<p>This is an offshoot of the discussion on the best buy thread. My son (and my husband) are both extra slip cut folks. I DID find extra slim cut shirts on the Brooks Brothers site but really at $100 each including the shipping, I thought I’d come to the “experts” here and see if anyone had any suggestions that were less pricey.</p>
<p>Details…DS is 5’6" tall and weighs all of 130. Neck is about 15 1/2. But he is very narrow in the body, needs shorter sleeves, a pocket that doesn’t tuck IN to his pants…and armpits that aren’t down to his waist. </p>
<p>DH is 5’10" tall and weighs about 142. Also very lean. He doesn’t have the short height issues but does need something slim through the body and with armpits not so low and arms that don’t have so much extra fabric. </p>
<p>DH might be willing to pay for the Brooks Brothers shirts…but DS just doesn’t have that kind of cash. </p>
<p>So…CC experts…any ideas? We’re looking for collared casual shirts for DS…could be stripes or a solid or an unobtrusive plaid or check. Nothing flashy.</p>
<p>DH needs dress shirts.</p>
<p>(I have the same trouble buying them sweaters…).</p>
<p>Have you tired these guys [Mens</a> clothing that fits the shorter man | Dress Shirts for the shorter man | Suits for the shorter man | Naopoleon’s Tailor Clothing for the Short Man](<a href=“http://www.napoleonstailor.com/]Mens”>http://www.napoleonstailor.com/) ? I think their Chicago store is closed I belive they do some mail order.</p>
<p>thumper1,Sons are tall (6’5" and 6"6") and slim. Brooks Brothers has options. Jos. A. Banks should also. L.L. Bean has “trim” fit shirts. Someone has mentioned Kohl’s and Banana Republic in the past on threads but I have no personal experience with those. If you go to a place like Macy’s or Nordstrom’s, usually there is a salesperson who can help direct you to shirts with the best fit and offer guidance(European cut, slim cut,etc). It’s tough. My kids deal with both the slim(particularly the youngest) and the tall fit issues. Husband is tall as well but doesn’t need the the slim cut anymore! Good luck!</p>
<p>I purchase dress shirts (some have the look and/or can be worn as sport shirts) for my son, who is 5’10 130 lbs., at Kohl’s. They have a fairly nice selection of fitted shirts in their dress shirt and tie (aka furnishings) dept.</p>
<p>“Neck is about 15 1/2. But he is very narrow in the body, needs shorter sleeves, a pocket that doesn’t tuck IN to his pants…and armpits that aren’t down to his waist.”</p>
<p>thumper, can I mail you the shirt that I bought at the local Boss Outlet store for my SIL? He usually wears size 15 1/2 - 32/33, but that shirt was too tight for him, and I’m too lazy to drive 50 min to return it!!! Seriously, if there is a Hugo Boss outlet store in your neck of the woods, you can find lots of very well-made, skinny dress and casual shirts for $30-60 apiece. Calvin Klein also caters to the slimmer crowd. The Calvin Klein store at the local outlet mall is the shopping mecca for young, hip, attractive, skinny (mostly Asian) girls and guys. Calvin Klein shirts are usually less expensive than HB.</p>
<p>thumper, I bought dress shirts for an ex at the Van heussen (spelling?) outlet, and they had all kinds of sizes. he was a small neck/thin guy too.</p>
<p>The sleeves shouldn’t be an issue. All good dress shirts are available in different sleeve lenghths. The standard would be a 15 1/2 with a 34-35 sleeve, but you can easily find a 32/33 sleeve. When I was a young skinny whipper-snapper, I used to wear a Calvin Klein **fitted **15 1/2 with a 32/33 sleeve. I was 5-8 and weighed 150 pounds. Those shirts were trim on me. They shouldn’t be “swimming” on your son. Fitted shirts are cut pretty tight through the belly.</p>
<p>Are you sure he’s a 15 1/2 neck? I’d go to Kohls or wherever and buy a fitted shirt in a 15 with 32/33 sleeves and see if the neck fits. They make them all the way down to 14 or 14 1/2 neck.</p>
<p>5-6 and 130 pounds is not really a non-standard proportion, I wouldn’t think. There’s plenty of teens that size. I suspect you are just buying the wrong neck size. There’s no such thng as a neck size of “about 15 1/2”. For a new, unshrunk shirt, you either are a 15 1/2 or you are not. Half inch increments are pretty precise. No way in heck you should have to be paying $100 for a shirt to fit your son.</p>
<p>For your husband, 5’10" and 142 is thin, but again, hardly an unusual proportion. There are lots of young guys that size. Any good **fitted **shirt with the right neck size should be just fine. </p>
<p>I wonder if you are running into shirts (like the Polo Chaps brand) that are marked as 15 - 15 1/2 neck size. Those tend to be the larger of the two indicated sizes, when you guys might really need the smaller of the two neck sizes.</p>
<p>I’m not sure on an IZOD golf shirt. Probably a SMALL for your son, probably a MEDIUM for your husband.</p>
<p>We paid Norstrum’s $20 to hem sleeves of Hugo Boss dress shirts. At Jos Banks, one can order neck and sleeve length, and I recall price about $50-60. (My b/f has standard size, and he can pick up great shirts at J B for $25 on sale).</p>
<p>Son got his first adult suit at Jos Banks. They did a terrible job taking in the pants (way too tight). Spent a lot more, but got next suit at Nordstrum’s, a black Hugo Boss. It was cut for a very slim body. The HB polo shirts fit slim, and don’t have logos on them.</p>
<p>I can’t say enough good things about our “personal” saleslady at Nordstrum’s. My son HATES to shop, but the first time he met Maria, and she guided him thru store to clothes that fit, and had the lovely tailor come ASAP to dressing room, she gained his confidence. Then she held clothes for a week, when sale would begin, so tailoring done for free. The following year, Maria and I could shop for son without him, all pants/jeans hemmed for free, and large package mailed across country for $10.</p>
