https://twitter.com/dieworkwear/status/1817049154700607678
Check out the fit of these two dress shirts. What do you notice?
To me, aside from the tightness in the sleeves, the most noticeable thing is the position of these cuffs. So here’s something easy to check for when buying dress shirts.
When shopping for a dress shirt, you should try to find a place that has them sized according to your neck and sleeves. If you don’t know your size, just look up guides online (you need a measuring tape).
Unfortunately, due to the loss of ties and competitiveness of retail, most retailers have long switched to alpha sizing (small, medium, large, etc). This simplifies inventory. Maybe no big deal if you never fasten the collar, but possibly an issue for your sleeves.
No two people are built exactly the same. Two men can share the same chest and waist size, but may differ in the length of their arms. This can pose a problem for alpha-sized shirts since they only come in one sleeve length.
The good news is that you can shorten sleeves. However, sleeves need a “break” just like trousers. That means excess material in length so the fabric folds or “breaks” along the line. Another way to think of this is that your sleeves should have some slack.
If your sleeves don’t have any slack, the cuffs can ride up on you when you move your arms. This is both uncomfortable and doesn’t look very good. Ideally, you want these cuffs to be stationary on your wrist, even when you have your hands stretched out in front of you.
If you wear suits or sport coats, you also generally want 1/4th to 3/8th of an inch of shirt cuff to peek out from your jacket sleeve (not a hard rule, but a good one). This is an easy way to make things look a little more tailored.
You can check this by standing still with your arms by your side. Now put your arms in front of you. Your shirt cuff should stay relatively stationary. If your cuff rides up your arm, your shirt sleeves are too short.
Of course, there is a fine balancing act to this. You want enough slack for your cuffs to stay relatively still when you move, but not so much material that there’s too much bunching. Best to consult with a tailor.
The last and final issue is linen. If you get a linen suit, sport coat, or shirt, make sure you leave even more slack in the sleeve. Linen holds wrinkles, which means the sleeves will accordion. If you hem them just-so when the garment is new, they will look too short after a day
