The Proper Blog

This blog does not assume any fashion sense, so I’m going to state something that may be obvious: Tattersall is in style.  If you haven’t noticed yet, you will soon enough as we move into fall and winter.

Introducing the Proper Cloth Black and Red Tattersall dress shirt.  What you are about to witness is shirt-porn.  If you’re not comfortable seeing a naked shirt twisted into unnatural positions, do not scroll down further.

Black and White Reverse Graph Check accents complement the Red and Black Tattersall.

Copied shamelessly from Wikipedia: Tattersall describes a check pattern woven into cloth. The pattern is composed of regularly spaced thin alternating even vertical warp stripes, repeated horizontally in the weft. The stripes are generally darker than the ground. The cloth pattern takes its name from Tattersall’s horse market, which was started in London in 1766. At that market blankets with this checked pattern were used for horses. Today tattersall is a common pattern, often woven in cotton, particularly in flannel, used for shirts or waistcoats.

Handmade in USA by nice Americans.  Last month.

The pattern is Tattersall, but the fabric weave is Broadcloth.  This one in particular is an 80 thread count broadcloth.  Technically it’s 77 threads per inch vertically (warp) and 144 threads horizontally (weft).  Some might call that 144 threads per inch.

Soft fabric that drapes nicely.

“Londoner Collar” is a pretty wide spread

Reinforced side seam gussets.

This is our new two-button mitered cuff.  Not exactly like the virtual preview anymore, but works really well.

Get this Black and Red Tattersall Dress Shirt made in your exact size.

Stay Proper.

From the letter box:

Dear Proper Cloth,

I’ve always bought my dress shirts from Brooks Brothers, size 16-34 Slim Fit.  I believe this means my collar size is 16 and my sleeve size is 34.  I’m now thinking of switching to custom tailored dress shirts, so I went to a tailor to be measured.  According to the tailor, my sleeve length should actually be 35.5.  What gives?

Did he mess up and exaggerate the sleeve length or is this just different in some way?

Thanks,

Long Armed in Los Angeles

Dear Long Armed,

Don’t be alarmed.  The proper way to measure your sleeve length is from the center of the back of the neck, over your shoulder and down to the center of the back of your hand.  It’s common for this sleeve length measurement to be longer than you’re used to.   Truth is, you’ve probably been wearing the wrong sleeve length your entire adult life.

Try this – next time you prop your elbows up on the mahogany conference table while contemplatively rubbing your chin and mentally preparing your response to the analyst questioning the ‘employee morale’ expenses you incurred in Greece last quarter, take a moment and note how far up your forearms the cuffs of your shirt have moved.  If you’re not wearing a custom dress shirt this will probably look mildly ridiculous.

You were probably convinced that your shirts fit fine because when your arms are hanging relaxed at your sides, the cuffs come just to your wrist.  It would seem that if you add another inch, they will be too long.  After all, you don’t want your sleeve coming over your hand.

You’re absolutely right that you don’t want the sleeve coming up over your hand.  With custom fitting shirts this doesn’t have to be the case because can specify the correct cuff size.  Most off-the-rack shirts have over-sized cuffs, made to be loose on even the largest wrists.  However, a proper fitting cuff will have a circumference of just 2-2.5 inches more than your wrist’s measurement (to the skin).  A properly fitting cuff will not slide up your hand when your arms are at your sides.  It will hold the cuff in just the right spot at the base of your hand.

Long story short, custom shirt sleeves are usually made a bit longer because they should be.  And with custom, they can be.

Stay Proper.

Dear Proper Cloth,
I am a second-year MBA candidate at [top business school] writing to request an interview for an Investment Banking Associate position with Proper Cloth.  I understand the Associate position will require strong analytical skills and the ability to work well in teams.  I am confident my background and personality will allow me to be a strong contributor in this role.

