry Ellis pleated sleeves, mitre collars and cuffs, and monograms can add to the cost of the shirt.
Once the pattern is established our shirt makers require a minimum order of 4 shirts per order.
How do I take care of my shirts?
Most custom shirts are made with fine all cotton fabrics. We recommend they be professionally laundered where they will be pressed on commercial machines that will give them a professional finish. Some clients choose to wash their shirts at home and hand iron them. This is time consuming and it takes a skilled use of the iron to give make them look good.
For shirts that are commercially laundered we recommend the use of light or no starch. Starch chemicals degrade cotton, so heavily starched shirts will cause the fabric to breakdown.
What about shrinkage?
Custom shirts are made with a shrinkage allowance in the collar, shoulder yoke, cuffs, and sleeve length. The first time you have your shirt laundered most of the shrinkage will come out. We recommend clients have their new shirts laundered prior to the first wearing to allow the shirt to shrink to its appropriate size.
If your shirts are laundered appropriately, after 3 to 4 launderings the shirt will stabilize. There will be minimal shrinkage with future use. Unfortunately to speed production some commercial laundries steam press shirts at temperatures exceeding 325 degrees which is much higher than the recommended setting (280 degrees). This will cause the shirt to continue to shrink and can cause bleeding in dark colors.
How long will custom shirts last?
With proper care the standard life expectancy for a custom shirt is around 50 washings or 2 years. Anything beyond this we call “free miles”. Shirts generally wear out in one of three areas; collar edge, cuff edge, or elbow. A heavy beard, a sharp watch, or a lot of “phone elbow” will cause the shirt to wear out faster.
|
