Why You Need Custom Shirts in Your Wardrobe
The Features and Benefits of Custom Shirts
By: Kim Keller, Tom James Clothier in Dallas, TX
April 13, 2023
Do you find yourself fussing with your shirts -- the collar is too tight, the waist is too puffy, the sleeves are too short or long? Then custom shirts are your answer! All custom clothing is wonderful, but wearing custom shirts is the smartest money you will spend in your wardrobe. You don’t always wear a jacket, but you ALWAYS wear a shirt and you actually feel your shirt more than a jacket. Let’s run thru some of the reasons why you should consider buying custom shirts for your work, social and casual needs.
Why Custom Shirts Are Staple Pieces in any Wardrobe
Custom shirts are a good value, and before you skip this, let me explain. Let’s say a man has 20 shirts in his closet but only wears 10 of them consistently (the 10 he doesn’t wear generally have some fit issue or reason they are not worn) Let’s say he spends $125 per shirt but since he’s only wearing half of them, in essence, the 10 shirts he actually wears cost him $250 per shirt. With custom shirts, we can build your pattern to create the fit, features and style you desire and give you consistency in your shirt rotation, so you wear all the shirts in your closet.
With a proper shirt rotation, custom shirts generally last at least twice as long as a ready-made shirt so subsequently, your cost per wear goes down which makes them a good value!
Most books & articles on men’s clothing say the magic number of shirts the average man should have in his closet is a 3-week rotation (21 shirts), you’ll have a week’s worth of clean shirts ready for business, another five for the next week & a week’s worth at the cleaners.
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If you are wondering if our service is a good fit, our clothiers would be happy to talk with you and evaluate your current and future wardrobe needs.
We serve busy, successful professionals by meeting them in their homes or offices, on the go, or wherever Is convenient.
People often ask how long should a good dress shirt last? That’s tricky to answer due to variations in how many shirts you rotate and so forth. A better question is how many washings can a shirt withstand and still look good? The Dry Cleaning and Laundry Institute says that industry experience indicates that a shirt should have a wear life of 35 to 50 washings. They also say that the amount of abrasion and strain placed on the shirt as well as fiber content, type of fabric and laundering procedure will cause these numbers to fluctuate.
Custom shirts solve your fit issues. We can build your pattern to give you enough room in the collar and shoulders, provide the proper sleeve length and wrist circumference you need and get rid of the excess fabric most guys have in the waist area. The only drawback to a custom shirt is that they are addicting, they will spoil you and you won’t wear anything else.
Custom shirts offer better features and style options. You can select the collar & cuff style, pocket or no pocket, monogram color and style, and a few other details to give you the classic or fashionable look you desire. We also offer colored buttonhole thread options along with colored buttons which add a nice touch & give a customized look to your wardrobe.
Custom shirts offer a better selection & quality than what you find off the rack in a retail store.
At Tom James, we offer a minimum of 100 custom shirt fabrics to choose from in each of our collections-Corporate Image, Executive Collection, Royal Classic, Holland & Sherry, Ventura and Oxxford. Shirt fabrics used in Royal Classic, Holland & Sherry, Ventura and Oxxford come from cotton mills in Italy and Switzerland which are known to be the finest cotton mills in the world.
A man’s shirt is a wardrobe workhorse but it’s also the easiest way to add variety in your closet. In business-casual offices, the shirt is flexible enough to work with or without a sport coat. For men who wear suits, dress shirts are what colleagues see during the day when jackets come off. Lastly, it’s hard to beat a good-looking shirt that fits great with a pair of jeans. So do yourself a favor and order some custom shirts this year, you’ll be glad you did!