The Definitive Guide to Slim Fit Shirts

I hate everything about the Express shirts other than the fit (if it shrank just a bit less the arms and neck would be tailored to me). MTM's pointless at the moment as I can't be arsed to wait. I need some new shirts now!

I hope Benetton's got something. I'm going to give Uniqlo a go as soon as my pay cheque's sent. Heard they're alright.

I recently bought a Benetton shirt and I have to say it is extremely slim fitted.

From browsing the shop they seem to have two versions of their slim fit line.

The first has two 'lines' down each side on the front of the shirt (which i assume slims down a shirt) which is the extremely fitted one I purchased.

The second does not have said lines and is slightly more blouse like at the waist.

It's darted front and back? Is it a button down collar or not? And is that price point right, about $70?

Originally Posted by John_Edward

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It's darted front and back? Is it a button down collar or not? And is that price point right, about $70?

This is important. I don't want a shirt with a button down collar.

I'm OK with the darts, doesn't really matter, especially if the shirt is a solid color.

Originally Posted by Jonah

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I recently bought a Benetton shirt and I have to say it is extremely slim fitted.

From browsing the shop they seem to have two versions of their slim fit line.

The first has two 'lines' down each side on the front of the shirt (which i assume slims down a shirt) which is the extremely fitted one I purchased.

The second does not have said lines and is slightly more blouse like at the waist.

The 'lines' are called darts And yes, that is essentially the standard at UCB: rear darted or front and rear darted.

Originally Posted by John_Edward

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It's darted front and back? Is it a button down collar or not? And is that price point right, about $70?

You can normally find them for $40 or less during sales time. And they do have button-down collar models available every season.

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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The 'lines' are called darts

And yes, that is essentially the standard at UCB: rear darted or front and rear darted.



You can normally find them for $40 or less during sales time. And they do have button-down collar models available every season.

So you would say for the sub 70 dollars, Benetton makes the best slim fitting shirts?

'Darts' thank you at the Benetton flagship store in London they seem to have vertical stripes, checks, mini checks and plain.

The store also had a brand called Sisley which had some very slim plain dress shirt.

I checked out Brooks Brothers and Massimo Dutti recently and both their extra slim fit was also good.

Aside from some fitting issues like shoulders being a little too small and sleeves too long I think my search for decent RTW extra slim fit shirts are over.

Originally Posted by refinery

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So you would say for the sub 70 dollars, Benetton makes the best slim fitting shirts?

I don't know about 'best', since your body type may vary (i.e. my back is wide, so some slim fit shirts simply will NOT fit me), but for the price, I think they are great slim fit shirts that can be purchased without having to take them to a tailor. With UCB clothing, you should be careful never to machine dry them... or they will shrink like no tomorrow; I believe they aren't sanforized.

Originally Posted by Jonah

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'Darts' thank you

at the Benetton flagship store in London they seem to have vertical stripes, checks, mini checks and plain.

The store also had a brand called Sisley which had some very slim plain dress shirt.

I checked out Brooks Brothers and Massimo Dutti recently and both their extra slim fit was also good.

Aside from some fitting issues like shoulders being a little too small and sleeves too long I think my search for decent RTW extra slim fit shirts are over.

BB stuff is good quality for the price (3 for $199 in the US), but they use a box pleat in the rear which is a no-no for my tastes. No pleat or two pleats are fine, but the box pleat always sticks out far too much on slim fit shirts.

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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I don't know about 'best', since your body type may vary (i.e. my back is wide, so some slim fit shirts simply will NOT fit me), but for the price, I think they are great slim fit shirts that can be purchased without having to take them to a tailor. With UCB clothing, you should be careful never to machine dry them... or they will shrink like no tomorrow; I believe they aren't sanforized.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for your input.

Ok, so I'm the definition of slim fit, being both SLIM and FIT! I'm 6" tall in shape, slim in bone structure but with decent muscle mass on back due to sports. What I hate most about almost all the shirts I try is the "balloon" like effect of excessive fabric at the back. I recently tried some so called "slim fit" shirts and they all had the same problem.

Trouble is they usually fit well at the chest, arm and neck, it's the back that let's it down. This is starting to seem like some Holy Grail!

What is the crucial measure to avoid that tent like effect of fabric at the back? Waist?

Here's some very rough pictures I took just to exemplify (not ironed, out of my jammies to shoot these):

1 - Baggy back - hate it:

Attachment 33217

2 - Good

Attachment 33219
Attachment 33218

3 - Very Good (Raf Simons)

Attachment 33221
Attachment 33220

Am thinking of MTM online, but wanderinf if it's best to measure a shirt I like or just provide measures and some details in the hope I find the Holy Grail!

Simple dude, just whack some darts on #1 (or have the siders suppressed if there's too much fabric for darts alone).

Originally Posted by mgomes

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Ok, so I'm the definition of slim fit, being both SLIM and FIT! I'm 6" tall in shape, slim in bone structure but with decent muscle mass on back due to sports. What I hate most about almost all the shirts I try is the "balloon" like effect of excessive fabric at the back. I recently tried some so called "slim fit" shirts and they all had the same problem.

Trouble is they usually fit well at the chest, arm and neck, it's the back that let's it down. This is starting to seem like some Holy Grail!

What is the crucial measure to avoid that tent like effect of fabric at the back? Waist?

Here's some very rough pictures I took just to exemplify (not ironed, out of my jammies to shoot these):

1 - Baggy back - hate it:

Attachment 33217

2 - Good

Attachment 33219
Attachment 33218

3 - Very Good (Raf Simons)

Attachment 33221
Attachment 33220

Am thinking of MTM online, but wanderinf if it's best to measure a shirt I like or just provide measures and some details in the hope I find the Holy Grail!

I really like 2 and 3. 1 is what I get 95% of the time...

Originally Posted by John_Edward

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Simple dude, just whack some darts on #1 (or have the siders suppressed if there's too much fabric for darts alone).

And that is always an option, however, if one can find slim fit shirts that do not have to be tailored, thus less money is spent per shirt, than this thread would have done what I originally intended it to do.

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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And that is always an option, however, if one can find slim fit shirts that do not have to be tailored, thus less money is spent per shirt, than this thread would have done what I originally intended it to do.

Which is my goal in life at this moment: to find a shirt which fits.

The annotated version includes bits about not needing tailors, not costing $250, etc etc. If I weren't in a desert, I'd have sorted this out ages ago. I can't imagine people in NYC or SF have got this problem.