Shirts and suit recommendations for athletes

[Jthaeler]

I am new to this site and thought I would inquire about purchasing some shirts and suits that are recommended by the community.

I have an athletic build: 6'1", 175 pounds, 42-44 inch chest and a waist between 29 and 31 inches. I have ridiculously long legs with an inseam of 34-36. I have found that RTW suits will not work for me. I own several MTM Samuelsohn suits as this is the only way I am able to avoid the price tag with bespoke and get a fairly high quality suit.

My dress shirts are usually MTM or if they are RTW they are from Italian designers: Corneliani, etc.

My questions are these: are there any shirts that are RTW that happen to have a more athletic fit than some that I already own? If I continue with MTM shirts, are there any companies that you would recommend over another?

Secondly, I like the full canvas and quality of material with the MTM Samuelsohn, but I wondered what suits would offer the full canvas and the functional surgeon cuffs for close to the same price?

I would speculate that price is not an issue here to see what kind prices I am really looking at.

 

[magogian12345]

I have a somewhat similar problem as you. I'm 6'4", 240 lbs. 48" chest with 36" waist (okay, more like 37" now) and 19" arms (a big problem often).

I've tried BB MTM and they did only a so-so job. I recently commissioned a Hickey Freeman MTM blazer at the Chicago HF store. I had a fitting with the basted "practice jacket" and was quite pleased with the result. I can't wait for my actual jacket to come in.

I don't have any first hand experience with Samuelsohn, but from what I gather HF and Samuelsohn are pretty comparable. I'm paying $1600 for my blazer with a decent Loro Piana fabric, fully canvased, functioning button holes, etc.

 

[LostAbbott]

Check out the Swedish designer J. Lindeberg he is tall and athletic. Very popular in Europe for his golf attire but makes great dress shirts. Also check out the little known Montreal designer Philippe Dubuc. http://www.dubucstyle.com/ the guy is 6'5" and designs for the taller guy. His stuff is a little more modern but you can also find classic shirts and suits.

 

[JacobJacob]

I am also athletic build. I climb alot (min 15 hours a week, meaning I have big shoulder and "back-wings")). Plus i also do a little bit of swimming and weight-lifting. It happens way too often that I find a cool shirt but then, when I put it on, it either dosent fit my back at all and makes it impossible to put my arms together or it is way to big all other places except on the back. One thing I discovered though, is that the shirts that fits me the best are often the ones with a little bit of lycra. I just bought two shirts of 97% wool and 3% lycra. Because of the lycras elastic abilitys it stretch a little bit and makes the shirts fit perfectly over the back and shoulders. If you have any other knowledge on how to get pass this problem, please share..

 

[Cary Grant]

Samuelsohn is good for the price- you're notable to get functional buttonholes from them?? Or is it that your finish tailor won't?

Coppley and English-American MTM programs do full canvas of comparable quality. If I were you I'd stick with mtm shirts as well.

 

[LostAbbott]

Jacob I have the same problem I have been climbing for a long time. You need to buy shirts with side pleats, instead of a flat back. My tailor always complains that he has to add back pleats to my shirts but inorder to get a good fit in the front he has to. Stay away from the box pleat as that looks like ass.

 

[TechObsession]

Check out the C&D London. They got good custom tailored suits with high quality fabrics. They also accept online orders and even the measurements are done online. check it out, you might like them...

 

[Jthaeler]

Thanks for the good comments. I will have to check some of these out!

 

[AscotMcPocketsquare]

For an athlete? Hmmm you will need at least a 5 or 6 button suit, probably in purple or gold or maybe some sort of way too bold pinstripe.