Review: Standard Shirt

Recently, I was contact by Sung Jo of Standard Shirt to see if I would review one of their products. I happily agreed and was promptly shipped a White Spread Collar Shirt. There's also a Cutaway Collar version available for those who want a bolder look.

Shipping was quick, no more than five days. It was boxed with no fancy transparent window boxing, which is what I prefer. I've never particularly felt that flamboyant packaging added any value to shirts, since the box and bag would be quickly thrown out anyway.

Their logo box is the one used for shipping. There is no further, wasteful box inside.

Pretty typical shirt packaging.

Initial impressions were pretty good for the price. It had a nice, substantial spread collar (about 5.5" wide with 3.25" points) and slightly longer, European style button cuffs. Accordingly, you won't find a chest pocket as Americans are accustomed to.There are seven buttons on the front of the shirt, though I'd prefer eight. Their fit, dubbed a tailored fit, is not as slim as I prefer but also not loose by any stretch of the imagination. However, there are darts in the back, which makes it blouse a bit less than a non-darted shirt with similar dimensions would. I prefer darts on my shirts, so this was a plus. The fabric is 80's pinpoint cotton. A "standard shirt" in my opinion is made of poplin, but the choice to use pinpoint is understandable since it's generally lower in cost and more resistant to wrinkles. An interesting facet of their shirts is that the collar size goes by both half and quarter inches for a more precise fit, though only up to size 16. It's claimed on the product pages, "Our sleeve lengths run an inch shorter than advertised due to our reinforced cuffs and button location. Our 35 sleeve will fit closer to a 34." So why not just list them as the actual length?

Collar close up. Frames a tie knot pretty well.

Signature blue thread on the cuff buttons.

Fit when tucked in. It could lose just a bit of fabric at the waist, everything else is spot on.

There are a couple areas that could be better, even considering the low price of $59.00 (average department store shirt price in the USA). For one, the plastic pearl-look buttons don't seem especially sturdy. Thicker resin buttons are always preferable because they will last longer with laundering and simply look better. At first I thought they forgot to put in stays with how floppy the collar felt. I discovered that they were there, but made of low quality, transparent plastic. It was thinner than the packaging used to stand up the collar. I then looked around the package to see if there was a separate pair somewhere. No dice. This especially needs addressing and a pair of proper, stiff plastic stays wouldn't cost much to add.

Hardly a collar stay.

This is a pretty good value for the price and a stylish shirt, but I hope they improve upon those couple details. As I understand, they want to do one thing (versatile white shirts) and do them well.

Nouveau Vintage received material compensation to complete this review, but every effort has been made to remain objective.