Dress Shirts or Formal Shirt or Button Shirt first began to appear in Europe back in the 17th century. As time continued, it became a staple for professional wear, in interviews, formal occasions, weddings, or just wanting to look sharp on a date. We are also seeing a changing trend of less dress shirts with office wear becoming more casual with casual Fridays and work from home, but dress shirts are still a big part of our wardrobe and it will not be going away anytime soon. We hope this blog will give you some tips on the next time you buy a dress shirt.
If price is not a factor, we believe these three components are the keys to a quality dress shirt. We believe the main focuses should fall on the Fabric Used, the Fit and Sizing, and Qualities of the Sewing and Assembly of the Shirt. We will share with you our thoughts on each one of them.
The Fabric of the Shirt:
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Cotton:
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There’s no argument that Cotton is king when it comes to the fabric of choice for a dress shirt. It is natural, very soft, and very breathable. Cotton dress shirts will keep you cooler in the summer. So we highly highly highly recommend you going with a dress shirt that is made from cotton fabric. (We are not totally against other types of fabric, and we have come across some new age tech fabric that blended with other materials and felt great but while others feel like plastic…)
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Thread Count:
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If you ask a salesman the thread count of the fabric, they know they better not mess with you. We know that the higher the thread count of the fabric the higher the quality, bringing a finer, smoother and softer fabric hand feel.
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In our experience, you would usually come across 60 and 80’s thread count in your usual off-the-rack dress shirts brands. Some premium tailors would likely offer you fabric in the 100’s thread count and up. We have come across dress shirts using fabric over 300’s thread count and the price tag of that shirt is over US$500. This will be up to you on your preference of the hand feel, softness and smoothness of the fabric, but any fabric thread count north of 100’s should feel great.
- Ply is another consideration when focusing on the thread count. Fabrics are in 1, 2 or 3 ply which means the number of yarns twisting together to make a thread. 1-ply simply means the thread is made of one single yarn and 2-ply is the twisting of two yarns into one thread. 2-ply will make the fabric more durable and smoother. In considering the quality of the fabric, a 100 thread count fabric that is 2-ply is higher quality than a fabric that is 120 thread count and 1-ply. (Just in case you missed it. Our premium 100% cotton TEXO SmartWeave fabric is 140’s 2-ply thread count.)
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Types of Weaves:
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Oxford, Twill, Poplin, Herringbone, and Broadcloth.
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We don’t believe the types of Weaves will affect what makes the fabric great or not. It is more of a personal choice and you can choose which fabric based on the seasons of cooler months or warmer months. And the types of weaves can be an article of itself, we will plan one for the future, stay tuned.
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The Qualities of the Sewing and Assembly of the Shirt:
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We believe a dress shirt is an Art. There are many many steps, techniques and qualities that went in your dress shirt. You can learn more in Our Shirts from the collar to the buttons used. Not every dress shirt brand will have these components, but next time you are shopping for a shirt and you are able to find these components, you have a high quality shirt in your hand.
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Double fused collar
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Double interlined collar
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Split yoke cut
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Single-needle side seam stitching
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Premium Mother of Pearl buttons
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Reinforced shirt tail gussets
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Buttons attached with criss cross stitching
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18 stitches per inch around the cuffs and colors
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Over 160 stitches per buttonholes
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Small button on sleeve placket
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Horizontal buttonhole as the last button at the placket
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Spare buttons at shirt tail
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The Fit and Sizing of the Shirt:
- Our recommendation: Find the right Fit for you. Because no matter how high the quality of the fabric or having the best techniques and qualities used on the shirt, it will mean nothing if the dress shirt doesn’t fit properly on you.
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Not every person will enjoy wearing the same fit, and no dress shirts brands should only have one fit for all its customers.
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We have created 3 Fits for our different customers to choose from:
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Slim Fit: If you enjoy a tailored shirt and want to achieve a slimmer and more fitted look, our Slim Fit is perfect for you. The added darts between the lower to midsection at the back of the shirts will make the shirt fit perfectly close to your body with enough fabric to move around.
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Regular Fit: The perfect balance between a shirt that fits perfectly to your body while also feeling relaxed and comfortable.
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Comfort Fit: If comfort is the most important to you, our Comfort Fit would make you feel the most relaxed, with more than enough fabric to move comfortably without looking baggy at all.
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Sizing: This will have many different schools of thoughts. But here are what we thought as a few universal rules we have shared in our Size Chart. You can also find the methods at our Size Chart in which we believe each part of your body should be measured for your dress shirt.
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Collar: Don’t let your dress shirt suffocate you. Make sure there’s a good two fingers space between your neck and the collar button.
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Sleeve Length: The Sleeve Length should be one inch to pass the start of your wrist
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Shoulder width: We recommend the shoulder point (stitching connecting your sleeve) to cut off at the tip of your shoulder bone, not pass onto your shoulder muscle.
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Chest Width: If you want maximum comfort or if you don’t want a shirt that looks like a size too small for you or how it would pop a button every time you move, there should be at least one or two fingers space or more in between your chest and the shirt.
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Waist: Similar to Chest Width, there should be at least two fingers space or more in between your chest and the shirt. If this spacing isn’t well factored in, some guys might look great standing with their shirt on, but the moment they sit down, the shirt will stretch and the belly will show between the buttons…
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Shirt Length: Last but not least, one of the biggest complaints we get from our customers about other brands' shirts is how short their shirts’ Shirt Length are. Every time they reach to get something, their shirt will untuck itself from the pants because the shirt length isn't long enough. If you are strictly wearing for tuck in, we recommend going 5 - 6 inches of fabric past your belt. If you want to be versatile and will occasionally wear the shirt tucked out, we recommend going 3 - 4 inches of fabric past your belt (but expect the shirt to get untucked with larger movements).
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We hope you enjoyed and find our tips helpful! Until next time!
Way Chang
TEXOLOGY Senior Dress Shirts Specialist