Charles Tyrwhitt Dress Shirt advice

A tailor can put darts in the shirt for about £10, so it might be worth just tailoring it, depending on how easy it is for you to go back to the store and swap it out. For future reference, they only shrink about 1/8" on each seam, so not worth getting a different size.

In the future, you can get the proper neck size, or try the extra slim fit line. Have you worn the shirt yet? If not, you can probably return it, even if it is out of the packaging.

Get your usual neck size. CT shirts may shrink a little, but their collar is a bit larger than the size indicates, to account for that. If you wash them in cold water they won't shrink as much though, if at all. I made the same mistake and ended up swimming in fabric, even though I'm not slim. It's likely that you will still need to have darts put in them.

try the extra slim fit line.

Try the ESF shirts in their "luxury" line. Their regular line is crap and worse than BR. I got stuck a couple extra days in a court case right off Times Square and I picked up a couple of emergency shirts--one regular and one luxury. The regular is a throw-away IMO.

Why darts? A seamstress can slim a shirt by the side seams with a greater likelihood of success for about $10.

Well, if you can find a seamstress who will do it for $10, then by all means have it slimmed from the side seams. I've always been quoted more than that

Also, I believe CT shirts already have french seams (slimmed and shaped through the sides) and if someone takes a second pass at shaping through that area, you might end up with pulls. Darts are just better.

nonsense.

Their regular line shirts, especially in the twill, are just fine, and head and shoulders ahead of banana republic.

Maybe I just bought a bad one. I bought a white, French cuffed shirt as a staple. Shirt is paper-thin and the cotton is scratchy and stiff. Buttons are plastic and cheap looking. Sleeves are slightly too short.

Either you got your shirt from a fake CT shop (I doubt they exist) or you didn't buy CT.

Cotton is thin and scratchy - while the poplin on the bottom end shirts is reasonably thin, it is still far better than almost every high street offering. Comparing it to Pink for example, the CT shirt comes out favourably in all instances.

Buttons are plastic - CT do not make any range of shirts with plastic buttons (except possibly "non-iron" but I have never checked). From the cheapest shirts to the very top range (white or black label) they all have MoP buttons. Admittedly the buttons are a little thin, but I don't know of any other brand that sells shirts for £25 with MoP buttons and brass collar stays.

Sleeves too short - That is your own dumb fault. They sell four different sleeve lengths, if you buy the wrong one then go back and exchange it, don't blame the brand.

Sorry, I didn't mean for that to come off as an attack, but it bugs me when people complain about a company online with claims that are mistaken. CT are one of the few highstreet brands owned by a family (or in this case Friend of the Family) and putting out a product that is honestly priced. With the constant clamour for lower prices and better value, these rare shops will be done for.

I can't think of an American chain (maybe BB?) that still produces proper stuff. Half-canvass suits for £199, goodyear welted shoes for £125? Where else is a young or poor person supposed to get their foot on the quality ladder?

This is possible. I own over 20 CT shirts in the extra slim fit and find them to be a great value, especially when they can be regularly acquired for $40. There are a couple of the 20 that I'm not wild about, but most of them pretty admirably fulfill their role as a dependable workhorse shirt with a pretty good fit for under $50. My Hemrajani and CEGO shirts are better of course, but I'd expect shirts acquired for $100-$150 to be better than those acquired for under $50.

Perhaps you have a higher standard for "acceptable / good enough" than some others here or just had a bad experience with one of the shirts. I'd agree that the buttons could be nicer, but you're not getting amazing buttons on a $50 shirt, which is what I consider CT to be, regardless of the inflated "retail" price.

Woah, do you own stock in them? I purchased two shirts with the same labeled size and two ties in their Times Square store (so obviously not fake). As stated, I was happy with the black label one, however on the basic one the measurements are wrong. I needed them for a court case that dragged on too long (business related not personal) and stepped away from my usual staple BB GF or BF as I was too busy/tired to find the closest BB. The times square store did not let customers try on the actual shirts that they were buying but just had sample shirts to try on for size--which I thought was rather strange but I was too tired to argue. So, I blame them for the shirt not fitting correctly as the sample shirt fit just fine and it is not my "own dumb fault". Too much trouble to go return it now. I live in Philadelphia and don't know if we have a CT store nor do I really care.

I have never purchased any Pink shirts so I can't speak to them. I don't understand the value of brass collar stays and thought it was a little gimmicky. I actually like the RL BL curved colar stays best.

Perhaps the buttons they put on their English market shirts are different than their US market stuff but these are plastic MOP look alike. You can tell by taping them to your teeth or when ironing. I do not buy non-iron shirts so I don't know about that range. The cotton was not up to BB luxury line or BF which you can regularly buy in the US for about $80 (admittedly costing more than CT). I guess once you are used to a certain feel of cotton you come to expect that. Regular BB shirts go on sale here for about $40 so that puts them in line price-wise while their Black Label is in line with BBGF. Also, BB comes with silk knots in their French cuffed shirts. CT makes you purchase them separately.

As stated, I like their Black Label that I purchased and I have nothing against the brand. I was just sharing my experience. I also have BR shirts that have served me well for years that I purchased pre-SF that I am finally retiring.
Edited by Patek - 2/6/13 at 10:41am