Business shirts

Business Shirts Tailored, Chiang Mai: the end of the day is the test

Anyone can look good in a fresh shirt at nine in the morning.

The measure of a business shirt is whether it is still tucked in, still holding its collar, and still presentable at six in the evening after a day of sitting, reaching, and moving between air-conditioning and Chiang Mai heat.

Three things determine that: the length of the tail, the quality of the yarn, and the construction of the collar.

Tail length

This is the most common and least discussed fault in ready-made shirts.

Shirt tails cost cloth, so mass-produced shirts are cut short. A shirt that stays tucked while you stand still in a fitting room will untuck the first time you reach across a desk or stand up from a chair, because raising your arms pulls the whole shirt upward by several centimetres.

A drafted shirt is cut with enough tail for your torso length and for actual movement. It is unglamorous and it is why tailored shirts stay where you put them.

Two-ply cloth

Worth paying for if the shirt is going into weekly rotation.

Two-ply yarn is spun from two finer strands twisted together, making it stronger and smoother than a single-ply yarn of the same weight. In practice it resists the thinning and pilling that appears at collar folds and cuff edges after dozens of wash cycles.

A single-ply shirt is perfectly good for occasional wear. A shirt worn fifty times a year and washed fifty times is a different proposition.

Colour, honestly

White and light blue will cover almost everything.

White is the most formal, works under every suit colour, and is the safest choice for anything photographed or filmed. Light blue is marginally less formal, flatters most complexions more than white does, and is more forgiving of a long day.

Stripes and checks are fine as a third and fourth shirt. Keep them subtle if they are going under a patterned suit, since two patterns competing at the chest is the fastest way to look busy.

Build a rotation

Five shirts is the practical number for a five-day week with weekly laundry. It lets each shirt rest between wears and lets you wash everything in one cycle.

Order one first to confirm the fit, then order the rest from the same pattern once it is on file. See shirts and dress shirts for collar and cuff options.