Does this dress shirt fit right?

It might sound like basic knowledge, but you’d be surprised how many men can’t really tell when a dress shirt doesn’t fit them right. When it’s obvious, it’s obvious - but fit can be a subtle thing. Why does it matter if it’s not very noticeable? It’s all about a feeling.

When your shirt fits right, you’ll feel more comfortable which will translate to more confidence. And when you’re feeling confident, your posture and your attitude change. Thisis noticeable and can make a big difference between getting you that raise... or not.

So let’s go through the steps to make sure your shirt fits correctly!

1.  The Shirt Collar

There are two important aspects of the shirt collar: the size and the style. Size-wise, it’s pretty simple to gauge whether or not it’s right for you - you should be able to fit two fingers (index and middle finger) between the collar and neck.

As for style, you want to complement the shape of your face. After all, the collar of your shirt kind of acts like a frame for your face - it has to be flattering. There are tons of options, but  we’ll keep it simple:

• Full cheeks and rounded jawline: you’ll want to balance out the roundness of your face with a more angular, pointy collar. Try out abutton down collar.
• Square jawline and/or pointed chin:in this case, you want to accentuate the squareness of the jaw and/or soften the chin. In your case, go for awide spread.
• Slim face with rounded jawline: Go nuts! Your face shape matches any style of collar, and you’ll easily pull off a more daringextreme cutaway collar.

2. The Shoulder Seam

This one can be a little confusing because the difference between right and wrong is subtle. The thing about this particular part of the shirt, is that it has an effect on how the entire rest of your shirt fits, from the shoulders down. The shoulder seam should rest directly on the edge of the shoulder bone - not too much above or below. If it’s wrong, your shirt won’t lay flat across the chest and it might bunch up and tug at the buttons. Not cool.

3. The Armhole Openings

The armholes go hand-in-hand with the shoulder seams. They’re just as important as they will also affect how the rest of the shirt fits across the chest and in the sleeves. If it’s too small, it will feel uncomfortable and cut through the armpit. If it’s too big, the sleeves will be too wide and hang lower, pulling the shirt up whenever you life your arms and causing it to constantly untuck and become billowy. Basically, if you have more than one inch of loose fabric at the armhole seam, it’s too big.

4. The Sleeves

The sleeve has two important aspects to consider: the width and length. The width shouldn’t be too tight as to restrict movement, but there should also not be more than one inch of extra fabric around the arm when pulled tight. As for length, the edge of the cuff should hit you right at the bottom of when your hand and writs connect. Your shirt should peak out of the jacket by about 1 cm (a little under half an inch).

5. The Chest and Torso

The shirt should lay flat across the chest and back, with enough room for you to raise your arms out in front of you without feeling like it’s going to rip off your back, like the Hulk. On the front, the buttons shouldn’t pull or show any gaps and they shouldn’t form a sort of wave all the way down. You’ll know your shirt is too loose when you feel like you need to tuck it back in your pants at any movement, or if it billows out at the waist and creates a “muffin-top” illusion.

6. The Length

Finally, you’ll want to make sure the shirt is long enough to properly tuck it in without having any extra fabric bunching up in your pants. To check if the length is right, bend down as though you’re tying a show: if the shirt pop-out it’s too short.

At the very least, try doing a lot of different movement when you try on a new shirt, don't just stand there and admire yourself. Wave your arms around, bend down, do a backflip - you know, normal everyday movements. You should be able to move freely without any fabric getting in the way or seriously out of place. Now go buy some well-fitting shirts! If you want to know if the DandyFitTM fit is right for you, check out ourmeasurement and fit details.