Strong analytical skills: As an analyst at Bear Stearns, I analyzed challenging quantitative problems, created complex models for various financial products and received numerous promotions

Teamwork:  At Countrywide Home Loans, over a two year period I led a team of 20 people with diverse cultural backgrounds, ages, and expertise, resulting in record setting sales of creative financing for underprivileged families.

I look forward to meeting with you during on campus interviews and learning more about Proper Cloth.  Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Banker Barry
Dear Barry,

We’re not sure if this letter is the result of your auto-complete cover letter generator going mad or just a sheer act of desperation.  Proper Cloth does not have any investment banking positions open at the moment, but we feel compelled to help you nonetheless.

The way we see it, you have two options.  Fly to the Caribbean and sit out the next eighteen months in style, or actually land a job.  In case the first is not feasible at the moment, let’s focus on the second.

In today’s financial job market everything counts, so it’s critical that you look right for your next interview.  We suggest a fine white broadcloth of at least 80 threads/inch to start.  Stay away from the French cuffs, as cuff-links will only remind your interviewer that you used to make four times what he/she is making now.  Finally, don’t settle for anything that’s not custom fit to your body.  We are pretty sure that no investment bank has ever turned down a candidate in a properly fitted shirt.  It’s a sure thing.

Best of luck,

Proper Cloth

Even the best quality dress shirts need to be properly cared for.  Here are some tips that can really make a difference.

1.) Iron the collar right

Some dry cleaners will get this right for you and some won’t – but the point is that the collar should have a smooth curve around your neck.  If it has sharp angles – like the back is straight and it curves sharply to the front of the shirt – you have room for improvement.  Take an iron and smooth this out before you head out the door.

2.) Lightly starch the front of the shirt under the collar

If you wear the shirt with an open collar (without a tie), then the trick to looking good is to have the shirt effortlessly hang open and stay in the right place.  You’ve surely seen the guys with the top two buttons unbuttoned and the shirt sort of falling in on itself.  This is easy to beat with just a little starch and iron to this part of the shirt.

3.) Don’t leave dirty white shirts hanging in the closet for weeks straight

If you live in a colder climate, you can usually get away with wearing a shirt two or three times between washings.  (I am NOT saying this is ALWAYS OK – Be sensitive to the fact that you may have B.O. and adjust accordingly).  While you may not sweat much during the day, there’s no avoiding body oils from your neck getting on your collar.  Leaving these oils on your collar for weeks straight will cause that ugly yellow ring.  Not cool.  Wash it quick.

4.) Remove the collar stays from you shirt before washing

They’re removable for a reason.  Two actually.  First, if you put them through the washing process, they invariably become warped.  The whole point of collar stays is to keep your collar straight – so this obviously doesn’t work very well.  Second, it’s better to press or iron your collar without the collar stays installed.  Many fabrics will reveal a faint outline of the collar stay if you iron the shirt with them in.  (To remove this line, get the collar wet – removing any starch on it – and then iron it dry)

5.) Make sure your shirt fits.

There are so many fit points to consider.  Midsections and sleeves are usually too baggy, collars are too tight, lengths are too long or too short…  Let’s just say, you probably know if your shirt doesn’t fit right.  You can try having a tailor fix your existing closet or opt for custom fit dress shirts to begin with.

Stay Proper.

We’re not sure if Brad Pitt deserves the credit for how well he dresses, but (at least on screen) the guy can make an outfit work.  One of our favorites is Mr. and Mrs. Smith – where he demonstrates how to really wear the men’s dress shirt with style.  Here we’re going to examine what it is exactly that makes the outfit work – and how you too can get the right look.

Stick to Simple Colors

The first thing to notice is the color of the shirt.  It is white.  For most of the film it is just simple, plain old, boring white.  There are a few scenes where he’s got some thin black stripes on the shirt, but for the most part the color and pattern is extremely simple. This is so important and often overlooked.  So many guys will look through hundreds of fabric patterns and not see anything they like – as if some strange combination of pink and blue stripes is going to make them much more attractive.  Truth is, for most guys, the more simple the color and pattern of the shirt the better you’ll look.  Classic plain white pinpoint will never fail you.  Ever.

