Kamakura Shirts - Madison Ave Store

[mossrockss]



I have two New York knitted shirts, a red with a button down collar and a medium blue (the slightly darker blue which was added a few days ago) with the cutaway collar. Both are nice, but I like the blue cutaway a bit better, since it is more versatile.

The fabric itself is finer and stronger than the average pique/polo fabric of your Gant or Hilfiger shirts. This is important because otherwise the weight of the long arms stretches the fabric over the day and they become too long, the collar would become bigger and the buttons would unbutton. Because of that, the placket and collars are lined and probably fused for more structure. It works very well that way and it is still much more elastic and comfortable than your woven shirts. It wears quite airy.

I'm a guy with a 15.75 collar, 35-35.5 arms and a fairly slim build, particularly in the chest and shoulders. The NY knitted works good for me in size S, but could be slightly slimmer at the shoulders. The arms could be also 0.5" longer, but work well with most of my sport coats. The Tokyo knits would be too short at the sleeves and body.

I am washing the shirts at 30 and 40 °C and dry them flat at the air to prevent it from stretching when hanging wet at the hanger. Due to the fabric I will not put them into the dryer, it may be an option if the shirt is too big. Ironing is very quick and its quite wrinkle resistant.

Overall I like them as much as my knitted Finamore and Borrelli shirts. They perform even better when it comes to stretching. The fabric is more prone to damage caused by pulling threads at a nail or similar than a woven fabric, but that's the nature of the knits.

I wouldn't hesitate wearing the cutaway shirt at a casual summer wedding with a tie and a cotton or linen suit. The new cotton linen knits might wear particularly well in the summer (unfortunately only available in white).

Thanks for your input!

Excuse the crappy pics and wrinkles.

Ok, my rough measurements of a size small after approximately 10 washes are:

Chest (side seam to side seam just below arm hole): 21
Waist (5th button):20
Sleeve (top of shoulder seam to end of cuff): 24
Length (top of collar to hem): 30.5

My real problem areas for shrinkage were in the chest and upper arm. I didn't have a lot of room there to begin with, but enough to still look ok. After a few washes and air drying, the chest, arms (length and width) and body length shrunk more than any woven shirt I've ever had, which is to be expected, apparently. I love this shirt; just need to size up.

So for you, the Small has enough length in the sleeves? I'm 16.5/35.5, 42L suit size. Sleeves would be my big concern, because for a knit, I'd like it to be more fitted than a woven dress shirt (since you've got more play due to its stretchy nature).

So if it's shrunk that much after washing (about 3 inches in the chest, it would seem), perhaps a size Medium would be perfect for me.

 

[ShawnBC]

Thanks for the pictures and inputs, guys!

 

[reidrothchild]



Thanks for your input!
So for you, the Small has enough length in the sleeves? I'm 16.5/35.5, 42L suit size. Sleeves would be my big concern, because for a knit, I'd like it to be more fitted than a woven dress shirt (since you've got more play due to its stretchy nature).

So if it's shrunk that much after washing (about 3 inches in the chest, it would seem), perhaps a size Medium would be perfect for me.

I'd like another 0.5 to 1 inch in the sleeve length, but the biggest problem is the chest shrinkage. The only problem I would foresee with you going up to the M, if you want it to be fitted, is the waist. I'm not sure if you could get a knit shirt darted, but the waist is not terribly slim on the M, as I recall.

 

[Turner]

I have factory-made darts at the Finamores and Borrell and had a repair done at one arm. You just have to use special needles for jersey so you don't damage the structure. At least this is what my tailor told me.

 

[johnny1202]

Anyone from Canada buy these shirts from their online store? Were you hit with customs charges? I'm looking to buy quite a few shirts.

 

[ClassyCanuck]



Anyone from Canada buy these shirts from their online store? Were you hit with customs charges? I'm looking to buy quite a few shirts.

Bought one shirt a year ago and no customs charge. Bought three a month or so back and got hit with a customs charge of $60.

 

[Loathing]

I'm still waiting for them to restock university-stripe OCBDs.

