I've always had difficulty when it comes to buying dress shirts. I never trusted buying shirts with the neck and arm measurements and instead would try to buy shirts (such as Dockers or Columbia brand) which came in the S, M, L, XL sizing. However, I have reversed that trend and have now finally figured out how to buy a dress shirt for myself.
Over the last Christmas holiday break, I decided that I needed to find some new dress shirts that I could wear to my job which would also work with my suits. I read a few articles on how to pick out dress shirts and I didn't realize that there are several factors that one needs to consider when buying a dress shirt. Those factors include the material, the collar type, the cuff type, and shirt construction. I found this article to be very helpful.
With this new knowledge, I went through my closet and cleaned out tons of dress shirts that didn't fit right due to either being too small in the neck to fit comfortably with a tie or shirts that were too short for my arm length. I figured that throwing away these shirts would require me to go buy dress shirts that fit right. I decided to take my own measurements (with a standard metal measuring tape no less) and found out that I need a 17 34/35 shirt size. This made me feel more confident then ever going shopping for dress shirts.
So, now I knew that I was looking for any reasonably priced shirt that was an oxford or twill woven shirt with a spread collar and barrel cuffs. I had researched Stafford shirts and found that they were reasonably priced with good reviews. Thus, JCPenny was my first stop on my shopping trip.
When I arrived, I found out that the selection was overwhelming. I couldn't find any Stafford shirts with a spread collar that were in my size. So, I decided to buy a few oxford style Stafford shirts with a button down collar instead. These shirts work but it was not exactly what I was looking for in the store. So, I headed to another store.
The next store to visit was Belk. They were having an after Christmas sale on men's dress shirts and had several selections displayed in the front of the men's section. One of those displays were for Eagle Shirtmakers shirts. These dress shirts had all of the ingredients that I wanted. They had a spread collar, barrel cuffs, twill, and offered several muted colors. However, their price range was a little bit much for my liking. They were priced at around $40 for one shirt although they are marketed in the $70 range. I typically don't like to spend more than $20 for a shirt of any kind. Even so, I was feeling a little desperate since I threw away most of my dress shirts at home. I decided to take a chance on these shirts. I am SO glad that I did!
Eagle Shirtmakers shirts have become my new favorite shirt. They fit nice and feel good when I wear them. I'm very impressed with them and will continue to buy these shirts when I can afford it. I did find that Stein Mart sells them but they price them the same as when I found them on sale at Belk. They do mark them down a bit after some time so I'll just keep checking in periodically to see if I can get any good deals there.
In conclusion, if anyone wants to buy me a dress shirt, now you know what I like. ;)
