Custom Shirts

[bj]

Fortunately, I've got a bit of spending money and I'm thinking of getting a couple of custom shirts, one from Ratio and one from Proper Cloth. I have a dilemma. Currently, I lack both quality light blue and white shirts, which are supposed to be wardrobe staples (my current light blue is from BR and is starting to fade in color, and the white is from Target). That being said, my normal attire is somewhere between smart casual and business casual, so a white/light blue shirt is not as necessary as it is for traditional business attire.


Part of me thinks that if I'm going to get a custom shirt, it should be a staple. But both PC and Ratio have some damned cool patterns. Anyways, do you fine gentlemen have any thoughts or suggestions on the matter?

[jordan]

I'd go with which ever you think will be more versatile for you. That's probably going to be the plain staple shirts....but im admittedly a sucker for patterns too.

[ChrisW]

you can never go wrong with a white shirt, even in a casual setting.

[greg_s]

I find it much more difficult to find shirts in great patterns that fit well. There are 1000s of blue and white shirts out there for good prices. Go for the patterns!

[jessy_diamond]

I'm a huge fan of gingham patterns. Small checks in blue or purple are nice too.

[nicholascrawford]

Gotta start with a white shirt. Then blue. Then subtle patterns. It's boring...tragically boring. But what's a closet full of shirts you can only wear a couple times a year versus 5 shirts that you could rotate every day?


For most of us, value is important. $100 on a shirt is a significant amount of money, so it makes sense to stretch that with a versatile (read: plain) shirt.


I'm on track to keep ordering one Ratio shirt a month. I'm so happy with their product. The only real problem, in my mind, is making a Frankenstein shirt with the options. You could make a shirt that doesn't make sense just because the options are there.


So my suggestion would be to order (these are Ratio's options):

-White twill with the English spread (if you have a narrow face) or semi-spread collar (all other face shape) with no pocket, standard placket, regular length. Pleat and cuffs are up to you.

-White oxford with button-down collar, pocket, center pleat, standard placket, barrel cuff, regular length.


If you put a button-down collar on the white twill and added French cuffs, you would have a bizarre combination. But there's no warning on a custom shirt site that you're making something weird - and I hope they consider offering tools to help prevent that.

[nicholascrawford]

Seeing other responses... I think patterns are fun and have an undercurrent of appeal that's tough to resist! But patterns also buy you a lot of leeway in terms of fit by being more casual. You can roll up the sleeves when they don't fit exactly right, and you're usually wearing patterned shirts without a tie, so who cares if the collar is too tight/loose.


With a solid white or blue shirt as part of a slim suit or sportcoat combo? Or as a standalone shirt with jeans or khakis? That better be your best fitting shirt!

[trash]

As boring as it is, you can't go wrong with a nice white/light blue shirt that fits great. I until recently didn't have any myself, and I feel so much better about my closet now that I do


As for patterns, I second gingham and small checks, easily dressed up or down.

[shad0w4life]

Best solution, get shirts from both places that you can wear to work and out casually(make sure the length works for that)If you need a white and blue, there are millions of cheaper MTM shirt places that you could get a work shirt. But spending $120-$200 I'd be getting something I can wear out and look great in, if you wear a suit then blue or white isn't that bad of a choice.


But you could get a white shirt from paul fredrick for $25, or moderntailor for $19(this is purely a trial shirt, it feels like $19 material and then get a better material). Indochino has a fit guarentee as well etc.


Summary: PC and Ratio buy good multi function shirts and then order a white and blue from else where.


Ratio had a facebook $25 code and propercloth right now has a $25 off your first order via the GC link(it doesn't show up in the summary it only applies at checkout, eg. Summary for me said $79 -$15 store credit, $35 shipping = $99 but then at checkout screen it said "Your credit card will be billed $74"

[AJ25]

How slim are the ratio slim fits? The fact you can't pick a waist measurement has made me steer clear of them so far. I have a real hard time finding something that fits me in the chest and doesn't billow.

[jordan]

You can absolutely do a white shirt wrong. When I see someone wearing black pants, black belt, black shoes and a stark white twill or pinpoint shirt but no tie or no jacket it makes me cringe. Talk about boring.

[shad0w4life]

Email ratio and ask, apparently they can change the collar style to something else if you ask too.

[hornsup84]

@Jordan -- the issue there is wearing black pants, otherwise it's probably fine. While some would say boring, any other color pant and you're probably good to go on the conservative side.


Eric at Ratio is great -- he's responsive to emails and works with you to make sure it fits right. My first try was too tight and we switched a few things around to make a great shirt.


The white twill is a great selection (what I got from Ratio). As a second shirt, I'd go with a blue or some combo of white and blue (think a blue windowpane on white, or possibly a gingham or other pattern). Plenty of pattern options that aren't too crazy they'd warrant only once in a while use, but I agree that patterns generally mean less flexibility in their frequency of use.

[nicholascrawford]

AJ25 - When you order or shortly after you order, you can include your waist measurement in the notes section or a separate email. I didn't, and the slim fit turned out really well for me. It comes in at the waist and back out just a bit at the hips. But if it's a concern, you could measure a shirt that fits perfectly in the waist and include that.

[AJ25]

Here is the response I got from the owner


"Thanks for the message. The size through the waist is determined by the chest size, so for a 40 slim fit the default garment waist size would be 41". Then, it would adjust 1" for every one inch change in chest size. That said, we can adjust this as needed beyond our default sizing. So, if you're looking for more or less room in the waist, we can take care of that."


From reading around and stuff it seems like the interface on the website is pretty much just the tip of the iceberg of customization and a clever technique to grab people sort of in between MTM and OTR. It appears that as long as you email them you can pretty much get the same level of customization as most other MTM places. Pretty sweet.