 

[bradp]

How have you all been washing your kamakura OCBDS? Wash/hang dry? Iron collar? something else?

 

[gettoasty]

Wash
Hang dry
Iron with a steamer

Dobby shrinks significantly more than oxford and broadcloth. Oxford irons the best. I didn't notice much shrinkage with the clothes in general except dobby.

I'm also waiting for more university stripe oxfords.

 

[bradp]

I actually have a dobby cutaway collar that I washed once (and hung to dry). hopefully that avoided any shrinking issues, though I haven't actually tried it on post-wash..

 

[Spex]

Bought one shirt a year ago and no customs charge. Bought three a month or so back and got hit with a customs charge of $60.

Similar experience here...except I never managed to get one with no customs charge..

 

[Lohikaarme]

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before, but I just powered through this entire thread in a few hours...

My neck is a tad over 15" (source: Outlier airforged in small, fits slightly tight if I button it up all the way)... sleeve is about 32.5 (source: Uniqlo XS ocbd, shrank to a 31.5ish. Sleeves fit great right now, but has absolutely no room for error... sort of like no break pants, I guess).

So I'm thinking of going for the 15&1/3 x 32.5 shirt. Does this seem right? Or should I go for a different size if my desired dimensions are 15.33 x 32.5? These will be medium wash + medium dry (or hang dry) or very rarely hot wash & hot dried. I heard the dobby fabric shrinks more than the other woven fabrics... is it particularly drastic? Do the other shirts also shrink badly, or are Kamkura sizing accurate? I'm specifically looking at the Tokyo Slim fit.

I'm also thinking of the Tokyo Slim knit shirt... I should get medium (as indicated by the size guide)? Since it shrinks, can I wear it casually, untucked? 5'9" 145lbs if it matters. I'm aiming for the 15.33-15.5 x 32.5 dimension here if possible. Though again, the sleeve is a bit forgiving.

Sorry for the horrible writing... it's 5:30AM. I'm sleepy.

Thanks!

 

[Spex]

Kamakura's shirts are designed to be slightly bigger before washing to account for shrinkage, so I would think buying the size you mention would be good. Note that if you will be wearing a shirt casually, such as an OCBD without the top button done up, you can get away with a smaller collar size.

I would not ever throw a shirt that already fits well in the dryer as that will almost certainly cause shrinkage (nor would I wash in hot). Even if you only plan on doing this "rarely", it only takes one time to shrink it (do some people do laundry right before they need to wear their clothes?!?). I've only ever placed a shirt in the dryer when I needed to shrink one, and in that case both the collar and the sleeve length needed to be slightly smaller...the dryer doesn't know which aspect of the shirt you want it to shrink...

 

[Lohikaarme]

Kamakura's shirts are designed to be slightly bigger before washing to account for shrinkage, so I would think buying the size you mention would be good. Note that if you will be wearing a shirt casually, such as an OCBD without the top button done up, you can get away with a smaller collar size.

I would not ever throw a shirt that already fits well in the dryer as that will almost certainly cause shrinkage (nor would I wash in hot). Even if you only plan on doing this "rarely", it only takes one time to shrink it (do some people do laundry right before they need to wear their clothes?!?). I've only ever placed a shirt in the dryer when I needed to shrink one, and in that case both the collar and the sleeve length needed to be slightly smaller...the dryer doesn't know which aspect of the shirt you want it to shrink...

Righto. I was hoping that I could machine-dry it to account for the necessary shrinkage (and that way if I forget, or bring it home for summer where my mom washes clothes where she always does hot wash/hot dry).

How much does the pique shrink? I don't mind the collar shrinking much, since I'd hope to wear it casually, though the sleeves are also 32.25" so there's a little less leeway. The cut also looks fairly square, but does it shrink in the body at all so a bit of the fly shows, that way it doesn't look like I'm just too lazy to tuck in?

Thanks.

 

[jimanchower]

Does the cutaway collar of the linen shirts work both with and without a jacket (no tie)? Does the collar sit underneath the jacket's lapels but not flop around when worn loose with no tie?