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.
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.
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.
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!
Made to measure clothing is becoming increasingly popular due to the negative impacts caused by wasteful ‘fast fashion’. More and more consumers are looking to invest in clothes that last for years by purchasing staple, high quality and superior fitting garments that are great additions to their wardrobes.
A custom-made shirt is one example of a premium item of clothing that is worth the investment and could actually save you money! When you purchase a shirt from a mass-produced high street retailer it will need to be replaced much sooner than a custom-made shirt, which is better value for money in the long-term.
The process of ordering a custom-made shirt is simple and more relaxed compared to spending hours walking around the shops not knowing what colour, fabric or style suits you best.
You will no longer become frustrated when finding off-the-peg shirts that you love but are not available in your size or returning shirts to stores that do not fit when tried on at home saving you valuable time.
Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of owning a custom made shirt!
The main benefits of owning your very own custom made shirt include…
1) Durability
Custom-made shirts are made to last due to the high-quality fabrics used and exceptional craftsmanship. They are more expensive than off-the-peg shirts but are well worth the investment, as they last considerably longer (on average up to six years).
Therefore, you will not need to get any repairs done or rush out and buy a new shirt off the rack each week, month or year saving you considerable money in the long term!
2) Premium Quality
It’s true when they say that ‘you get what you pay for’. Mass-produced clothing is made using industrial-sized machines and poor-quality fabrics. They are made quickly by a number of different machinists passed down a long production line.
On the other hand, custom-made clothing uses high-quality fabrics (including cotton, wool and silk) by skilled craftsmen and expert pattern cutters. They are more thorough and take great pride in making your unique custom-made garment. They take more time to ensure that your garment is perfectly made to a very high standard.
3) Superior Fit
Custom-made shirts allow you to achieve a ‘perfect fit’ as they are designed to fit your own personal body measurements. Therefore, you will look more stylish/sharper and are more likely to wear a custom-made shirt more often as it will flatter your body shape.
If you struggle to find off-the-rack shirts that fit due to having broad shoulders, large biceps or you are just very tall, for example, then you can adjust certain parts of the shirt such as the neck, shoulder width, sleeve width/length and shirt length to suit your individual requirements.
4) Ease & Comfort
As custom-made shirts are designed to fit your own unique body measurements they will be more comfortable to wear than a ready-to-wear garment. Higher comfort levels mean a better fit, comfort and ability to go about your daily life with ease, as you will have increased confidence!
In comparison, an extremely tight or loose shirt will not look good making you feel uncomfortable, unhappy and frustrated. This could result in damaging your self-esteem. If you feel confident because you look great then you may create a better first impression, which may lead to new benefits and opportunities.
5) Express Individual Style
A really great benefit of ordering custom-made shirts is that you get to be part of the creative and design process! Most importantly you can choose the particular fabric, colour and print of your choice to suit your own unique personality.
When ordering a custom-made shirt you can choose the collar style that will suit your face shape and where your shirt will be worn (e.g. work, informal and formal occasions such as black tie events).
Another important design feature is the cuff design where you can choose to have either a straight, curved or angled edge as well as the number/style of buttons. You may choose to have no buttons at all if you prefer to wear the shirt with cuff links.
Further features include the placket style (none, front or covered if you prefer the buttons to be hidden) and the pocket shape and position. You may have the option of adding a flap with a button to your pocket(s) or you may choose to have no pockets at all for a more sleek look.
You may even be able to choose small details such as the button and thread colour to make your shirt completely unique to match your individual style.
6) Support Sustainable Fashion
If you purchase custom-made shirts over ready-to-wear shirts then you will not need to replace them as often due to their premium quality and durability. This saves unwanted shirts from ending up in landfill or even being given to charity shops, which cannot cope with the amount of second-hand clothing they regularly receive.
Furthermore, custom-made shirts are not mass-produced in large-scale factories. The fabrics are only cut once a new order is received and are made individually by highly skilled craftsmen.
Therefore, made to measure clothing manufacturers do not hold large amounts of surplus stock (like mass-produced retailers) that they cannot sell at the end of each season. Unwanted stock is often discounted heavily, dumped or even burned, which negatively impacts the environment.
Custom-made clothing does not usually follow the latest fashion trends, as they are staple pieces of clothing that will remain relevant in your wardrobe for years to come out-living fashion fads.
‘Fast fashion’ is driven by quickly changing fashion trends leading to people throwing away clothes after each season, as they are no longer seen as ‘fashionable’ anymore.
The quality of ‘fast fashion’ clothing is so poor that garments, shoes and accessories often become damaged and are discarded only after a few months. It’s a great shame that the majority of these garments can be mended, up-cycled or recycled (if the fabric is not made of synthetic fibres).
Convinced that owning a custom-made shirt is a good choice? Then Kitenge offer unique but versatile custom-made shirts in colourful African print fabric or plain coloured fabric, with optional African print contrasts, that will be a talking point and allow you to express your individual style!
A happy Kitenge customer from Switzerland proudly wearing his custom made shirts
Special Offer
Kitenge is currently offering a buy one get one free special offer on all made to measure men’s and women’s shirts for first-time customers! Simply decide which sleeve length you prefer, choose your favourite fabric and start selecting your preferred custom design features. All our made to measure shirts are unique with plenty of vibrant African style prints to choose from!
Tip: If you create an account before starting to design your first shirt on the product page then your measurements will be automatically saved making it easier to design another shirt. Alternatively, you can continue as a guest.
Add your measurements by using our simple ‘how to measure‘ guides for short sleeve, long sleeve or 3/4 sleeve shirts by measuring a shirt that fits you well at home. After adding the first shirt to your basket repeat the process again. The two shirts must have the same measurements and sleeve length. You can either order two shirts in different prints or two shirts in the same print by adjusting the quantity on the product or basket pages.
Once the two shirts are added to your basket enter the code MTMFIRST to redeem your 50% discount. Alternatively, if you prefer to order a made to measure short sleeve shirt (or 3/4 sleeve shirt) and a long sleeve shirt together then you can enter the coupon MTMFIRSTSPECIAL to get the cheapest shirt for free!
Perfect Fit Guarantee
Our custom-made garments are non-returnable as they are designed to fit your own unique measurements however, first-time customers qualify for our Perfect Fit Guarantee.
This means that if you are not completely satisfied with the fit of your first made to measure shirt then we will either pay for a local tailor or seamstress to adjust the garment or we will re-make the garment from scratch and ship it to you free of charge.
This free service is unlikely to be required if you carefully follow our ‘how to measure’ guides before entering your measurements. If you have any questions about our online made to measure shirts service please contact us before placing your order.