Jermyn st. slim fit shirts from CT, TML, H&H, H&C. My experience w/pics

[mplspilot]

So I went to Jermyn St yesterday in search for some nice fitting (read slim), easy on the wallet shirts for my formal wardrobe. I have read a lot of info on this board before going and so decided to do a little write-up, that will maybe help somebody. Maybe not, i feel like sharing anyway

My frame is 6 feet, 185, 42 chest, 32 waist, no gut, but no gym either.

It seems the affordable choice on Jermyn falls to TM Lewin, Charles Tyrwhitt, Hawes and Curtis and Harvie and Hudson. Shirts cost between 25 and 40 GBP.

I went to H&C first, shirts are 90GBP per 3. The stores are pretty huge, they have a pretty complicated range based on formal/casual, regular/slim and collar types. Customer service was not the best, neither of sales reps wanted anything to do with me, and i didnt like the store's layout much. Mall-y type. I tried their slim fit York and Hurst casual shirts and one of the formal slim fits. Quality of the shirts they let you try on was pretty bad "” threads are coming apart, not very well constructed. Their slim fit is the slimmest one they do and it fit me a bit like a parachute in their Medium/Regular and 16/35.

Next up was H&H, their shops are very nice, small and family type, guys who work there are very helpful, so a pretty cozy experience. Their slimmest cut is slim fit and they have a limited number of colorways in this line. The quality was nice, but in 16.5/35 the shirt was quite wide. I'd classify their slim fit as regular fit. They offer addition of darts, but that runs 15GBP per shirt and their shirts are 3 for 120GBP as it is. So that was a no for me. I believe they make them right there on Jermyn St.

Next up was CT. I like their new shop the best, very cosy with some armchairs here and there, magazines, lower ceiling, helpful staff. They have pretty good looking summer madras shirts, shop reminded me a bit of J Crew. Their slim cuts are Slim Fit and Tailored Fit with Tailored being the slimmest. Slim and Tailored fit very similar, the only difference is darts added to Tailored cut, which makes it a bit narrower, maybe 1-2 inches in the midsection. Shirts are of pretty nice quality. The only gripe is that the Tailored line only has 5 colorways. But a plus is that each is available in your choice of single or double cuff. They are also the best deal at 100GBP per 4. Made in Turkey.
Onto pics then:

Tailored fit in 16/35

Slim fit 16/35

Slim fit 16.5/35

Tailored fit 16.5/35

Same shirt 16.5/35 tailored, tucked in a bit more behind..

Last one was TML and they have the real deal when it comes to slim fit. Their regular slim fit fits similar to Tailored fit from CT, but their slimmest cut is Fully Fitted, also called John Francomb Fully Fitted. The shirts are of nice quality, made somewhere in the middle east. Fit is what a slim fitting shirt should be in my opinion, but unfortunately while it fit me great in the midsection it was way too tight in the shoulders for me in 16/35 and turns out they do not make those in 16.5/35, only 16.5/34.5, which is too short in sleeves. And next one up 17/35 fit more like a gown.

Here's a Fully Fitted John Francomb in 16/35

I wouldnt be able to drive or hug my wife with this shoulder fit. So as much as I wanted to get these ones, the absence of my 16.5/35 size, made me go to my second choice "” CT Tailored Fit.

Otherwise TML have a pretty good choice of colors and subtle patterns that I like and are actually cut slim. TML Francomb are 128GBP per 4. So if they have your size, give it a shot if you're looking for a sharp cut affordable shirt.

Sorry for being TLDR

 

[garymyman]

Nice review. Something I've been looking for

 

[aravenel]

Very helpful! Thanks.

 

[unclesam099]

Originally Posted by mplspilot

So I went to Jermyn St yesterday in search for some nice fitting (read slim), easy on the wallet shirts for my formal wardrobe. I have read a lot of info on this board before going and so decided to do a little write-up, that will maybe help somebody. Maybe not, i feel like sharing anyway

My frame is 6 feet, 185, 42 chest, 32 waist, no gut, but no gym either.

...

I wouldnt be able to drive or hug my wife with this shoulder fit. So as much as I wanted to get these ones, the absence of my 16.5/35 size, made me go to my second choice "” CT Tailored Fit.


We are similar in size, what are your shoulders or measurement of the yoke on the shirt you purchased? I've been looking at CT and TML online and the chest/waist measurements look good for me. Just wondering about the shoulder, though.

 

[mplspilot]

Originally Posted by unclesam099

We are similar in size, what are your shoulders or measurement of the yoke on the shirt you purchased? I've been looking at CT and TML online and the chest/waist measurements look good for me. Just wondering about the shoulder, though.

I'm not actually sure what my shoulder size is, but yoke's lower seam on a shirt lying flat down is approx 47.5-48cm on the 16.5/35 CT Tailored that I got. So they fit me quite well in the shoulders but there is just a bit more fabric in the waist than i would like.

edit: fixed the size typo

 

[AE7]

Originally Posted by mplspilot

Last one was TML and they have the real deal when it comes to slim fit. Their regular slim fit fits similar to Tailored fit from CT, but their slimmest cut is Fully Fitted, also called John Francomb Fully Fitted. The shirts are of nice quality, made somewhere in the middle east.

