★★★★★ 5
Fits Fine, Looks Great, Sizing Makes No Sense
Size: 16.5" Neck 32"-33" Sleeve, Color: White, Size: 16.5" Neck 32"-33" Sleeve, Color: White
I hate shopping for dress shirts. For me, at least, it is a thoroughly frustrating experience, mostly because there's no consistency at all to the sizing. Actually, that's not quite true: dress shirts consistently DON'T FIT ME PROPERLY, which means I have to look at a lot of shirts and scrutinize size charts - which are usually incomplete, when they're provided at all - before finally finding The One. And sometimes, like this time, I don't manage to find The One. But this shirt comes close, as I will explain.
The problem stems from my physique, which I never thought of as unique, but here it is: I'm short (just under 5'4", with a 40-41" chest, a little extra weight (so my middle is about the same), a 36" waist, 33" arms when measured the traditional way (more on that later) and a 16" neck. That last measurement is the single biggest problem: most shirt manufacturers apparently think that if you have a 16' neck, you are shaped like Omar the Tentmaker. Van Heusen is no exception. Note that this shirt is listed as "fitted". Now, that's a completely amorphous descriptor, which, I suppose, is true for most shirt fit descriptors these days. But if you look at Van Heusen's "regular" fit shirts, you'll find that they think if you have a 16" neck, you must have a nearly 50" chest and your waist is over 45". That's not regular, that's freakin' portly! I was afraid to even look at any of their Big & Tall men's dress shirts -- if their idea of regular fit was this skewed, then I didn't want to know what they think Big & Tall is. Thankfully, this is a "fitted" shirt, so Van Heusen thoughtfully provides the 16" neck version with a 42-44" chest and 36-38" waist. That's the size I bought, and it actually fits me pretty well. Still a little loose for a "fitted" shirt, but it doesn't look baggy, and that's what I was after. But a little more realism in the size descriptions would be greatly appreciated.
Regarding the sleeve length, I really don't know what's up. I've seen charts that tell you how to measure it, but no matter how I measure it, I never manage to come up with any of the sleeve lengths provided on size charts. I have noticed that there appear to be two ways of measuring it, though. One way, which I call the traditional way because it seems to have been around longer, starts the measurement somewhere between the edge of the shoulder and the neck. At least, I think that's where it starts -- approximately. As I said before, I never manage to come up with the same number. But by this measurement, my correct sleeve length is 32-33", and the average guy's is probably 34-35". In the last year or so, when I shopped for shirts, I found some size charts using a different method, because the numbers were a lot lower, anywhere from 22" to 28". I have no idea where they came up with that measurement, nor do I know what mine is by this method, because the shirts I ended up buying so far have all used what I referred to as the traditional method.
Anyway, the shirt looked quite nice on me, right out of the package, and continues to look quite nice on me after a couple of washings. The photo I attached is what the shirt looked like after being washed twice. I wash my shirts on my machine's Delicate cycle and hang them to dry. When cared for this way, the shirt does a pretty good job of living up to the listing's claim of wrinkle resistance. It doesn't come out perfectly smooth and crisp, but it looks good enough that I don't feel inclined to iron it.
I decided on a poplin shirt because I was shopping for a summer-weight shirt that would breathe well. But poplin shirts proved nonexistent in my local stores, and not all that plentiful online. Poplin shirts listed online with full size charts so I could tell whether or not they might fit me were nearly as hard to find as igloos in the Mojave Desert, and poplin shirts whose size charts indicated that they were available with dimensions that would actually fit me were somewhere between that and hen's teeth. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I found this one. But the composition of poplin appears to be open to some interpretation. I own a few poplin business shirts (which I wear without suits and ties), and upon receiving my new Van Heusen shirts, it seemed to me that my poplin business shirts were lighter and breathed better. But then it occurred to me that shirt manufacturers often treat their material with coatings that improve the luster and crispness of their shirts for display purposes, and such coatings might be why my new shirts felt stiff, heavy and not particularly airy. Not wanting to give up and send the new shirts back, I decided to take a risk and launder them to see if that improved the feel. Thankfully, it did. After two washings, my new shirts are less shiny than delivered (which I'm fine with), a lot less stiff and breathe reasonably well.
So... these shirts fit well, look good and feel good. Check, check and check. That means I'm fully satisfied with them, right? Wrong -- I am NOT fully satisfied with them. It's summertime. Summertime where I live is hot and often quite humid. I wanted shirts appropriate for that weather. To me, that has always meant lightweight broadcloth short-sleeve shirts. But it seems that today's Fashion Police have decreed that there is no longer such a thing as a short-sleeve dress shirt. They have decreed that today's well-dressed men must wear heavy cotton, long-sleeve shirts year-round. Well, excuse me for living, but some of us perspire when dressed that way in summer heat. Poplin shirts were presented to me as the compromise between acceptable modern fashion and comfort. Linen shirts were also recommended, but I couldn't find a single linen shirt what didn't have a crinkly, casual finish, much less one that was intended to be worn with a tie. With extreme effort, I found a poplin shirt that fits well, and I bought two of them, but while they are more comfortable in the sticky summer heat than heavy cotton, they are NOT as comfortable as my old short-sleeve dress shirts. I want new short-sleeve dress shirts, dagnab it! But until I successfully identify and locate all those insane Fashion Police, blow up their air conditioners and confine them to a Chicago Summer Simulator (otherwise known as a sauna) for three days in their heavy cotton shirts so that they will once again bless the manufacture of short-sleeve dress shirts, I guess these Van Heusen fitted long-sleeve poplin shirts will have to do.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2024
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