Correct dress shirt collar size makes for a large fit.

[equalme]

So I finally started expanding my wardrobe and venturing out of the Express dress shirts. I've always worn a size small or medium but the collars could never be buttoned without choking me.

Now that I found other brands that have separate measurements, mainly collar width and sleeve length. I'm not a fat dude at 5'9 and 155 lbs with a athletic build. My neck measures out to be a comfortable 16.5", so I should go up to a 17" collar width right?

I tried on a few "slim fitting" shirts with a 17" collar and it felt like I was wearing a size XL. Wtf.

I assume I will need to get most off the shelf shirts tailored then. So I mainly will need to buy shirts with correct collar and shoulder width, and everything else can be altered?

Balloon arms can be altered easily as well?

Thanks!

 

[biged781]

So.. you have a large neck for your size. You're not a large guy. I'm 5'11, 175 lbs (lift regularly) and have a 16" neck. I have to get my shirts tailored most of the time to fit in the waist. Some brands sell a decent slim or extra slim fit which fits me ok, but most do not (looking at you Brooks Brothers "Extra Slim").

If it fits in the collar, shoulders, and chest, then it is the right size. If you need to have it taken in at the waist (sides or darts) then so be it. I don't buy a half inch up in collar as I do not throw my shirts in the dryer and they don't seem to shrink, but YMMV.

I have some work horse, mediocre quality shirts which fit OTR from CT (extra slim), but all of my other (nicer) shirts required some tailoring. So yes, you're guess is correct.

"Balloon arms" are a symptom of shirts that are just cut too large for you in general. OTR shirts don't typically fit odd measurements very well, and like I said, you have a large neck for your size.

EDIT: I'm wary of mentioning it because the quality is lacking, but 5th and Lamar specializes in shirts which are heavily tailored at the waist. I have one, the fit is good, but the quality... not so much. Also, a MTM like biasedcut would be a good alternative.

 

[AdamWill]

biged's exactly right. Most major brand stuff you can buy in malls, department stores etc in North America are cut for your typical North American male, which is to say, bit on the doughy side. When you get up to any of the big sizes - 42+ in suits, 16.5+ in shirts - that's the stuff for the real chunky fellas. If you happen to be a pretty in-shape person who just has a big neck, you're going to have a lot of difficulty trying to buy off the shelf. European brands might possibly work better, but even then it's probably not going to be perfect. (I have some Dolce & Gabbana shirts I got cheap that are cut incredibly slim, but that's all I can think of). It's just a numbers game; of all the people with 17" necks, there's a lot more, ahem, tubby guys than there are fit guys with big necks. So if you're making mass-market shirts where only the neck and sleeve sizes are specified and the rest of the shirt is just cut 'accordingly', tubby is the body shape you cut for.

As well as buying off the shelf and tailoring you could consider low-end mail order MTM shirts. There are various operations that will happily sell you shirts made to your measurements for $50-$100, many of which have threads here. Do a bit of searching and you can maybe see if you want to give one of these operations a shot - you'll find posts that explain the whole experience, and lots of people have posted pictures of their results. Some people get disasters, but your case is clearly one where there's a pretty big potential upside if you manage to get the measurements right and pick a good supplier; I think that a good MTM experience could give you something a lot better than you'll manage to find off the shelf.