Dressed for Success

If there is one essential for your wardrobe, fellas, it has got to be the dress shirt; and it’s not just because you can spend well over 40 hours a week in one! This piece of clothing is a total wardrobe workhorse. Yes, it keeps us looking professional during the workweek, but a good dress shirt also eases that transition from business to pleasure without skipping a beat. With a simple shirt swap, you can go from casual to cleaned-up in no time flat!

And yet, finding a dress shirt can be a bit more difficult than it might seem. That is, finding a great dress shirt can be a bit more difficult than it might seem. Sure, you could walk into any fast fashion chain store, find a button-up, and walk back out 20 minutes later (this option certainly has its place – we’ve all been in a pinch before a night out!), but finding a dress shirt that not only looks good but fits well can take more effort.

Our opinion is that the perfect dress shirt really does require some search (and a little customization). It’s worth investing a little extra on what you wear for an important meeting or a date.

There are several factors to look for when shopping for your next favourite dress shirt, like: fabric, style and fit. The first two factors are fairly personal, but in regards to fit, here are some quick tips to keep in mind when looking for the perfect dress shirt:

• Collar. You should be able to fit two fingers between the collar and your neck when the shirt is buttoned up.

• Cuffs. You shouldn’t be able to slip your shirt off without unbuttoning your cuffs. Leave the slip-on, slip-off stuff for the weekend.

• Shoulders. Shoulder points should extend to the edge of your shoulder, and no further. This is a really easy rule-of-thumb to remember when shopping for any top, actually. If the shoulder points, or seam, ride too far in from or off of your shoulder, that top is not the one for you.

• Chest. How do the buttons look when buttoned up over your chest? If they pull at all, the shirt is too small. Depending on your desired fit you should be able to pinch an inch or two of fabric off the chest.

Now, this is probably a little biased, but just ask around and you’ll soon find we are not alone in  suggesting that to find a dress shirt made just for you, you are going to have to get a bit of work done. Those four markers aren’t always going to show up in one shirt off-the-rack. The majority of us don’t have bodies that fit perfectly into a pre-made pattern.

You might have broad shoulders and find that all your shirts are too wide through the torso, or you may have a shorter torso and your shirts always hang too long on you. This is absolutely normal and doesn’t mean you are stuck with ill-fitting clothing. Look for the shirt that best fits in the right areas – shoulders, collar, cuffs – and if there’s still some room for improvement, a good tailor will have you sorted in no time.

Of course, once you’ve found your great dress shirt, you’re going to want to keep it looking great. Our professional clothing care experts are highly skilled at keeping your dress shirts clean. We wash in cool temperatures to minimize shrinkage and inspect every piece for broken buttons. Whether you prefer your shirts folded or hung, we do it the right way: folded with tissue paper or hung on proper hangers to maintain the shape of the item. Your favourite shirt is going to stay that way for a long time, if we have anything to say about it.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where to even start in terms of style, here is a helpful list we found over at Dappered.com!