But you say – “White is so boring – how will I stand out?”

Get the Perfect Fit

What’s really critical to looking good in a dress shirt is getting the right fit. In the top picture, you can see that with a tie on the collar fits perfectly around his neck – not squeezing at all, but not too loose either.  This looks comfortable and effortless.

In the second picture you can really see how well the shirt fits in the arms and shoulders. The yoke of the shirt goes right to the edge of his shoulder but not past it at all.  Most off the rack shirts you buy will have a yoke that is too wide – and it will come over the edge of your shoulder.  The width of the sleeves is also important. Here you can see that it doesn’t cinch around his arm, but doesn’t have a lot of extra fabric either.  The length of the sleeves is also perfect.  Even with his arms extended in front of him the sleeves come just to the base of his hand.

Insist on High Quality of Construction

The key to a nice dress shirt is the quality of the construction.  Probably the most visible way of telling a shirts quality is looking at the collar.  A high quality shirt collar will be smooth, fairly sturdy and have a round curve around the neck.  Cheap, mass-produced shirts usually don’t get this right because it needs to be done by hand and takes some time.  Look at the collars in the two pictures above.  The curve of the collar flows smoothly and the points are crisp.  You don’t see an imprint of the collar stays, and the tips don’t flair out at all.

Proper Cloth offers high quality dress shirts with a perfect fit.  We offer the most advanced online system to purchase shirts and all shirts are made in the US from Italian textiles.  See what our customers are saying here and get Brad’s style next time you buy one.

Here at Proper Cloth, we like to think we’re pretty fashionable.  Even if we don’t actually dress super trendy, we try to pay attention to what’s going on.  Sometimes we really like the trends we see – and other times we’re just left scratching our heads.

Like for example, the current Prada ad campaign where the man is wearing two collars at the same time.

We’re not sure how to interpret this.  Is the bottom one the actual shirt collar and the top one a necklace?  Should Proper Cloth begin offering dress shirt collars as jewelry for men?

Or, is Prada trying to show off the selection of collars they offer?  Is this a brilliant way to save advertising dollars.  Instead of paying for two pictures (or two advertisements) to display your selection of shirt options, you put them all on the same model at the same time?

Another thought we had was that Prada collars are now removable (according to the experts: in the old (really old) days this was the norm).  Why would Prada switch to removable collars?  It’s not really a stylistic move – you can’t tell a collar is removable when the person is wearing the shirt. Wait – unless you wear two at a time!

Actually, looking at this picture a little closer, it seems there are no front buttons or placket.  Now we’re on to something… This is the new dress shirt design that is impossible to put on or take off by yourself.  Clearly a luxury item: it requires a butler in the morning and french maid at night.  It has the added advantage of preventing any lewd behavior – like unbuttoning the top two buttons of your shirt.

Currently, Proper Cloth custom dress shirts do not come with the no-buttons-in-the-front option (what’s life without lewd behavior?) or the take-your-collar-off-and-wear-it-as-a-necklace option.  But we do have a lot to choose from.  We offer a variety of collars and cuffs and are constantly adding more fabrics so you can match your shirt to your style.  All that and something Prada would never dream of offering – custom fit.

For all you ladies in committed, semi-committed, or not-sure-if-you’re-committed-but-hopefully-will-know-soon relationships: what are you getting your man for Christmas this year?  There’s no easy solution and you could have a lot riding on this, so now is the time to start planning.  The best gifts are personal (but not too personal), practical (but not too practical), quality (but not too expensive), thoughtful (but not desperate), sexy (but not slutty), girlfriendy (but not clingy)… ahhh panic!!

