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Canali Dress Shirts -- The Ugly Duckling of the Italian Dress Shirt World?

magogian12345

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Hello all,

I've recently become quite fond of Canali dress shirts. The 17.5 fits me well, and has a sufficiently long sleeve for my arms (a typical problem for OTR shirts for me). All I have to do is have my tailor take in about two inches on each side seam and they fit very well then. Also, my local Nordstrom Rack always has at least several in my size and for only $80-100 each.

That said, the fabrics, while decent IMO, are hardly the best, and of course the shirts have a fused collar. Nevertheless, I still like them.

This forum and AAAC, however, seem to look down a bit on them. I fully admit though that Canali shirts do fall short compared to Brioni, Truzzi, etc.

So, are Canali dress shirts seen as the ugly, embarrassing member of an otherwise beautiful family? Your thoughts?
 

Iceball

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I have nothing particularly against Canali shirts in their price points - which as you say is nothing like as expensive as say Brioni, Kiton.
However, I don't find myself buying their dress shirts though, the fit and cloths rarely seem to be spot on and frankly a lot of their shirts are dull. If anything I prefer their casual range - Canali Sport, they have some really rather tempting linens and casuals a la Loro Piana.

In the Canali price point I prefer - Zileri, Duchamp for the adventurous, Valentino, Vicri of Porto who make some glorious items at times - clearly not available in the US from their lack of visibility on these forums and several others.

Basically I think Canali gets a overlooked because they are a little betwixt and between, if you start to look at Italian quality shirts and see Canali by the time you have arrived at SF you probably are beginning to move on...
 

rioni

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They fit baggy but may be worth it in the 40-75 range. For 100 (or 75) you can find Truzzi and Borrelli my two fav RTW makers.
 

Lawman

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I absolutely love them. I am a 46L-48L, and they fit me like they were MTM. The collars and cuffs are substantial, nice thick buttons. I agree that the fabrics are not all that exciting, but I think they are terrific shirts. They are much more thin-fitting than my other Brit and Italian shirts.
 

gnatty8

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I think they are fine, and have a few I wear with some regularity. The collars are to my liking, but the bodies do need to be pretty extensively tailored or they cannot be worn without a coat. One of my favorite plain white shirts is a Canali shirt in a herringbone pattern. Wish they made varying sleeve lengths though, that's my one pet peeve..
 

magogian12345

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Originally Posted by Lawman
I absolutely love them. I am a 46L-48L, and they fit me like they were MTM. The collars and cuffs are substantial, nice thick buttons. I agree that the fabrics are not all that exciting, but I think they are terrific shirts. They are much more thin-fitting than my other Brit and Italian shirts.

I do like mine as well. They just don't get much love on these forums, aside from, I guess, our posts. I think I've bought 6 over the past two weeks or so.
 

antirabbit

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I think it is the cut that kills it for me.
Now Brioni dress shirts are way way over rated.
I would wear neither.
 

Kaplan

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The Canali shirts I've looked at all had non removable collar stays, which is a deal breaker for me.

I'm still looking for a good slim fitting shirt, available locally...
 

Azure

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I dislike a lot Canali shirts but their ties are by far my favourite.

Just the contrary on Zegna, I hate their suits but I love their shirts!

I use Delsiena,Corneliani,Xacus,Zegna and Zileri shirts that are far better than Canali.

Curious why the jump on quality on different things from the same brand, from top notch to
frown.gif
drool.gif
 

guster

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Don't think they are worth the $200+ at full price retail but I like the shirt when you can find it on those closeout sales. Bloomindales had some for closer to $50. Some were junk but one or two finds in there.

Brioni fit and feel have never suited me.

I like Isaia a lot.
 

KaiserSose

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While the whole "slim fitting" dress shirt thing is entirely bullshit - no shirts fit me perfectly OTR but all shirts fit me perfect after tailoring - Canali has to be worst of all mid-level - high-level dress shirts I've ever purchased. I dont know who they are built for, but they fit huge. The fabric is also nothing special.. I mean I just don't see a reason to buy them. I guess you have that arm problem, but aside from that, what makes them any better than other shirts at their pricepoint?

Ohh... and to all of you guys talking about fit, I hope you are referring to shoulder / neck. You realize that it really doesn't matter even a little bit if a shirt fits throughout the body (as long as its not ridiculously huge, like Canali) or on the arms. Seriously, do not waste your time worrying about that.
 

magogian12345

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Originally Posted by KaiserSose
While the whole "slim fitting" dress shirt thing is entirely bullshit - no shirts fit me perfectly OTR but all shirts fit me perfect after tailoring - Canali has to be worst of all mid-level - high-level dress shirts I've ever purchased. I dont know who they are built for, but they fit huge. The fabric is also nothing special.. I mean I just don't see a reason to buy them. I guess you have that arm problem, but aside from that, what makes them any better than other shirts at their pricepoint?

Ohh... and to all of you guys talking about fit, I hope you are referring to shoulder / neck. You realize that it really doesn't matter even a little bit if a shirt fits throughout the body (as long as its not ridiculously huge, like Canali) or on the arms. Seriously, do not waste your time worrying about that.


Yah, Canali is the only Italian shirt brand that fits around my arms. I've tried about 6 other Italian brands and no luck so far.
 

hadamulletonce

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Originally Posted by Azure
I dislike a lot Canali shirts but their ties are by far my favourite.

Just the contrary on Zegna, I hate their suits but I love their shirts!

I use Delsiena,Corneliani,Xacus,Zegna and Zileri shirts that are far better than Canali.

Curious why the jump on quality on different things from the same brand, from top notch to
frown.gif
drool.gif


+1 on Zegna shirts. I really like the fit.

Canali is a great brand but I'm not fond of the dress shirts. Nothing wrong with the quality just the fit.
 

maufic

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I just purchased 3 canali dress shirts for about $65 each, in addition to the two I already own. At that price I think they are very nice shirts. I hear a lot of talk about the fixed collar stays, but that doesn' t really bother me.
 

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