My slim-fits from luxury twill were made in China. TML hides this made in tag really well. They shrank by at least half a size.

 

[unclesam099]

Originally Posted by mplspilot

I'm not actually sure what my shoulder size is, but yoke's lower seam on a shirt lying flat down is approx 57.5-58cm on the 16.5/35 CT Tailored that I got. So they fit me quite well in the shoulders but there is just a bit more fabric in the waist than i would like.

The yoke's lower seam is 57.5-58cm? That's 22" - I'm more like 47-48cm (18.75") across the shoulder yoke in my shirts!

Maybe we're talking about different things??

No matter, thanks for the measurement!

 

[chenzhongbi]

Is it just me, or the shoulder on the TML fully fitted doesn't look narrow? I'm wondering how come it's movement constraining. Is it possible because of the arm hole size?

 

[mplspilot]

Originally Posted by unclesam099

The yoke's lower seam is 57.5-58cm? That's 22" - I'm more like 47-48cm (18.75") across the shoulder yoke in my shirts!

Maybe we're talking about different things??

No matter, thanks for the measurement!

Whoa my bad, i mistyped! I meant 47.5-48. My aplologies!

 

[mplspilot]

Originally Posted by chenzhongbi

Is it just me, or the shoulder on the TML fully fitted doesn't look narrow? I'm wondering how come it's movement constraining. Is it possible because of the arm hole size?

It could be a very narrow arm hole as well. If you look at the upper part of the arm holding the phone, you can see how tight the fabric there is, it's uncomfortable. There was also a little bit of bunching up of fabric behind the neck, which afaik is a sign of a bad shoulder/chest fit. Just standing with my arms down it looked damn good though, but raising my arm, as you would let's say driving, the fabric gets pulled on the back and shoulder and upper arm, making it very uncomfortable. Plus 16 would not work on my neck and from reading on the forum, tml collar will shrink even more.

Originally Posted by AE7

My slim-fits from luxury twill were made in China. TML hides this made in tag really well. They shrank by at least half a size.

Neither of these guys put the origin on their shirts. I'm just going by what I've been told by the sales reps in the shops. And they definitely can be wrong. Basically non-english made, except H&H who seem to at least construct their shirts here. Not sure as to where fabric comes from.

 

[Reevolving]

At the end of the day, if you want a properly fitting shirt, you'll need to get it tailored.
Even BB extra slim fit, I had to get taken in. B/c of this, I no longer shop for slim fit shirts.
Any shirt will do, b/c it's getting altered either way.

 

[kraands]

Good info. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Master-Classter]

I did the same trip a couple of years ago. To note, is seems that the Brit's wear French Cuff shirts for business wear and barrel for sports/casual (often button-down)... while I know that's technically the rules and I'd be happy to abide, I find in North America FC's are a lot harder to wear because I'm mostly in a SC or they're just seen as too flashy around here. Especially for someone at the entry level. Also the brit's tend to enjoy a litlte more flair with their color and patterns that's just too 'gay' for American tastes. Anyone know what I mean or am I out to lunch?

 

[Bounder]

their shirts are 3 for 120GBP

First, H&H have recently raised their prices. For a very long time, their offer was three shirts for 99GBP. At that price, H&H was, far and away, the best deal going.

Their slim fit shirts are relatively large. All they do is size up the collar. So a 16" slim fit has a 16" collar but the body proportions are those of a regular-fit 15.5" shirt.

I agree that the TML slim fits are very well-proportioned. Unfortunately, their fabrics just aren't that great. Wash and wear a TML shirt and a H&H shirt a few times and you will see a striking difference. Note that the H&H shirts also have MOP buttons while all the other makers you list use plastic ones.

There is also an amazing difference between, of all things, their cufflink holes. The holes on a TML french cuff shirt are at least twice the size of those on an H&H. I have a number of cufflinks that are simply impossible to wear with TML shirts as they fall out. I really can't understand why TML does this. The H&H-sized holes are perfectly adequate. I can only speculate that TML thinks their clients are far more likely to wear gigantic cufflinks than does H&H.

 

[cturner]

I would disagree with TML slim fit being similar to CT tailored fit (that is, TML standard slim fit, I cannot speak about John Francomb). I own many of both, and for me there are three main differences.

1. Armholes are higher and sleeves are much narrower on the CT tailored fit. The TML slim fit is comparably slim in the torsco, perhaps with CT tailored being a bit slimmer, but the TML arms are a fairly full cut.

2. CT tailored are longer. I am a 15.5/35 and 6'2", but cannot wear 15.5 in TML slim because the shirt is too short to tuck in. Sizing up to 16.0 fixes it, but it's still closer than I would like. CT has no such issues.

3. CT collars and cuffs seem to hold better. I'm not sure why this is, but they keep shape much better than TML. My TML luxury twill collars and cuffs are all very floppy by midday. I do not use starch, but imagine many probably would want to on the TML collars.

All in, I much prefer my CT shirts, and if they provided more selection of color/weave in the tailored fit I would buy them exclusively. In America they are more expensive than TML (4 for 200 vs 4 for 144), but I find they are worth it for the reasons above.