I’ve always been a slim guy…at least I think so. I don’t remember “off-the-rack” shirts ever fitting perfectly: they have always seemed to be too large around the torso and waist. The closest I have come is, when I lived in Denver, I invested in a bunch of shirts from the Brooks Brothers store that was there.
“Blank Label is empowering you to co-create your own dress shirt. Forget about shopping at your local retail stores to buy a dress shirt…that fits like a parachute…”
You have my attention…
“Customize the collar, cuff, placket, pockets, shoulders, buttons and more on your personalized dress shirt. Individualize it with a personalized monogram or a custom label…
“Make it a slim fit dress shirt meant to be untucked for Friday nights out, or a fitted dress shirt long enough to be tucked in for a serious day at work…make it your own. Designed by you, stitched by us.”
(That’s a good line: “Designed by you, stitched by us”…)
Some of their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
“There are 100% cotton fabrics as well as polyester cotton blends, ranging from broadcloth, poplin, pinpoint and oxford.
“…All our dress shirts are individually made for you so we can pretty much do anything with it that you want, including making short sleeves. On the Sizing Page of the Dress Shirt Application, on the bottom right, look for the ‘[5] Measurements’ box. Please just state there ‘Short Sleeve’.
“Find yourself a measure tape, watch instructional videos, make sure the tape is perfectly horizontally straight and you’re measuring at precisely the right positions…
“We don’t encourage self-measuring. There are too many variables that could go wrong with you measuring yourself.
“…we cannot make sizes bigger than XXL with a 18.5 collar and 37-38 sleeve…”
You design/”co-create” your shirt on their website. I was amazed at the options:
forty types of fabric
collar (complete contrast, inner lining)
cuff (sleeve, complete contrast, inner cuff, single or double button, french/cufflinks)
placket (standard, french, covered)
shoulders (complete contrast, military/epaulet, double strip, clean shoulder)
pocket (complete contrast, double flaps, single notch, no pockets)
buttons (blue, red, brown, black, lavendar, standard)
monogram (collar, pocket, cuffs)
label (collar, placket)
It’s fun just to design a shirt so you can play with all of the options. When you’re done, URLs can be provided for you to share the design and the shirt!
Danny Wong of Blank Label sent a package to me:
“…Here’s a shirt from my personal collection…
“I have included return shipping inside the bag…”
Oh, well…so much for my birthday present from him…
I’m impressed by the quality of the shirt…to my surprise, he customized the inside of his sleeves…and, it appears we have similar measurements…
(Oh, calm down everyone: I plan on returning his shirt. I “plan” on it…today, I plan on it…)
Having to return a shirt after a review? Thats a First! It seems like it would be a lot of a hassle to have a custom shirt, how about the cost, did he give you an idea of what they run?
I didn’t complete the entire ordering process, but…from what I’ve seen on the website…it looks like it could be around $45 per shirt.
Actually Sl!ck, $45 is the CHEAPEST shirt you can get with NO customization.
I ‘co-created’ three shirts; $75, $98 & $112! (an option, few options, many options; respectively)
Personally I’ve never paid more than $10-15 for a ‘nice’ dress shirt (Wal-Mart, Target or Costco); however, I was given (handed down) two Tommy Bahama dress shirts (each cost well over $150 new) and can definitely see the quality difference.
If you REALLY want to build your own customized shirt (or wearable), check out http://www.cafepress.com 🙂
DDTG