I’ve always been very lucky – I’m average in almost every way. One benefit of mediocrity is being able to fit into one of the standard 4 “alpha” sizes retailers use for men’s shirts. But for every guy that happens to fit into these arbitrary molds, there are tons more left without many options beyond consistent tailoring, custom shirting, or simply accepting defeat with poor-fitting clothing.
Long arms? Short torso? Massive biceps? Thick neck? Muffin top? Sorry gents, no shirts for you.
This is the exact problem Stantt (Constant + Improvement) founders Kirk Keel and Matt Hornbuckle had when they started their pursuit of better shirts: Better sizing, better materials, better workmanship.
Standardized sizing using numbers was first introduced for men during the revolutionary war and was standard by the War of 1812. But by the Civil War, the Army needed a quicker, leaner way to get soldiers into uniform – and the small, medium, large convention was born.
Recognizing that employing 150 year old standards for the modern man seemed asinine, the duo set forth on a journey to use new 3D mapping technology on over 10,000 test-fits to redefine the sizing options for the men’s dress shirt. The resulting data generated 75 different sizes and a simple algorithm matches you with the perfect shirt based only on a few quick measurements.
The icing on the cake? Stantt makes their shirts in the USA, right in New Jersey. If your size is in stock, it’ll ship out in 24 hours; if it isn’t, they’ll make it for you and you’ll receive it in about 3 weeks. Faster than made-to-measure Asian offerings, and domestically produced. Free shipping and returns too.
Perhaps my biggest realization as I improved my own style is that those Mediums I had been buying didn’t actually fit at all. They were all too wide, and when tucked in would bulge. My gingham Stantt shirt has become one of my favorites, hefty fabric and a solid construction, not to mention the perfect fit, and at $98, it's less than the cost of many off-the-rack options for a similarly crafted, imported designer brand.
Check them out at stantt.com
