Functional difference between pleated shirt sleeves and shirred/gathered into cuff

[josepidal]

Sorry, let me try again.

On a dress shirt sleeve, is there any functional difference between your usual sleeve with two pleats tucked into the cuff and the shirring or gathering or the use of many tiny pleats to fold the sleeve into the cuff? The latter is the "signature shirring" on Brooks Brothers and Turnbull & Asser shirts.

The way I understand it, there is no difference in terms of fit. However, the change in pleat style means the way the sleeve fabric falls around the cuff is different. The usual pleats are more structured and the shirring makes the fabric fall more evenly. The latter looks less formal to some, more feminine to others, and trad to still others.

I think Kabbaz also said the shirring around the cuff is easier to tailor than the pleats.

Sorry for bringing up the shoulders and memories of a clusterf*ck about pattern matching.

 

[j]

I prefer the pleats because they lay flatter and slimmer and thus don't have as much of a chance to bunch up and catch at the jacket cuff. The puffiness of the shirred type makes it that much more likely that the cuff will get stuck outside the jacket after a long reach, which I find annoying.

 

[kolecho]

I like pleats on my oxford BDs and T&A style shirring on my poplins (BDs and dress colllars). It is all very personal IMO. You should try both out to see what you prefer.

 

[josepidal]

Kolecho: That's interesting. Why exactly?

Yeah, I'd love to try it and see what I like. What I'm wondering is how to get the pleats without increasing the circumference of the wrist. A tailor may make the mistake of thinking you want to see pronounced pleats instead of understanding that you just want it to look and drape differently. Thus, he may make the wrist fuller and you will need a cutlass and tricorner hat.

How many small pleats do you have done?

 

[kolecho]

Just do some to find out. There is no substitute for experience.

 

[kolecho]

Originally Posted by josepidal

Kolecho: That's interesting. Why exactly?

Yeah, I'd love to try it and see what I like. What I'm wondering is how to get the pleats without increasing the circumference of the wrist. A tailor may make the mistake of thinking you want to see pronounced pleats instead of understanding that you just want it to look and drape differently. Thus, he may make the wrist fuller and you will need a cutlass and tricorner hat.

How many small pleats do you have done?

If you have a lousy shirtmaker, you will confuse them with all your verbose instructions.

 

[josepidal]

True, but I just realized terminology is somethimes different from tailor to tailor.

I ask about how many small pleats or gathers as I have no baseline to evaluate whether my guy does them well.

 

[kolecho]

It is quite random, unlike pleated cuffs. One is not supposed to count the number of small pleats in a shirred cuff. Best you get a sample to show them what you want.

 

[josepidal]

I tried to find a good Mafoofan photo to e-mail.