Best Cheap Workhorse Dress Shirt

John Lee Pettimore III

John Lee Pettimore III

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I'm in a suit-and-tie job, so I wear a dress shirt almost every day. I live in Florida, and usually walk to work, so the sweat and ring-around-the-collar grime adds up pretty quickly. I'm skinny (6'2, 170 lbs) and a big believer in a good fit, so I always buy slim fits.

Surprisingly enough, Stafford, JC Penney's house brand, seems to be the best of the bunch so far, in terms of price/value combination.
Roundtree & Yorke, the Dillard's brand is too baggy.
Brooks Brothers is good quality, but the Extra Slim are pretty hard to find and the regular slims are too baggy around the waist.
Chaps is dirt cheap, but after three washes, the shirts are pretty much done.
Gap/Banana Republic is decent, but the fabric seems excessively wrinkly to me. I also have to buy a medium, so it's too short.
J. Crew is also wrinkly, and too short. I have to buy a medium slimfit to get a good fit and it's never long enough. Their measured shirts (i.e. 15.5/34) are also too short.
Arrow (which I have a prejudice towards because my grandma always said I looked like their shirt model back in the day) is crap. The fabrics are terrible.

I believe this is my second clothing thread in a month, for which I deserve some sort of award.
 
Lands' End used to be fantastic, but it's all that non-iron stuff now and the collars are stingy and the sizing inconsistent. Still, some of their cheap Chinese S-M-L shirts have proven to be really nice.
If you can fit in Uniqlo, and again the dinky collars, their stuff seems remarkably decent at the price.
I had a Stafford OCBD that was horribly off in the sizing, and had incredibly stiff fusing. Except for that, it was impressive at the bargain basement price.
Paul Fredrick is one that I'm curious about. Way back when, I had a delicious sport shirt of theirs that was sublime. More recently, I had a button-down in their trim fit that was a really good fit, but the fabric was strange and a bit stiff.
 
Yep. CT forever. They have the $29.50 deal running right now on select shirts (lots of Extra Slims) if you follow a link off SF.

Otherwise, they've been doing $29.50 semiannually for the last few years. I have proffered greatly off Grand Potentate Grand Potentate 's vigilance.
 
OfficePants said:
I have a few CT shirts. Harvie and Hudson make a good shirt.
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I endorse this statement. CT is a steady winner bang for the buck, and H&H has pretty good sales from time to time. They have a lot of shirts for £29 and free shipping right now, with good all around fabric.
 
I've bought my stepson a number of CT shirts when they're on-sale at $39.95, and he really likes them. He prefers them to the non-non-iron Lands' End shirts I have purchased for him in the recent past. I believe LE still has a modest number of non-non-iron (or should I say "must-iron") shirts. Their Hyde Parks are good value, especially when discounted, as they frequently are.

The all-time best values in cheap dress shirts, in my opinion, were the Costco/Kirkland made-in-Mauritius shirts. Alas, they have been replaced in the past few years by non-iron, made-in-China shirts, in which I have no interest whatsoever.
 
Nordstrom rack makes a okay fitted house shirt for like 30 bucks. I get them on clearance for like 14 bucks.
 
seamless said:
Nordstrom rack makes a okay fitted house shirt for like 30 bucks. I get them on clearance for like 14 bucks.
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1. So Rack has specially made stuff and is not entirely a pure outlet? I have a thread on this that seems to be dying...
2. Are they tainted with some non-iron or whatever finish? Last I checked, regular Nordstrom was largely overtaken with that stuff.
 
Anyone heard of Red Thin Line. They have a clearance sale £9.00 ea. They deduct VAT at check out and the shipping is £25.00 flat rate.
I read that quality is close to CT but I don't anything about the fit.
 
robertito said:
Anyone heard of Red Thin Line. They have a clearance sale £9.00 ea. They deduct VAT at check out and the shipping is £25.00 flat rate.
I read that quality is close to CT but I don't anything about the fit.
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Maybe Monkeyface Monkeyface ? I'm not familiar with the various European outfits.
 
Russell Street said:
1. So Rack has specially made stuff and is not entirely a pure outlet? I have a thread on this that seems to be dying...
2. Are they tainted with some non-iron or whatever finish? Last I checked, regular Nordstrom was largely overtaken with that stuff.
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I think it's a mix of normal and no iron. The shirts look fine for the price and have a strong collar. Other then that pretty lack luster.
 
robertito said:
regular price is GBP 45.00. This is clearance price. I read quality is close to TM Lewin.
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How often do they have a clearance? Don't like TM and CT shirts either. Bad fabrics and uncomfortable collars and cuffs. Also just way too british for my tastes.

You could always buy one and see if I you like it.
 
I like CT dress shirts - I just wish their casuals were up to the same level.
 
robertito said:
Anyone heard of Red Thin Line. They have a clearance sale £9.00 ea. They deduct VAT at check out and the shipping is £25.00 flat rate.
I read that quality is close to CT but I don't anything about the fit.
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I believe that at one time they were favourably viewed as a decent value by i-Gents as an entry level shirt especially when on sale. Perceived quality less than CT.

They do a slim fit model as their regular fit were giganda.
 
It would be relatively cheap if in my wardrobe I have only one of each for work. Quality always trumps quantity.
 
Went into an H&M a couple of weeks ago. Their slim-fit, wrinkle free shirts fit me perfectly. They don't look too sturdy but they are $15.00. That's not a sale price, that's the everyday price they charge. Incredible. If I were single I'd buy thirty at a time.
 
John Lee Pettimore III said:
Went into an H&M a couple of weeks ago. Their slim-fit, wrinkle free shirts fit me perfectly. They don't look too sturdy but they are $15.00. That's not a sale price, that's the everyday price they charge. Incredible. If I were single I'd buy thirty at a time.
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Did you buy any for work or social needs?
 
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