When choosing a dress shirt, it is important to consider style, convenience, and comfort. You want to look great while being able to get through your day without a hitch. Finding the right balance between these factors often becomes a challenge.
Since you basically have two options when buying a dress shirt, can you achieve these preferences by getting a custom-fitted item, or can you get away with buying one off-the-rack? While there is no right or wrong answer (it's your money, after all), there will always be an ultimate choice that makes your purchase worthwhile.
Luckily, coming across this article is the best thing that happened today. By the end, you'll learn more about the pros and cons between custom and off-the-rack shirts so you can buy one without any regrets.
Custom Dress Shirts
If you're looking for a dress shirt tailored to your precise measurements and specifications, custom dress shirts won't disappoint. You can personally pick the fabric, style, and cut to guarantee a better fit and style. These are typically produced by specialty tailors who work on the product by hand, allowing them to pay more attention to the finest details.
The Good:
- Perfect Fit: You can choose the shirt's measurements which helps address sizing issues if you have a unique or unusual body type.
- Higher Quality: Custom dress shirts are often made with premium fabrics and superior sewing techniques that make them look better and more durable.
- Personalization: You have complete control over the design and details of the shirt to create a garment that truly reflects your personality and style.
- Modification: Depending on the company, you can actually request revisions to the design once you get the shirt in hand and it's not on par with your expectations (for an extra price, of course).
The Bad:
- Costly: Custom dress shirts are typically more expensive because they require more effort to produce. The cost will vary depending on the type of fabric, design details, and brand.
- Time-Consuming: It may take several weeks or even months to receive your custom shirt, depending on the company and the complexity of the design.
Off-the-Rack Dress Shirts
On the other hand, off-the-rack dress shirts are pre-made clothes available in various sizes that you can buy immediately from stores or online. No need to have your measurements taken since off-the-rack dress shirts are often mass-produced, making them more affordable than custom-made ones.
The Good:
- Lower Cost: Off-the-rack dress shirts are generally less expensive and come in a wide range of prices, from budget-friendly options to high-end brands.
- Convenience: These shirts are readily available for purchase. You can even try it before buying it in the store. You can also order online and have them delivered to your door.
The Bad:
- Sizing Issues: Being pre-made, it might be difficult to find a shirt that fits well unless you have a standard fit or there is a broad range of size options. There's also the problem of getting the wrong size online since you can't try it beforehand.
- Limited Options: Stores provide fewer options on fabric and style, so you may not be able to find exactly what you're looking for.
The Final Verdict
In conclusion, custom-made shirts are made to fit your body shape and size perfectly, but they can be expensive and time-consuming to create. On the other hand, off-the-rack shirts are ready to wear and more affordable, but may not provide the fit and quality that you're looking for.
Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference for which shirt you prefer. Nowadays, however, there are 61 different sizes already to fulfill the needs of multiple body shapes. This level of availability has helped the off-the-rack market close the gap with the custom-made industry.
At the end of the day, we hope you can use this new-found knowledge to make more informed decisions in the future. Best of luck with your next purchase!
