Help finding slim fit/good quality dress shirts in Canada

[torontoman]

Hello, first time poster here.

I have a lot of really bad dress shirts (Express, club monaco) that I am looking to upgrade from.
I want to invest in really good quality shirts.

I tried Hugo Boss Slim Fit (14 1/2) and it was a bit too big anywhere.
I'm willing to spend $100-$150 per shirt.

I went to Brooks Brothers but I wasn't impressed with the standard quality,
and for the upper level quality it was pretty expensive for the brand name and most importantly
for what you're getting.

I went to suit style and the quality seemed a bit better but it didn't feel that comfortable, and the smallest
size was too big as well.

I went to the Bay and tried pretty much everything I could find, and everything was too big.

 

[torontoman]

any help is appreciated

 

[KWang94]

Spier & Mackay is a great option for us Torontonians. If you can make it to their flagship store on Toronto Street, you'll be in good hands, especially if you're with the owner, Rick.

They have MTM options at very competitive price points and having handled the product, could retail for much more than what they're actually worth.

 

[torontoman]

Thanks! I'll check it out!

 

[torontoman]

Any other suggestions? I want something a bit better quality.

 

[starro]

For you to get more targeted advice, you'd need to be more specific as to what you're missing and what you're looking for. You say you want better quality. How? What do you find bad in the shirts you have and BB? How are the shirts you have and tried on "too big" for you? Have you zoomed in on a size that works for you? BTW if you find 14 1/2 neck too big, it's unlikely you'll ever find anything in RTW that works.

I was going to suggest Spier & Mackay as well, but many other online MTM will offer similar value propositions. For any of these to work out, you need to know your measurements and have a good precise sense of what you're looking for. Otherwise it's money down the drain.

 

[torontoman]

The 14 1/2 neck is ok, but the Hugo Boss Slim fit was a bit baggy in the waist and sleeves.

My budget is $100-$150 per shirt, so it's not that I want to spend more money when I don't have to, but if there's something better than Spider & Mackey in my price
range then I would rather invest.

 

[starro]

The 14 1/2 neck is ok, but the Hugo Boss Slim fit was a bit baggy in the waist and sleeves.

My budget is $100-$150 per shirt, so it's not that I want to spend more money when I don't have to, but if there's something better than Spider & Mackey in my price
range then I would rather invest.

A couple of things:

1. S&M has an affiliate thread here. Go through a few pages of it to get a sense of offerings, quality, and what actual customers think. My sense is that they are generally satisfied, and more than a few would know what quality is.
2. Again, what do you mean by "better"? If you haven't, I would suggest studying up a bit on shirt construction to know what goes into a "quality" shirt. It seems you do care a lot about the new shirts you're about to acquire, so I think some research is warranted to avoid being disappointed later.
3. The corollary is that I think your expectations for RTW shirts is unreasonably high. They are made to fit a wide range of individuals, so you can't expect them to fit each part of your body to the T. (Think about it, they use 1-2 measurements to nail down fit: neck and sleeve length. How can that limited data set even remotely approximate good fit? Not to mention the S-M-L shirts.) If they are not overly baggy in someplaces, fit in the neck and cuffs, do not inhibit your motion in any way, do not easily come untucked, then I'd consider that a win for a RTW shirt. Of course I would certainly not spend 100-150 for RTW...

 

[torontoman]

Hey Starro, and Kwang94.

I went ahead with Spier & Mackay MTM!
Will take 4-6 weeks.

I said that the quality wasn't good enough because of the price ($55 per off the rack shirt), but

1) I made a mistake- I shouldn't have made a conclusion about the quality based on price.
I'd rather admit that because they seem like a great company and it's not fair to make such a claim without actually trying on the quality.
2) That being said I did want something even better than the basic poplin that they had. I went with the royal twill. It feels really good! They had an off the rack version so I felt it.

I'm excited for it to arrive. Thanks to both of you.