How to Evaluate Your Shirt Size

Try It On (with other key pieces)

It sounds like common sense, but be sure to try on the shirt at home in a way that closely represents how you plan to wear the shirt outside.

Dress Shirts

  • Try buttoning it all the way up and wearing it with a tie if it’s a dress shirt 
  • If this is a shirt for work, tucking it into dress pants will be more illustrative of the final look than tucking it into sweatpants
  • If you’ll be wearing the shirt under a suit/jacket, be sure to try it on with and without a jacket

Casual Shirts

  • Wear it untucked and with the top button (or two) unbuttoned 
  • Try it on over your favorite jeans or loose casual pants if that’s your vibe
  • With or without an undershirt—whichever is your norm

Launder the shirt to account for change

Keep in mind that the fit of the shirt will change slightly when it’s washed, becoming larger in some dimensions and smaller in others. We generally suggest washing the shirt once according to the care instructions on the tag before evaluating the fit (especially if you’re going for a slim fit). Don’t worry, we proactively adjust shirt sizes to account for typical changes—shrinkage or stretch—that occur when following the care instructions.

Take it for a test drive

It’s OK if you want to wear the shirt for a day to see how it works in the real world. This will give you more time to evaluate the fit, consider all the different aspects of the size, and see how it performs throughout a typical day. 

Note: You are still eligible for a remake or return after wearing and washing the shirt once or twice.

Dress Shirts Tips

Collar 

  • It’s important to button the collar and check that it fits well. Wearing a shirt buttoned up all day can be uncomfortable if the collar’s a little on the snug side. You’ll want to be able to fit a few fingers in there easily while it’s buttoned. Even if you’re never planning to wear a tie, it’s a good idea to get this right in the off chance you do have to put one on some day.

Sleeve Length

  • With your arms hanging relaxed at your sides and the cuffs of the shirt unbuttoned, the sleeves should come down to the center of the back of your hand (or the first knuckle of your thumb). This will allow for ample range of motion in the sleeves when your arms are extended, without excessive sleeve length bunching up above the cuff when your arms are at rest.
  • A sleeve length that’s on the longer side is ideal for range of motion. You can fully extend your arms and your cuffs will stay down near the wrists. Your sleeves will look a little baggier, folding excess sleeve length behind the cuff when your arms are at rest.
  • Going a little shorter on sleeve length may look more streamlined when your arms are at rest—eliminating much of the extra gathering of sleeve length at the cuff. However, without the added slack in the sleeve length, you’ll experience more restricted range of motion when bending or extending your arms.

Chest Width

  • The Chest Width should fit close enough to the body without the front buttons showing signs of pulling and without tension at the underarm. With tailored shirts, it’s important to have some excess fabric in the upper chest, particularly on the back side of the shirt, behind the arms. Without any extra fabric in the back of the chest, the sleeves cannot move comfortably. Too much room though, can create excess folding near the shoulder and front of the armhole of the shirt.

Midsection Width

  • When evaluating the fit of the Midsection Width, we recommend trying on the shirt while sitting and standing. The shirt should have enough room to do both comfortably, but the amount of room is a matter of your personal preference. Keep in mind that an overly tight midsection can cause the fabric to hug the body, folding and creasing rather than draping freely which can detract from a slim appearance. 

Back Length

  • Generally, the longer the shirt’s Back Length, the more secure you’re able to tuck the shirt in. On a tucked-in shirt, the hem should be long enough to cover your seat in order to keep the shirt from coming untucked when raising your arms. This will also ensure the midsection point of the shirt is aligned with your natural waist, which is key for achieving a slimmer fit.

Cuff Around & Watch Allowance

  • The Cuff Around should fit comfortably around the wrist when buttoned and keep the sleeve from sliding over the hand. It should not be skin tight and ideally should not be loose enough to pass your hand through without unbuttoning it. If you wear a watch or other accessory on the wrist, consider adding a watch allowance to help the cuff pass over your watch more easily. The amount of watch allowance will depend on the size of your watch. Read more about selecting a watch allowance here.

Casual Shirt Tips

Chest Width

  • For a more comfortable fit and improved range of motion, it never hurts to have a little extra room in the chest on a casual shirt. As with all things ‘fit’, personal preference plays a role, but we find it can be nice to have a little more breathing room in a casual untucked shirt.

Midsection Width

  • Compared to a slim, tucked-in dress shirt, you’ll want the Midsection Width of a casual untucked shirt to be at least 0.5” bigger. Your shirt will have a straighter, more classic fit through the body the closer the Midsection Width measurement is to the Chest Width measurement. No matter where you fall on the classic/slim fit spectrum, a little more room in the midsection is key to preventing the shirt from bunching up at the waistline and not falling comfortably over the top of your pants.

Back Length

  • For untucked shirts, we recommend the shirt hem come down to about the middle of the seat. Another good rule of thumb is that the front shirt tail should end midway down the fly of your pants. Generally speaking, untucked shirts are 1.5-2.5” shorter in the Back Length than tucked-in dress shirts.

Top Button Placement

  • The ideal Top Button Placement will depend on how much chest you’re comfortable showing and how open you’d like the collar to be when worn unbuttoned. For a casual shirt, lowering the Top Button Placement allows for a more relaxed, laid-back appearance. Click here to read more about perfecting the unbuttoned look.

Get Help – Submit a Fit Advice Request

For a second opinion, don’t hesitate to submit a Fit Advice Request through your Proper Cloth account. Our Fit Specialists are very experienced at helping clients perfect their fit and we are more than happy to assist. 

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