Whoa hold on.  Set down your Hazelnut Hot Chocolate and take a deep breath.  Proper Cloth is here to help.  Let’s go over some options:

Personal (But Not too Personal)

So, you want this gift to be special.  It should symbolize your love (or like) for each other.  Maybe it could reminisce of an inside joke you share?  Even better, it’s sexy – it makes it clear that you’re more than friends.  Well, you could get him some nice Cucumber and Melon Lotion.  That’s sexy right? Hint: we don’t want lotion, but this looks interesting.  You could get that cute picture of the two of you in San Francisco framed?  Great idea, but what if he’s not ready to put up pictures of the two of you?  Or if he gets you that diamond necklace you’re hoping for it would feel a little unbalanced.  How about a trip for the two of you to Hawaii in February?  Hmmm, what if he can’t get off work?  And you promised to spend responsibly…

Practical (But Not too Practical)

Personal is good, but you don’t want it to be something that just gets thrown in the drawer and forgotten.  And you’re not the kind of person that blows $100 on a gift just to pop the cork and drink it then and there.  No, you want to get him something that he’ll use.  Even better, something he was going to buy himself, but since you got it for him he’ll always think of you whenever he sees it.  There’s always Halo 2, but then you won’t be able to get him off the couch for the next 4 weeks.  Could go the standard electronic route: iPod, Digital Camera, or Vaccuum, but come on – they’re so boring. Maybe an appliance? TV? Just doesn’t feel right.

Don’t feel bad.  Finding a gift that is both personal and practical is something that has been challenging girlfriends (and boyfriends) for 100’s of years.

Introducing the Proper Cloth Dress Shirt

Yes, it’s true.  The perfect gift from woman to man this year is the Proper Cloth Custom Dress Shirt.  This shirt is designed by you.   It’s inherently personal because your love and sense of style define it.  You choose the fabrics, patterns, and style of collar and cuffs.  And, it’s practical too.  He probably wears a shirt like this to work every day. You want to keep him looking sharp (and employed) as best you can.  Proper Cloth shirts are custom fit so you know this will be his new favorite.  Wait, how do I know how to custom fit his shirt?  Easy – take your pick:

A.) First, pay attention to what shirt he has that fits him well.  Even better, pay attention to how it fits him, and what you might want to change.  Maybe you want to take in the waist a little?  Maybe the sleeves are too short?  Once you’ve noted the brand and size of the shirt and how you would change it, go to propercloth.com and just select that shirt’s brand and size.  Click “Complete Size” and make the adjustments.  If you don’t see the shirt size as an option either let us know, or measure his shirt directly when he’s not looking.  Easy!  The perfect surprise is on the way.

B.) If surprise is less critical and you want to get him involved in the process, grab a measuring tape and have some fun taking all his body measurements.  Pick out the style together!

C.) Sound too complicated still?  Or are you reading this on December 23rd?  No problem, just buy him a gift certificate and you’re set.

There you have it.  Crisis averted.  You can’t go wrong this Christmas.  Order by November 25th to ensure a Christmas Delivery.  Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Stay Proper.

UPDATED -> New Chart is posted here: http://propercloth.com/slim-fit-dress-shirts

Maybe you’re tall and skinny.  Maybe you’ve got a thick neck and a narrow waist.  Maybe you spend a lot of time in the gym and your shoulders and chest are massive.  Whatever the case, you can never find dress shirts that fit right.  Even most “slim fit” shirts don’t fit.  You’re in great physical shape, yet you’re punished every time you go shopping.  You’ve nearly given up finding a shirt that fits right.  It will either be too short in the sleeves, too loose in the waist, or too tight in the neck… which compromise are we going to make this time?

Well, we’ve done some research on the topic here and thought we’d share what we found.  Behold, our ranking of the most “Slim Fitting” dress shirts you can purchase off the rack.  Our metric for “slim fittingness” is Midsection Width/Collar Circumference, so that the slimmer fitting shirts are on the top.  We also looked at Midsection Width/Chest Width which measures the degree of taper the shirt has.  To simplify things, we only rank shirts sized Large, or 16-16.5.

