Jantzen - crappy fabric?

[bdbb]

I got my first jantzen today and although the construction is really great, I must say that the fabric is terrible....like something you'd see on a wal-mart store brand shirt. On the plus side, the shirt looks good and is wearable (just need slightly longer sleeves and to have the waist taken in a bit on my future shirts).

How do I avoid getting fabric this bad in the future though? I want something thin and soft, like the Purple Label dress shirts or the RL Polo dress shirts made by Lorenzini. Any suggestions on what types of fabric to order on the next ones? Or are there not any especially nice fabrics?

 

[TheFoo]

A Janzten shirt goes for ~$30, right? I mean, you really can't expect much. The MOP buttons on some shirts cost more.

 

[cvac]

If you love the fit of your shirt but hate the fabric, you could always have a better shirtmaker somewhere copy it with better fabric.

 

[bdbb]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

A Janzten shirt goes for ~$30, right? I mean, you really can't expect much. The MOP buttons on some shirts cost more.

I think it was around $55 shipped with MOP buttons...which is around what I've paid on ebay for new or very slightly used purple label, turnbull, isaia, brioni, etc. And I must say that the construction on the janzten seems comparable but the fabric is much much much worse....I'm just wondering if I got unlucky and there are nice fabrics to be had.

If you love the fit of your shirt but hate the fabric, you could always have a better shirtmaker somewhere copy it with better fabric.

I'm not in love with the fit as many RTW dress shirts tend to fit me pretty well already with the only problem being that the sleeves won't be perfect length(which I can live with). I more like that I can have the shirt look just how I want it and constructed with matching shoulder seams, no yoke, and mop buttons for ~$55. If I had to pay someone more expensive, it starts to make less sense because I'd just grab high end RTW on ebay.

 

[montecristo#4]

Some Jantzen fabrics are good. Some not so good. You obviously chose the latter.

 

[Matt]

yup, what he said. I have some very very nice fabrics from Jantzen - mostly because I buy in store and get the touchyfeely aspect. On a screen, youre considerably restricted in cotton choices.

IIRC there was a Jantzen cotton review thread a couple years back, right?

 

[bdbb]

Originally Posted by m@T

yup, what he said. I have some very very nice fabrics from Jantzen - mostly because I buy in store and get the touchyfeely aspect. On a screen, youre considerably restricted in cotton choices.

IIRC there was a Jantzen cotton review thread a couple years back, right?

Any advice on something that would be thin/soft similar to a RLPL shirt?

 

[Connemara]

I received my first Jantzen recently and the fabric was horrendous. It is unwearable.

 

[Wrenkin]

Originally Posted by Connemara

I received my first Jantzen recently and the fabric was horrendous. It is unwearable.

That's a little dramatic, don't you think? Also, supremely unhelpful given how many fabrics they offer.

 

[pkincy]

A year or two ago, given the accolades to Jantzen from this forum (slightly before his problem with customer service actually) I ordered a shirt from Jantzen and a shirt from Mr Tailor. I wore the Jantzen once and doubt I will wear it again. I have just received a second five shirt order from Mr Tailor and would not consider a reorder from Jantzen.

Not that the shirt wasn't worth the $35-45 I paid, because it was worth exactly that much and not a penny more.

Perry

 

[G18C]

I've ordered a few batches from them, and while there are some very nice fabric indeed, about 60% of them are nothing special, quality of these is not even comparable to polyester blend you find at Macy's. The worst part is that the nice fabric become, let's just say, less nice even after a single wash. Not sure why. The sheen on the nicer, heavier, fabric disappears quite quickly. TM silverline fabric is closer to some of the nicer Jantzen fabric but at the bottom of the selection, JZ can be a hit and miss when ordering the fabric from online.

 

[G18C]

Exactly. But the converse may not always guarantee better fit, which is the only reason anyone should go MTM anyways.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

A Janzten shirt goes for ~$30, right? I mean, you really can't expect much. The MOP buttons on some shirts cost more.

 

[Tomasso]

Originally Posted by m@T

I have some very very nice fabrics from Jantzen - mostly because I buy in store and get the touchyfeely aspect.
Bingo!!! ........... Buying fabric online is

 

[cvac]

Browsing the website, it seems many of their fabrics are 100s, 2 ply. Normally when you see this on other shirts, the quality of the fabric is pretty good. Out of curiosity, is it possible to make this 100s 2ply fabric of such poor quality as people are describing here?

90% or more of the Jantzen shirts I've seen on this forum are an awful fit and look horrid. I'd rather put my $55 toward something better, personally.

 

[acidboy]

As Mafoofan said, at that price level, you really can't expect much. FWIW, I have ordered shirts from Jantzen and mytailor before, and have personally gone through their swatch books. Mytailor is pricier than Jantzen, true, but the fabrics I got seems a lot better than what Jantzen offers. The construction is also worth the price difference for me.