Charles Tyrwhitt 3 for $99 Dress Shirts

[Panama]

How do you have a 31 inch sleeve? I am 35 and I am normal lol...

 

[rjc149]

I wear a 31 sleeve with 15.5 collar size. Should I purchase the 31 sleeve ( $15 customization) with 15.5 collar, or would you guys recommend going with a 16 collar and 32 sleeve and wash at least once in hot water to shrink the shirt? I intend to dry clean. ( not buying wrinkle free shirts).

I would go with the true collar size, since I haven’t noticed any real shrinkage. The 31 inch custom sleeve might be a good call. If you’re talking shrinkage after owning the shirts for years, maybe they’ll eventually snug down.

I think the non-treated shirts would have more shrinkage.

 

[letsgofire]

I’ve been wearing the non-iron twill shirts for many years. They are perfect for business travel. The twill weave is key for me though. The poplin and other weaves I haven’t found to be worth it.

 

[knittieguy]

They do not shrink a significant amount, in my experience

 

[rjc149]

For the money, I've found CT shirts to be about the best bargain out there. I don't order from them very much anymore because I've basically moved on to custom from My Tailor. For me the customized fit improvement is worth the extra money. But for $30-50, I think you would be hard pressed to find a better business shirt than CT. I got married in a CT shirt.

Yes I went the custom shirt route a few years back, and while I also appreciated the better fit, spending $100+ on white dress shirts didn't make a whole lot of sense for me. They are essentially consumables and need to be replaced every few years.

Plus, the tailor I used was a traveling tailor from Hong Kong who visited my office. He makes great suits but his shirts are always somewhat hit-or-miss. A few batches fit me perfectly, a few were too "European" fitting and were unwearable after some normal shrinkage. Eventually, cuffs fray (hastened by metal watch bracelets), elbows rip, collar stays wear holes in the points, the neck stains get more and more stubborn -- and it's time to donate them. White dress shirts don't age well.

Hence, why I decided to go back to buying office grind shirts on the cheap, but still wanting an upgrade from Jos A Bank (which served its purpose very well). The CT shirts seem to fit that bill nicely.

 

[nubirth]

Man, their prices change in the cart daily, hourly, weekly, monthly, before and after you add stuff to cart. I tried to make a purchase today. The cart had one total. Put in my information for the specific dollar amount it totaled up to, then the order failed and the cart retotaled to three times more than the original price. I don't know if its cookies, etc. I'm at the point that I don't care. I've noticed this over and over anytime I tried to purchase a shirt from them. Are there any alternative brands similar to Charles Tyrwhitt?

 

[Betta]

Man, their prices change in the cart daily, hourly, weekly, monthly, before and after you add stuff to cart. I tried to make a purchase today. The cart had one total. Put in my information for the specific dollar amount it totaled up to, then the order failed and the cart retotaled to three times more than the original price. I don't know if its cookies, etc. I'm at the point that I don't care. I've noticed this over and over anytime I tried to purchase a shirt from them. Are there any alternative brands similar to Charles Tyrwhitt?

Hawes and Curtis, TM Lewin, Spier and Mackay (biased toward these fit wise and cloth wise)

 

[nubirth]

Hawes and Curtis, TM Lewin, Spier and Mackay (biased toward these fit wise and cloth wise)

I believe I'm gonna try Proper Cloth. Its more expensive than Charles Tyrwhitt, but I believe I can get a more honest product and experience with them. I'm in the United States, thus I don't want the added experience of ordering from overseas. I'm too frustrated at this point to deal with it. Spier and Mackay seem ok but they are always out of my size in their products and the one polo shirt I have from them I could've gotten the same quality at Old Navy. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[rjc149]

I believe I'm gonna try Proper Cloth. Its more expensive than Charles Tyrwhitt, but I believe I can get a more honest product and experience with them. I'm in the United States, thus I don't want the added experience of ordering from overseas. I'm too frustrated at this point to deal with it. Spier and Mackay seem ok but they are always out of my size in their products and the one polo shirt I have from them I could've gotten the same quality at Old Navy. Thanks for the recommendations.

You could try going to a Tyrwhitt brick and mortar store and see if they’ll honor the 3 for $99 (the one near me at the World Trade Center does) and just order your shirts from the counter. I don’t think they get shipped from overseas although I could be wrong.

You’ll likely need to have them darted— even the slim fits are billowy around the waist. I still feel this is good value. My CT shirts are holding up pretty well, no discernible shrinkage after many launderings now. They are non-iron, some people dislike that but personally I hate the look of a crumpled white dress shirt. Fine for OCBD’s, not for business wear.