Lost weight; need advice on how to salvage dress shirts

[Doremus J.]

Earlier this year I lost some weight and went from a 16 neck to 15.5, and then I bought a bunch of Brooks Brothers non-iron, slim fit shirts. I've lost more weight since then; I haven't measured my neck again, but it's got to be down to a 15 because the collars on all my shirts are incredibly loose and I look like a 5 year old if I button the collar and put on a tie.

My understanding is that BB non-iron shirts don't shrink much so it's not like I can just stick them in the dryer and fix the problem (especially because I don't want to shrink the sleeves). Would a tailor be able to tighten up the neck on my BB shirts in a way that would look good? Is there anything else I can do to keep from having all these shirts be relegated to unbuttoned casual wear?

 

[acecow]

There is really nothing you can do, unless you want to spend the $$ on your tailor completely redoing the collars from scratch and reattaching them to the shirts. I'd rather just buy new shirts.

 

[Doremus J.]

Thanks, but damnit. I spent about $1,000 on those shirts and I'd like to be able to wear a tie with them.

 

[acecow]

Develop a program to work out your neck. I'm sure you can gain another .5 by the end of the year. As a motivation tool, spend another $1K on 15.5 shirts.

 

[JhwkMac]

I'm no tailor but I'm guessing he would have to detach the collar to be able to fix it, i dont think it would fit right if he were to just move a button. As far as the body of the shirt goes, ask your tailor for darts.

 

[chobochobo]

Just sell them and put the proceeds towards your next shirts.

 

[potemkin_city_limits]

Originally Posted by chobochobo

Just sell them and put the proceeds towards your next shirts.

+1 they will never fit quite right. Your better off taking the loss and getting new ones.

 

[Doremus J.]

Originally Posted by potemkin_city_limits

+1 they will never fit quite right. Your better off taking the loss and getting new ones.

The body and arms still fit well, so I guess I'll just wear them without ties. It's frustrating because I also bought a number of ties to go with these shirts. But I guess that's the price to pay for being in better shape.

 

[potemkin_city_limits]

Thats not so bad then. I have a couple shirts I found at various thrift stores that fit well everywhere but then neck so I just wear them unbuttoned and they work well.

 

[Shirtmaven]

no tailor really wants to work on non iron
but

how many are the same fabric, bought at the same time
if you have three blue pp ox shirts a shirtmaker could cut up one and change the collars on two.
otherwise whie collars

on the sneaker side

measure the collars button to button hole I will wager that the size 16 collars measure close to 16 1/2" if so, go back to brooks and complain about the size and try to get your money back

Carl

 

[bjornb17]

gain the weight back, problem solved.

 

[ter1413]

Originally Posted by Doremus J.

The body and arms still fit well, so I guess I'll just wear them without ties. It's frustrating because I also bought a number of ties to go with these shirts. But I guess that's the price to pay for being in better shape.

Lesson #2....NEVER buy ties to GO WITH SHIRTS! Buy ties that you like and they will last a lifetime through any wardrobe! I never buy a shirt and walk to the tie section to find a tie that matches it. That's strictly JV. When you see a nice tie, buy it. When you see a nice shirt, buy it. If you have enough of both, you will be set!

 

[AlmostFullBenefits]

Originally Posted by bjornb17

gain the weight back, problem solved.

This really is the most sensible solution. Here, have a box of doughnuts to cheer yourself up.




On a related note, is it possible for a tailor to re-collar a shirt using a smaller (or different in general) collar size without it looking obvious, as JhwkMac suggested? I was/am unaware that this could work at all, so if it is possible, it might be a useful bit of knowledge to have later on in life.

 

[juvefan]

would, generally speaking, be cheaper to switch the collars for size-desired, white ones?

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by AlmostFullBenefits

(...)

On a related note, is it possible for a tailor to re-collar a shirt using a smaller (or different in general) collar size without it looking obvious, as JhwkMac suggested? I was/am unaware that this could work at all, so if it is possible, it might be a useful bit of knowledge to have later on in life.

I don't see it working at all.

FWIW, I went from a 15.5 neck to a 15, but kept the 15.5 shirts to wear open-collared.