Tailor Store Polos

Three new polo shirts in spring colors arrived in the mail yesterday from The Tailor Store.  This is my second order; on both ocassions I have been quite pleased with their product.  The only downside is the long wait on shipping from Sweden.  But if you are not in a hurry, it's hard to beat a made-to-measure polo for only thirty dollars.

Bespoke Polo Shirts

I recently discovered a great place to order bespoke polo shirts at a reasonable price.  The Tailor Store offers custom pique cotton polo shirts starting at $29.00 (some options, like monogramming, are a few dollars extra).  Using an online interface you are able to build a polo shirt to your specifications.  Each change you make is reflected in a graphical representation of your shirt.  The options include mens and womens shirts, twenty colors of fabric, normal or slim fit, long or short sleeve, button style, contrasting button hole thread or contrasting fabrics, and monograms.  You also provide fourteen different measurements for a perfect fit.

I recently ordered two polo shirts from the Tailor Store; one was a normal fit and one was slim fit.  Both shirts fit great, but I prefer the slim fit.  The slim fit shirt hugs my body without being skin tight.  The normal fit shirt is a little looser; however, it fits much better than any off-the-rack shirt I have ever owned.  I am very pleased with both shirts, especially considering what I got for the money. 

My only complaint would be the length of shipping time.  I received an email in early December notifying me that the shirts had been shipped.  After two weeks had passed without the shirts arriving I emailed customer support.  The response indicated that a delay in customs (the shirts were shipped from Sweden), and a delay during the holidays, were to be expected.  They could not provide a tracking number so there was no way to monitor the location of the package.  They advised to let them know if I had not received the package by mid-January.  I do not know what recourse they would have offered at that point because the shirts arrived after another week.

I will soon be ordering additional polo shirts in spring colors.  I would heartily recommend these custom polos over ones from a department store.  For about the same money you will get shirts that actually fit.  Any delay is a small price to pay.

In Support of Pinned Collars

A collar pin, or collar bar, is a item of men's jewelry that connects the tips of the shirt collar and passes underneath the knot of the tie to elevate it above the front of the shirt.  This accessory functions much like a tabbed collar in that it keeps the collars tidy and provides an aesthetically pleasing arc to the necktie.

There are three varieties of collar pins.  My preference is the "barbell" style that I wore today (see the picture above).  One end of the bar is unscrewed so that the pin will pass through special eyelets sewn into the collar.  This style of collar pin almost certainly requires the purchase of bespoke shirts because it is nearly impossible to find a ready-to-wear shirt that features these eyelets.  The second style of collar pin looks like a large safety pin.  It may either be used on shirts with eyelets, or pierced through the collar tips of a shirt that lacks eyelets (the very idea makes me cringe).  The third style is a bar with clips that grasp each collar tip; there is some danger that this style of bar may slip and go askew because the clips merely hold the collar ends with a friction fit.

Wearing a pinned collar is not for the stylistically tentative.  Some people may find it elegant; others may think it's fussy.  In either case, a pinned collar will likely draw attention because it is so rarely seen these days.  To wear one you must be willing to suffer the consequences of being a non-conformist.  A pinned collar is not fashionable.  But it is stylish.

An Oxymoron

There is no such thing as a short-sleeved dress shirt.  Let me repeat:  there is no such thing as a short-sleeved dress shirt.

In a previous post I quoted Alan Flusser in the context of the interplay between the suit jacket, shirt collar and tie.  There are other areas in men's clothing where similar interesing elemental interactions are more visible, and thereby potentially more gratifying, to the wearer himself.  One is the interplay between a man's trousers, shoes and socks.  Another is the combination of the jacket sleeve, a half inch of shirt cuff, and cufflinks or a nice watch.  Of course the latter is not possible if your shirt sleeve is hacked off at the bicep.

I suppose the justification for the short sleeves, especially here in the South, is that it is more comfortable in the heat and humidity.  But to follow that reasoning to its logical conclusion, one should take his favorite summer suit to his tailor and ask him to lop off about eighteen inches from the bottom of each trouser leg and cuff them at the knees.  Angus Young may be able to pull off that look on stage, but I question its feasibility for the office.

The more suitable (no pun intended) alternative is to wear a proper dress shirt made from a summer-weight breathable fabric like voile.  (For more information on fabrics for shirts, read A Discourse on Shirtings by Alexander S. Kabbaz.)  You will remain perfectly comfortable in the summer heat, and you will not risk being mistaken for the Flight Dynamics Officer at Mission Control.