<p>This is beginning to sound like an ad for Nordstrum’s, so I’ll close my post.</p>
<p>^^bookworm: if you get yourself a Nordstrom’s credit card and charge a smallish amount each year, you get free shipping both online and from any store in the country…</p>
<p>also, I thought that Nordstrom’s alterations on full price items used to be free?</p>
<p>to the OP: we have also found most success with Nordstrom’s in terms of finding the best fit…</p>
<p>If you can wait until 12/26, Brooks Brothers has an amazing sale. I picked up shirts for my husband for $35. You can also order online Christmas Day. </p>
<p>Are you near a BB outlet? The prices are better than the store, but no where near the after Christmas sale. </p>
<p>I would also recommend Costco shirts - they look & fit like Ralph Lauren, but I have not seen slim.</p>
<p>Eggson wears slim fit everything and has been happy with Izod slim dress shirts. I have found them at SteinMart and Marshalls for about $20, which is my budget for his dress shirts.</p>
<p>My skinny, small-boned son–5’8", 125 pounds–looks excellent in shirts from Zara, Ben Sherman, and Express Modern Fit. Zara and Express are moderately priced, at least if you buy on sale, which we always do. Ben Sherman is, I believe, expensive if you pay the regular retail price, but my fashion-conscious husband has had good luck finding designer menswear very cheap on Ebay, and has bought lots both for himself and for my son. For a suit, we went to a specialty men’s wear shop, got a relatively cheap suit in a small size, and then had it taken in by the tailor on the staff. The alterations cost as much as the suit, but it ended up fitting well and therefore looking good.</p>
<p>Our DS also is very slim…5’9 140 lbs and wears a 15 1/2. His figure is an upside down triangle. I have bought him only athletic fit shirts. I have bought every range from JCPenny store brand to American Eagle to Paul Frederick. All of them have worked to the exact same level.</p>
<p>You have to buy ATHLETIC. That is the only way that they don’t have to much of material to tuck in. Our DS also has an actually worse problem, he has a long body, his sitting height is the exact same as his 6’3 brother. That is when it becomes difficult to find a shirt that actually doesn’t ride up out of the pants.</p>
<p>Paul Frederick always has their “hook” item of 19.99 for their white shirt, even with it monogrammed. You can get it with french cuffs for cuff links or traditional cuff. I did this as an Xmas present last yr. (shirt and cuff links). They also have the traditional collar or the wide spread collar. The problem with their shirts is they really need to be professionally cleaned, because they are beaach if you want to iron them.</p>
<p>I will also say for jeans and khakis, American Eagle is the place to go. Our DS wears only them (29 X 32) relaxed fit because all of the other brands cut wider in the legs and so it looks like he is wearing the loose fit. If they don’t have relaxed, he then goes up one size to 30 X32 for regular fit.</p>
<p>My son is skinny (about 125 lbs.) and tall (6 feet), and I have done a variety of things to find clothes for him, as he’ll consent to go shopping about once a year.</p>
<p>One thing I really appreciate about LLBean and Lands’ End (besides the fact that we don’t have to set foot in a store) is that the customer service people will patiently go through not just the size charts but the actual garment sizes with me. I can then measure my son’s existing clothes that fit and decide what to buy. At least one of the two retailers carries some slim fit polo-style shirts.</p>
<p>I have had some luck buying him boys’ clothes if I can find them long enough, because they generally fit in the waist. For example, he can wear a size 20 slim in boys’ pants at Lands’ End. I’m not sure he really loves wearing boys’ clothes–we had a funny (to me) exchange at the tennis store recently. The boys’ XL shorts fit him perfectly, but he was happy only if we called them “extra-long” rather than “extra-large.” If it makes him happy, I’ll call them whatever he wants.</p>
<p>Some great advice here. My DS is ~5’7" and 125#, so clothes shopping is a challenge. He likes GAP slim fit pants. I’ll be checking some of the other suggestions.</p>
<p>I will second the recommendation of Napoleon’s Tailor. We were in Milwaukee for a wedding, and I saw their store add in a hotel magazine (the store is in Milwaukee). Fortunately, we had time to go to Napoleon’s Tailor. Bought DS 2 pair of dress pants and a suit. They fit him like they were custom made for him, and the pants were hemmed on the spot. It is, by far, the best fitting suit he has ever owned. DS wore the new suit to the wedding a few hours later, and he received many compliments on it, even though people didn’t know the story of its purchase.</p>
<p>Napoleon’s Tailor is essentially for short men (like petites for women), skinny or not so skinny. So it wouldn’t work for the tall, slender guys.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the suggestions. YES I’m sure he needs a 15 1/2 inch neck (even though he’s 5’6" tall and weighs 130). He is a musician and cannot have tight necks. A 15 is just too tight to take a deep breath. Regarding arm length…he needs a 30 or 31 inch arm length. 32 is too long. </p>
<p>My husband isn’t as picky and we have had pretty good success at Kohls for him. He does find the Arrow Slim fit to be the best offering but it is still wide on him.</p>
<p>My son really wants a shirt where the pocket isn’t half tucked in…that is an issue too.</p>
<p>I checked the Napoleon Tailor site and it looks really good. Might be some Christmas presents from there!! When he’s here, I’ll take him to Nordstrom to see if we can find anything there.</p>
<p>Keep the suggestions coming…you guys are great.</p>