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- Founded in 2010, Spier & Mackay is a Canadian startup that specializes in made-to-measure menswear.
- Starting at $79, you can fully customize dress shirts, with options for materials, collars, cuffs, pockets, monograms, sizing, and more.
- I went through the design process and I got the best-fitting dress shirt I’ve ever worn. Here’s how it works.
Custom clothing is often thought to be reserved for those who have the luxury of time and money to spend at an artisan tailor. For that reason, most guys go straight for off-the-shelf options. But the reality is that no matter how much you spend on a standard dress shirt, you’ll never achieve a fit as good as a made-to-measure garment.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to get around those time-consuming and wallet-burning trips to a tailor, and one of the best options is a startup called Spier & Mackay.
Founded in 2010, Spier & Mackay is an emerging menswear brand from Canada that touts itself as a maker and purveyor of fine handmade dress shirts and suits. After realizing how hard and expensive it was for the average guy to get his hands on custom clothes, the company created an easy-to-use online portal for bespoke dress shirts.
Starting at $79 each, Spier & Mackay allows you to choose every element that goes into a dress shirt from the comfort of your home — or where ever you might be when you want to order shirts. There are hundreds of fabrics to choose from and dozens of customization options available, including materials, collars, cuffs, pockets, monograms, sizing, and more.
The company gave me an opportunity to customize my own shirt and it’s easily the best fitting made-to-measure garment I have in my closet.
Read on to see what that design process is like or click here to start designing your own Spier & Mackay custom dress shirt now.
1. Pick out your fabric. There are hundreds of choices available.
Spier & Mackay
The first step is to pick out the fabric you want to use on the shirt. With hundreds of choices, you’ll find a variety of prints, colors, and materials. Whether you want a classic white oxford, a fun pineapple print shirt for the summer, or a heavier plaid flannel for the winter, you’ve got plenty of options.
Although most options are available for $79, I opted for a more premium wrinkle-resistant, sky blue fine twill for $129.
2. Create your style: Choose collars, cuffs, pockets, and more.
Spier & Mackay
Next, you get to choose all of the key elements that make up your shirt: the collar, cuffs, plackets, back pleat, pocket, and cover stitch. This step of the customization process is where you’ll really begin to make a shirt that’s perfect for you, whether you’re designing it for a specific occasion or everday wear.
For example, if you’re creating a shirt to wear with a tuxedo, you might want to go with a more elegant spread collar, French cuffs for cufflinks, and no pockets. Alternatively, if you’re creating a casual flannel, a buttoned collar, buttoned cuffs, and chest pocket would be more suitable. And if you just want to pick your favorite style for each category, that’s perfectly fine, too.
3. Each drop-down menu includes visual representations of each style
Spier & Mackay
What I like best about this step of the customization process is that Spier & Mackay guides you through each category with details on every style and advice on what it goes well with. For collars, they’ll tell you if the style works with bigger tie knots like a Windsor, suits with wider or thinner lapels, and even the shape of your face.
While you won’t have a tailor to guide you through, this is just as helpful. Even if you don’t have a great sense of style, it’d be hard to end up creating a bad-looking shirt.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – aismael@businessinsider.com (Amir Ismael)