Nordstroms Robert Talbott Shirts

[alebrady]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience in ordering talbott shirts through nordstroms? Most curious about the fit and quality of the shirts - are they worth the money?

thanks in advance

 

[Pink22m]

I have done a number of Talbott custom shirts through Nordstrom, including one from their coveted Estate line, and I can attest to the quality of their product. The Best of Class line, which is available through most Nordstrom's, have interesting patterns with nice fabrics (although nothing superlative), mother of pearl buttons, and single needle stitching. Prices for this line are between $195 and $235.

The Estate line of shirts are quite beautiful, and feature double stack mother of pearl buttons, which are prominently shank wrapped, single needle stitching, and hand sewn collars. The sleeve heads appear to be sewn by hand as well, and the botton hems of each shirt feature side gussets conspicuously adorning the Talbott crest. The button holes are machine stiched. The Estate line is only available through select Nordstroms, and personally, I found the selection of fabrics to be quite limited. However, there are some very interesting weaves to select from, including a rather large 1 3/8 inch herringbone, which is what I selected, in pink. The fabric is much softer than any of my Best of Class shirts, which, coupled with the hand work, justifies the premium over the regular BOC line IMO. Prices for the Estate line are between $325 and $475.

I read somewhere that Talbott uses Carlo Riva, which is a very well known fabric company used by the likes of Kiton and Borrelli. I don't know if their Best of Class line utilizes Riva fabrics, but I know their Estate line does. Most of Riva's fabrics come from Italy and Switzerland. I should mention that the Estate line also includes linen and I think cashmere as well. I am not sure about actual fabric threadcounts. All custom Talbott shirts are made in Carmel, California. They also have a RTW line of shirts made in Poland, although I find their RTW patterns to be undesirably limited and insipid.

For customizing, Talbott offers two cuts: regular and athletic. The regular cut can be modified in a manner such that you can specify taking the shirt in on the sides, in two inch increments, up to six inches. I have always specified the full minus six inches, which means that each side is taken in three inches from the standard cut. This slims the shirt considerably, although given my skinny frame, still leaves some fabric to be taken out. I find the fit to be nice, but not optimal. Unfortunately, you can not specify fabric to be taken out of the arms. However, Talbott recently increased their customizing options by allowing customers to specify plus or minus one quarter or one half inches off the circumference of each cuff. I recently did this with my last three shirts, as the regular cuffs were a tad big for my skinny wrists.

Collar wise, you can choose from a standard height collar, and a tall collar, which is one quarter of an inch taller. Collar models available include everything from straight to full cutaway.

There is no minimum shirt order for Talbott, and the shirts take about four weeks to make. The Estate line of shirts are a tad longer at about six to eight weeks. Nordstrom does not require a deposit or anything, so ordering is pretty laid back in that you aren't obligated to purchase the shirts once they arrive at Nordstrom. I would recommend going into the closest Nordstrom and taking a look at their fabric swatches. If they don't have Estate swatches, you might want to ask them for availability. While you are there, you might also want to inquire about their John W. Nordstrom custom shirt line, which was recently started last year. The prices are quite reasonable, at around $165 a shirt, although the customizing options are far more limited than Talbott.

Anyways, I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have further questions!