<p>Interesting observation about finding clothing for less on-line as I usually find the opposite. In-store markdowns combined with ‘day of’ 30% off promos almost always result in lower prices than on the web that day. This may be completely due to the stores where I shop.</p>
<p>Glad to see that you and she are still enthusiastically on the hunt! When does the job start? I have been outfitting my HS son for a NYC summer internship and that has been challenging, but far easier than buying for a woman. There’s no super sale option for non-iron, slim cut, button down dress shirts. I can only hope that he has stopped growing.</p>
<p>BTW, I don’t know if Lord & Taylor or Macy’s are on your list, but no one should ever purchase anything in either of those stores w/o a coupon. The L&T coupons arrive weekly and run from Wed to the following Tues. Another one arrives before the current expires. I do not go to Macy’s but believe they use the same promo scheme. Happy shopping!</p>
<p>My son is having a difficult time finding clothes for work. He is training for Ironman, and weighs less than he did in high school and is extremely lean. He can’t find dress shirts that fit him well right now. His swim team where he trains is run by a bunch of gay men, and I told him to ask them where they shop. He said he couldn’t afford it! He is going to look in the boys’ departments.</p>
<p>No surprise – men’s dress shirts and suits have a typical “drop” (difference between chest and waist) of 6", while athletic men may have a “drop” of 10" or more (too high for even “athletic fit” dress shirts and suits with 8" “drop” to fit well). (And I would not be surprised if “standard fit” dress shirts are cut more generously in the waist these days to accommodate increasing obesity.)</p>
<p>MOWC—I am in the same boat. If your son is tall, the boys’ dept won’t work. </p>
<p>My swimmer wears a 40L jacket but 31/34 pants. Fortunately, he can get away with only a navy blazer and khakis as finding a suit will be difficult. I checked the Brooks Bros outlet but they couldn’t find their athletic cut suits that should offer the significant drop UCB referenced above. (I do need to find out for a Sept interview so will be on the lookout.)</p>
<p>Hoping to avoid having anyone iron, I have broken down and paid the high price for BB no-iron, slim-cut, button down dress shirts. He wants button down collars, not spread, so that has made this hunt even more challenging. They sell 15/15.5 -35.</p>
<p>J.Crew sells slim cut but not no-iron slim cut shirts. (They sell highly wrinkled shirts…must be a look.) Vineyard Vines dress shirts are HUGE—way too much fabric. Ralph Lauren outlets have slim cut (they call them custom fit) button downs, but they are not no-iron. </p>
<p>That has been the extent of my research. The off-the-rack BB blazer is too wide through the body but I am going to ignore it as I think it will hang on the back of his chair once he is in the office. </p>
<p>UCB—my husband tried made-to-measure a couple of times and was never happy with the final product. He is now a happy BB no-iron shirt wearer but he doesn’t want the slim cut so much easier to fit.</p>
<p>My son is also very tall and lean. We recently found dress shirts at JC Penny that fit him very well. They are the store brand, no-iron, good quality fabric (not thin and flimsy). They come in button down or spread collars in a good choice of solids and prints. They are the slim fit and come in a great range of sizes (we bought 15-1/2, 34/35). They were very inexpensive and have held up very well thru a few washings now. They are better quality than the much more expensive shirts I have been buying my husband- this may be my new source for dress shirts.</p>
<p>If there is a Hugo Boss outlet nearby, your son might have some luck finding nice dress shirts there. Our local outlet usually has a ton of shirts 14-15 collar sizes (and zippo 16-17 ones). My gay classmates come to class dressed in Marc Jacobs, Armani etc., so yeah, not exactly affordable stuff. :)</p>
<p>If your son is OK with 15/32, check Costco. Ours has a shelf full of nice dress shirts, both regular and slim cut.</p>
<p>Edit: Costco also sells their shirts online:</p>
<p>For example, a 16" neck size assumes a chest size of 42" and a waist size of 36" for “standard fit” dress shirts (waist size of 34" for “athletic fit” dress shirts).</p>
<p>A man with a 30" waist is assumed to have a 14.5" neck and 36" chest for the purpose of men’s dress shirts and suits in the US, based on the usual size charts.</p>
<p>MOWC: My 18year old son wears 30 waist, 34 inseam pants. We bought khakis at J. Crew, and dress pants and tailored shirts at Lands’ End. Most of his shorts are actually “big kid” shorts in size 18 or 20 from Lands’ End–and I just learned that that company offers shorts for young men as well.</p>
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<p>Today’s shopping trip was very disappointing. We learned that most department stores no longer carry narrow sizes. We could not find a single pair of dressy shoes in an entire mall (the nicest mall in our large city) that would fit my D. She will be wearing my shoes to work the first several days as a result! Of course, she is welcome to have them, but they look more like the shoes of a 50 year old woman than those of a college student!</p>
<p>I am going to start a new thread specifically about narrow shoes to see what advice I can get.</p>
He is going to look in the boys’ departments.</p>