The results are interesting…  By this metric, the most slim fitting shirts come from Ben Sherman, Esprit, DKNY, and Kenneth Cole.  Banana Republic’s new “Heritage Fit” is also pretty narrow in the waist.  Peculiar was that H&M’s Regular Fit was slimmer than the H&M Slim Fit – not by much though, and if we were to compare chest width to midsection width the Slim Fit would be considered slimmer.  Finally, a lot of people recommend Brooks Brothers slim fit, so we were surprised to find that it’s nearly last on the list.

Of course, the problem with trying to find an off the rack shirt that fits is that once you do, you’re still going to have to worry about style, quality and price.  If you don’t want to deal with all that, just head to Proper Cloth and get it right the first time.  We can base your shirt on any of these sizes and even let you tweak the fit directly.

Yes, it’s true.  The world is ending.  Armageddon is here.  AIG nearly collapsed, BoA took over Merrill Lynch, Lehman bankers are working for Barclays, and today alone the Dow dropped 450 points.  With all this drama our offices are filled with gossip and paranoia.  No work will get done this week.  There’s just not enough time between spreading rumors about layoffs and monitoring Bloomberg for the next bad news.

So, what can you do to keep your job?  Hey, maybe even rise above the pandemonium and take advantage of the situation?  The first step is to look at the bigger picture and recognize that this current “financial crisis” was not caused by external factors.  It was not terrorists or elections that caused Goldman’s profits to plunge 70 percent this quarter.  No, this financial crisis is the opposite end of a feedback loop fueled by the finance industry itself.  The over-leveraged irrational-exuberance of 2004-2007 is coming back to haunt us.

As this realization comes into the collective consciousness, expect your employers to swing back (over-react) to policies of conservatism.  In fact, right now as you are reading this, your boss is selling off his personal stock in IBM and buying bars of gold.  Business strategies will also return to the basics.  Cost cutting measures will be back in style and anything that hints at “excess” will be gone within a few months.

With this understanding, it’s time to properly equip yourself for survival.  What does that mean?  It’s time to blend in.  All those loud, gaudy Thomas Pink Shirts with purple stripes and white collars – get rid of them.  Those Platinum Dice Cuff Links – hide them where no one can find.  Keep it simple the next few months with clean, basic white dress shirts.  With Proper Cloth’s Straight Point Collar, and Classic Barrel Cuff, you can be the poster child for conservatism and basic business fundamentals.  And of course with the Proper Cloth tailored fit, you’ll look sharp, self-aware and confident… and that could be just the edge you need to stay employed.

So, why not take a break from that deal-there’s-no-point-finishing-because-you-will-have-a-different-boss-tomorrow and check out Proper Cloth for a shirt that can really put you on the path to success.

It’s been a long journey turning Proper Cloth from an idea into reality, but we’re almost there.  Guess I’ll start with a bit of a personal introduction and an explanation of how all this got started:

After sampling a variety of careers, I went to business school, which included internships in Shanghai and Bangalore, and that’s where I got my first custom dress shirts.  The fabric was nothing special, the construction was mediocre and the negotiation on price was um… interesting, but generally speaking, the shirts fit pretty good.  So, the basic idea behind Proper Cloth was to improve on this experience: Offer custom fit dress clothing that doesn’t require someone to (a) go to China or India for the summer, (b) sacrifice on quality, and (c) spend over $200 per shirt?  Sounded intriguing…  After a lot of market research it became apparent that there wasn’t a great (as they say in business school) solution to the problem – so Proper Cloth began.

With Proper Cloth, we hope you’ll find it easy to design a dress shirt online.  We also have some innovative techniques to custom fit your shirt without requiring awkward body measurements.  Finally, be assured that all our dress shirts are made here in the states – basically we got hooked up with another designer brand’s custom dress shirt factory – so our quality really is the best you’ll find on (or off) the internet.

So, thanks for checking us out.  We hope you like our website and we know you’ll like our dress shirts.