Sleeves never fit right. Collar? Too loose or like a noose. French cuffs rarely adorn the style you like, and forget about getting everything you want in an off-the-rack shirt, including those Popsicle-stick-wide pink stripes you covet.
It’s easy, and affordable, to just grab a shirt and run with it. But if you dream of owning the ideal shirt, the one with buttons hidden beneath the collar, a certain type of Egyptian cotton, and, of course, those fat pink stripes, a custom shirt may be the way to go.
You can go online for them, or you can visit a local tailor.
No matter where you buy a custom shirt, it’s not going to come cheap. At The Shirt Broker in the Tabor Center on the 16th Street Mall, shirts start at $85 and climb beyond $250. In most cases you must buy three shirts at a time, although they can be different styles.
We chatted with Ron Neel, the owner of The Shirt Broker, about what you get when you drop big bucks on a custom shirt.
1. Selection. White Royal Oxford? European stripes? Pique checks? That’s three fabrics out of the more than 1,000 that Neel offers. Add to that choices about collar, cuff and buttonhole styles, and the array of shirt choices counts as extravagant.
2. Fit. At a custom tailor, workers will measure you every which way: wrist circumference, stomach, even shoulder slope, all of it down to the quarter-inch. The tailor too will look you over and direct you toward a collar style that complements your face shape. About five weeks later, you’ll stroll into the office, and you’ll swear that people are looking twice.
3. Styling. A round-corner French cuff, a Prince of Wales collar and blue herringbone linen fabric. Good luck finding that hanging on a rack anywhere along the Front Range. The problem is, that’s exactly what you’re after. If you go the custom route, no problem.
4. Ease. Once a custom tailor has your measurements, then shopping becomes a breeze. Just pick the fabric and styles you want, and a little more than a month later you’ll have your shirt.
– Douglas Brown, Denver Post staff writer
