Express Fit but Better Quality

[bgregg91]

Alright, so I currently wear Dockers and Kohls shirts that are way too large for me to work. Over the last few months I finally started looking into dress clothes that fit me because I was job searching and needed outfits to wear to interviews.

I found that Express 1MX fitted shirts worked pretty well as a shirt although the sleeves were a bit long. The only problem with these shirts is that they wrinkle very easily and it takes forever to get the wrinkles out of them.

I also liked the way the Express (Cotton) Producer pants fit me. Unfortunately these also wrinkle pretty easily.

I was wondering if you guys could suggest a shirt that fits like an Express 1MX Fitted, but is made of material that does not wrinkle so easily.

I have tried Brooks Brother's Slim Fit shirts and they fit me well in the shoulders but were way too large in the gut (I am 30 inches at the waist).

As for the pants, I have thought about trying the Express Wool Producer pants or the Plaid Producer pants made from Polyester and Viscose. Do you guys have any experience with these pants? If you know dress pants that fit similar but are of better quality I am up for suggestions.

I am just trying to find shirts that fit me well and I am trying to get away from cotton pants and dress a bit nicer and work.

 

[Meekus]

If you are looking for inexpensive, the TM Lewin Fully Fitted dress shirts are much better quality than Express and they fit very well for skinny guys.

http://www.tmlewin.com/

 

[bgregg91]

Thank you for the suggestion. I would not say that I am too skinny. A regular sized 15 1/2 neck shirt fits me in the shoulders, just not in the stomach. Express Extra-Slim shirts actually fit me best in the stomach, but the shoulders are too short which is why I get the Fitted sized shirts.

 

[Meekus]

As a U.S. citizen and a 30 inch waist, you would be considered skinny, lol. I am 5'9 with a 30in waist, and it is not possible for me to walk into a "normal" store and purchase any shirt that will fit as the drop from my chest and waist just doesn't work at Banana Republic, JCrew, etc.

Have you measured your chest, waist, etc with a measuring tape yet? Feel free to put those up here to get some better recommendations.

SuitSupply also carries slim shirts.

 

[bgregg91]

Chest is 37-38, waist is 30-31, neck is 15 1/2 and my arms are 32/33. I am 5'10 and weigh 160. I will post some pics of how various shirts fit me soon.

Kohls Shirt (Way too big in stomach)


Express Fitted (Fits well in shoulders and chest but still too large in stomach)


Express Extra-Slim (Getting too small in the shoulders, but has best fit in the stomach)

 

[Meekus]

Your best bet will probably be buying the shirt that fits your chest and shoulders, and then going to a local tailor to take in the sides.

 

[bgregg91]

If I were to buy a shirt from TMLewin and had it taken in would the patterns still match up correctly? Also, does anybody know the measurements of Express shirts. I found the measurements for TMLewin shirts (Chest, Waist) but I could not find anything on the express site. How would I go about getting the measurements from the Express shirts that I currently own?

 

[bgregg91]

I asked Express about the measurements for their 15 1/2 collar shirts and received the following reply:

Fitted
Neck 15 3/4"
Chest 39 3/4"
Waist 35 3/4"
Sleeve 33"

Extra Slim Fit
Neck 15 3/4"
Chest 38 1/2"
Waist 34 3/4"
Sleeve 33"

T.M. Lewin's fits are as follows:

Slim Fit
Neck: 15 1/2"
Chest: 45
Waist: 40

Fully Fitted
Neck: 15 1/2"
Chest: 43 1/2"
Waist: 38 1/2"

Super Fitted (Didn't see any shirts of this type on the site)
Neck: 15 1/2"
Chest: 41"
Waist: 37"

Unfortunately I can not drop down a neck size since I will be wearing some of these shirts with ties. I am bummed out because I really liked T.M. Lewin's shirts. I may still have to buy a few of the 15 1/2 Fully Fitted shirts and see if a tailor could slim them up.

 

[Veremund]



Your best bet is buying the shirt that fits your chest and shoulders, and then going to a local tailor to take in the sides.

That's exactly what you need to do. Accept it. It's unavoidable unless you just buy bespoke shirts.

 

[bgregg91]

The only problem is that the Express shirts provide a good fit, so I know that there are shirts out there that fit me well. It's hard to believe that Express is the only company that offers shirts of that size. If I buy the TM Lewin shirts is it possible for a tailor to take in the chest as well as the waist. There is still almost a 4 inch discrepancy between the Express Fitted and the TM Lewin Fully Fitted shirts at the chest.

 

[Ich_Dien]

If you say express one more time I think I'll explode.

 

[Grenadier]

Have you tried Brooks Brothers' extra slim fit? You may also like Kamakura's Tokyo slim fit. As for trousers, only wear wool dress slacks.

 

[bgregg91]

Have you tried Brooks Brothers' extra slim fit? You may also like Kamakura's Tokyo slim fit. As for trousers, only wear wool dress slacks.

I have tried the slim fit non-iron shirts which were pretty large in the waist. I have yet to try the extra slim fit. I will give them a shot when I get a chance.

If you say express one more time I think I'll explode.

Lol, I am sorry. They provide the only shirt that I have found which fits me well off the rack.

 

[bgregg91]

I decided to do some more digging. I thought it was weird that Express's sizes were so far off from TM Lewin's so I decided to actually measure my Express shirt.

Express Fitted Chest


Express Fitted Waist


I am not sure if I did these measurements 100% correctly (I have never measured a shirt before). However, the chest size that I measured was 21*2, 42" and the waist size that I measured was 19.25*2, 38.5". These are well above the 39.75" chest and 35.75" waist that Express informed me in the email.

Since the Express shirt fits me well at 42" by 38.5", I am sure that a 43.5" by 38.5" TM Lewin won't be much of a change. I will just have to keep working out my chest to fill it. I do wish that they had the Super Fitted shirts though, I wouldn't mind trying a 41" by 37" shirt.

I will update this thread when I get a few TM Lewin shirts to try out. Thanks for all the advice, guys!

 

[red81]

brooks brothers esf shirts are also tents compared to express in the waist.

source: i have 2 esf from bb and have worn 1mx in the past.