Comparison of Four Online MTM Shirt Makers

I'm a newcomer to any sense of style, so I thought I'd share my newbie experiences with four online MTM shirt makers. I have a fat neck so RTW shirts never fit me. I find high and stiff collars very uncomfortable to wear all day, and I've yet to find the right collar combo that looks OK but isn't a pain in the neck.

ONE: The first one I tried was www.tailor4less.com The name should have given me a clue, but they did promise to deliver in 3 weeks, had a good website and charged 29 Euros. I had my wife take the measurements and the shirt duly arrived in 18 days.
The fit was not bad for a first attempt, a little more slim fit than I was used to, and the sleeves a bit long. I really hated the material and the collar. The material was white poplin, and took me 45 minutes to iron after the first wash. In the photo is doesn't look so bad, but up close it's something K-Mart would reject! The collar was like cardboard, uncomfortable and ugly.

http://www.styleforum.net/attachment...1&d=1234011225

TWO : Next try was Marks and Spencer in the UK http://www.marksandspencer.com . They have a new system - you just put in your neck size, height, weight and age and they figure out the rest. Good option for the first MTM. Shirt arrived in 25 days and cost GBP 29. Loved the material it was a white twill, felt soft and luxurious and hung nicely. The fit was actually a pretty good fit, but I hated the collar - they only have options for eight collar types with no selection of height or interlining. I had the height of the collar reduced locally, it feels better, but I don't like the way it looks too much.

http://www.styleforum.net/attachment...1&d=1234011225

THREE: The much-favored Jantzen. Five weeks to deliver (I heard nothing from them until the shirt arrived in the mail). The choice of fabrics and styles was a bit overwhelming, but I could choose the lower, soft collar. The fabric was Jantzen*2007, White Dobby Stripe with Black /Navy/Light Blue Stripes,100's, 2 Ply. Not hugely impressed by either the fabric or the fit. The material is a bit lifeless. Cost US $40. Since placed an order for two more shirts from them, but five weeks later, no response. I also emailed Ricky directly with photos of the shirt for advice on fit, no response.

http://www.styleforum.net/attachment...1&d=1234011225

FOUR: www.tailorstore.com great website and customer service, they even send swatches for a small fee. Not cheap (EUR 63 with shipping) but shirt arrived in 17 days. I had given shirt measurements by trying to combine the best of what I had ordered so far. The fabric was awesome, unfortunately the sleeves turned out way too tight and the cuffs are a little longer than I am used to. The sleeves are uncomfortable enough that I can't wear it and I asked them what can be done.

http://www.styleforum.net/attachment...1&d=1234011225


So for first timers I would recommend Marks and Spencer, Jantzen if you have the patience and know what you want, and Tailorstore if you don't mind spending a little more for better service. Tailor4less I don't recommend.
BTW all shirts are washed several times except the Tailorstore one.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It's unfortunate that you did not seem to get a single well fitting shirt out of this process.

For the tailorstore shirt, you didn't specify having the "extra narrow or normal" sleeve widths, did you? I had the sleeves on the normal width the first time I ordered my shirt from them and it was too tight. The 2nd shirt I ordered was with the "extra wide" sleeves and that fixed my problem (the sleeve width was perfect - wasn't blousy as I feared).

Great post! I've tried both Jantzen and Tailorstore with decent results. My personal favourite is mytailor.com - you might want to give them a try for comparison's sake.

Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure if I ordered normal or narrow, but it definitely wasn't extra-wide - I'll try that next time - good to know that it's not blousy. The scye and cuff measurements are not too bad- it's the bit in between that is tight, so this would make sense.

I'm going of a Far East trip soon BK- KL - KK and back, with a day or two at each stop. I think I'll try Rajawonse in BK and see what they can make up.

Great post. Which fabric is that from tailor store?

Originally Posted by bc78

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Great post. Which fabric is that from tailor store?
It was Blue Royal Oxford, though I don't see it on their site anymore - only the purple royal oxford.

Originally Posted by 2fingers

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I'm a newcomer to any sense of style, so I thought I'd share my newbie experiences with four online MTM shirt makers.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. Such comparisons are very useful to those of us who are, like you, in search of a reliable source on MTM shirts.

