Shirt Problem - Page 2

Or, start doing more rows.

Instead of opening a new topic I would like to inquire on the same topic about jackets. I have the same body type: sloped shoulders, tilted forward. I would be interested to know what to consider before going for a custom suit. Whenever I wear a jacket it usually shows a dent right below the sleeve-head on both shoulders. The left shoulder is more visible than the other one. The only jackets that don't have this problem are the heavy ones, like tweed, or thick herringbone. Normally, I wear a 40R. Show me how to fix this problem, please.

Ok, here is the zany chiropractic idea... FIX YOUR POSTURE. It turns out that having good posture is not only important for good health, it is also important for looking good in a suit. Changing your posture takes a certain amount of self-discipline, but it also involves having good biomechanical function of your skeleton. My suggestion (of course) is to find a chiropractor who specializes in posture and get a consultation. -Tom

Excellent suggestion and thanks for having the courage to say it. I have seen people correct their posture, it can be done. For some, it involved a psychological componant they needed to face. On a side note, people always assume I am taller than I actually am because of my good posture.

Seriously, do rows (the machine kind with a pad against your chest) while concentrating on holding your stomach very tight. Building these muscles up will start holding your shoulders back where they should be. Having them in the right place will help prevent other joint problems, shirt problems, etc.

Based on the horizontal wrinkles, the solution would either be to cut the top of the shirt front a little shorter or to pull your neck farther back. It may not be that your shoulders are/were out of alignment, but that when you corrected your posture in the mirror, your neck went back and pulled the collar back with it, correcting the problem.

You may have been exhibiting a common tendency to 'pose' (not stand naturally) while trying on suits. This doesn't necessarily represent your normal posture.

Tom Yesterday I was offering you a job. I TAKE IT BACK... PLEASE don't tell my clients to fix their postures. Do you know how many years of pattern corrections I have invested in those defects of form? Heck ... you could put me out of business. The only way I'd give you a job now is to try to keep your rebellious, heretic, sinful philosophy off the netwaves. Screw good posture.

I was thinking about this more last night. I disagree about the assessments of your posture -- it looks fine to me, though I agree with Tom that we'd need a side view. However, based on your trap muscles, I doubt that you are in any need of doing rows. Here's what I was thinking. (1) You have chest muscles. (2) You have shoulder and trap muscles. (3) You have less fully developed upper chest muscles (the area just under your collar bone). This could cause the shirt to not have an area to rest cleanly on in that area, since is it high at the trap and mid-chest points (due to muscles) and sort of "suspended in mid air" at the point on the upper chest where you are less devloped. This would naturally cause some pulling and wrinkling. Make sense? It could be that this is fixable by increasing the front chest measurement of the shirt by an inch or so, but I might be wrong.

water, As I said, I specialize in posture (I am a chiropractor) and based on the frontal view, I guessed that you had a "forward" shoulder. I guessed this because your left shoulder looks closer to your body than your right. Most americans slouch, so I made an assumption that the shoulder was forward and not back. I suggested that a side picture would help, which would have cleared up my mistake. Based on your experiment I have the following advice... Don't modify your posture to accomodate shirts that are made for slouchy americans. It turns out that your poor shirt fit is from GOOD posture. I suggest ordering any future Jantzen shirts with the "square" shoulder option based on your experiment. BTW congrats on having decent posture, it truly is among the most important aspects of good health. If anyone is curious, check out Ideal Spine -Dr Tom