I recently ordered and received one shirt from MyTailor.com and will write a review after I've laundered it one more time. Based on your post, however, I think it's already safe for me to recommend MyTailor.com over any of the companies you just reviewed. My shirt arrived in four weeks, seems to be well-constructed of quality fabric, and fits me very well. It cost $79 US. I'll say more and post some pics when I get it back from the cleaners.

This is a great thread, 2fingers, thanks a lot! It corresponds to my experiences with MTM shirt services.

I have not idea why Jantzen is favored on this forum and Tailorstore is generally regarded as having poor customer service and quality. My experiences are exactly the opposite!

Thanks again, that was really useful.
I've been very happy with Marks and Spencers, though they only have a very few fabrics in stock at the moment. I just took a risk using measurements from my m&s shirts and ordered a couple from tailor store. I didn't order the extra wide sleeve, but I've got the convertible 2 button cuff, so hopefully I'll be able to do them up!

Originally Posted by Chouse

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This is a great thread, 2fingers, thanks a lot! It corresponds to my experiences with MTM shirt services.

I have not idea why Jantzen is favored on this forum and Tailorstore is generally regarded as having poor customer service and quality. My experiences are exactly the opposite!

+1

I've been dealing with tailorstore only to have positive results. Customer service is good as well (timely returned emails, they even emailed me to follow up on fit).

My Tailor Store shirts have arrived, and they are exactly what I asked for. The fit is great, they followed my measurements perfectly. My mistake was to give a 3cm too wide cuff width measurement so I'm hoping a local tailor can alter this. I chose more expensive fabrics and they look and feel great. I've not used the more expensive Marks and Spencer materials so I can't compare like for like.

I'm happy with both, M&S's biometric system works for me and is much easier to use, the Tailor Store system is prone to user error, but they have a much wider fabric selection. I'll use both in future with fabric choice rather than cost, quality or service being the only deciding factor.

Another online MTM shirt maker has spaminated this site a couple of months ago, so naturally I gave it a go. I ordered 'purple checks'. To my surprise it fits very well, certainly for a first try: Fabric is a bit rough, but looks nice and worth the $ 29.- + $ 10.- shipping, spent. Buttons are plastic shite, perhaps they have a choice now. Haven't checked. Collar and cuffs are fused (ofcourse). Collar is a bit thick. At the time they had only 3 collar choices. Now they added some new ones. Site is very clear and well put together. Customer service: + I got an email, asking after the sleeve lenght I ordered. I had sent in the 'Jantzen measurement', where it is measured from the middle of the back instead of how they do it. (forgot exactly how, but is explained on the site) - I was on a holiday when the shirt was first offered by the postal service. MT called me up and asked why I wassn't at home. It was offered twice that week. The monday I had returned I was called again, saying the package was offered again that day, (which it wassn't) and complaining that I "was never home". + Apparently they care My other experience is with Jantzen which I am quite happy with if they would only have better pictures of their samples. (You have to have a good eye to discern the quality and sometimes colour of the fabrics)

I tried TailorFactory.com with pretty good results:

Order 1:
The first shirt arrived and, upon inspection, looked to be well made. The fit was also very nice. After a few washings, I couldn't spot any issues except that the material on one of the cuffs started to "bubble" (fusing problem, which was reported to the company).

Order 2:
The second shirt arrived, but was 2 inches too long (sent back for correction). There weren't any "bubbling" issues with the fusing on the cuffs this round, but there was a small fusing issue on the placket.

Order 3 and 4:
No issues with fit or fusing with these five shirts.


NOTE: These shirts are very easy to iron (twill and end-on-end)



I tried Tailor4Less for a sports coat. The material and fit were nice, but the construction left something to be desired. There's a company called "A Tailored Suit" that I'm a little curious about.



2fingers said:

Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure if I ordered normal or narrow, but it definitely wasn't extra-wide - I'll try that next time - good to know that it's not blousy. The scye and cuff measurements are not too bad- it's the bit in between that is tight, so this would make sense.


I'm going of a Far East trip soon BK- KL - KK and back, with a day or two at each stop. I think I'll try Rajawonse in BK and see what they can make up.

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I just ordered a shirt from TailorStore.com and I'm experiencing the exact same problem with the sleeves. They are far too tight below the elbow and thus too uncomfortable to wear. I contacted them last Friday but still no reply. You mentioned that you asked them what could be done, so I'm wondering what the outcome of that was? Thanks in advance.