Dress Shirts

[MarkGrace]

That looks nice. So you just use those in place of the regular stays? I have a shirt that buttons under the collar, and it lays just like that shirt looks. It would be nice if more shirts did that.

[Donuthole]

I assume you're wearing the shirts with the suits? If so, no buttons on the collars. If not, and I know some will disagree, but most shirts w/o button collars just look goofy to me.

You just need some Wurkin Stiffs. I've purchased a set, but my wife is giving them to me for Father's Day, so I haven't been allowed to sample yet. I immediately ordered some after meeting with a client a few weeks ago. His no-button collar was laying as perfectly against his shirt as any buttoned collar. I actually complimented him on his shirt--and the collar, specifically--at which point he revealed his secret.

[MarkGrace]

I assume you're wearing the shirts with the suits? If so, no buttons on the collars. If not, and I know some will disagree, but shirts w/o button collars more often than not just look goofy to me.

[Donuthole]

Anyone have any experience with Joseph A Bank? I need to buy a couple of suits, and they're having one of their 200 yearly "buy 1 get 3" sales. I also need to buy a bunch of dress shirts made.

If you're so inclined, tell me what you think about:

Buttoned collars?
Number of buttons on sleeves? (My mentor says 4 is classic)
Single or double breasted?

I'll be getting suits/shirts all dry cleaned. I'll only wear the suit jacket < 20% of the time.

Good thing we have a decent amount of lawyers who have to dress well. If it was all engineers I just get advice about Kirkland jeans.

Here is my experience: Buy 1 get 3 means you are paying about $200 per suit, depending on what you select. However, the $800 suit you are buying is really just a $200 suit marked up. It's not a bad deal, and now that they carry slim fit and flat front suits, it's even better.

That said, for about the same amount of dough you could get 2 (maybe 3) suits from a Turkish tailor like Sarar which are much higher quality than the Jos A Bank suit.

As for Jos. A Bank shirts, they are a good quality, wrinkle-free cotton. However, I think their sleeves are cut too loose (even on the tailored-fit cuts) and the body is too baggy. If I were you, I would wait until June when Nordstrom is having its half-yearly sale and stock up on dress shirts then for $30-40 a pop.

[BYUMizzou]

Anyone have any experience with Joseph A Bank? I need to buy a couple of suits, and they're having one of their 200 yearly "buy 1 get 3" sales. I also need to buy a bunch of dress shirts made.

If you're so inclined, tell me what you think about:

Buttoned collars?
Number of buttons on sleeves? (My mentor says 4 is classic)
Single or double breasted?

I'll be getting suits/shirts all dry cleaned. I'll only wear the suit jacket < 20% of the time.

Good thing we have a decent amount of lawyers who have to dress well. If it was all engineers I just get advice about Kirkland jeans.

I'm wearing a Jos. A Bank shirt right now. I probably bought it 4 or 5 years ago, and it still looks good. The wrinkle free shirts from there, in my opinion, tend to be better and more "wrinkle-free" than other brands. They make quality dress shirts, and it's hard to go wrong with them.

As for buttons on collars, I never wear shirts with button collars if I wear a tie. The collars tends to "pooch" out instead of laying flat. If I'm not going to be wearing a tie, I prefer a buttoned collar.

I buy most of my suits from BB and have never owned a Jo. A B suit, so I'm not qualified to comment on their quality. I always buy single breasted 2 or 3 button suits. I own about 20 suits, and I've never once noticed how many buttons they have on the sleeves.

[Moliere]

JosABank stuff is worth about 33% of original cost, so I only buy it if it is buy 1 get 2 free. It's good enough quality to wear to the office and their suits are decent. I bought one a year ago and had it altered a bit to fit me and I'm very happy with it. It's a very good "low end" suit. You won't see execs wear them, but it's decent enough for managers or similar to wear around the office.

For shirts, I get their Traveler no-wrinkle tailored point collar shirts. They are great as they wear very well and don't ahve to be ironed. I'm somewhat thin so I need the tailored fit otherwise I feel like I'm wearing a tent. I like how they look, but they aren't much different than Brooks Brothers or anything similar.

I also have some regular shirts (not wrinkle-free) that I have dry cleaned, but I don't like them as well. The wrinkle way too easy and I don't like the feel of the fabric as much as the wrinkle-free shirts.

As far as your specific questions go, I never get buttoned down collars, they look funny to me. Also, I wear ties and usually end up changing in and out of my shirt once a day so I like to take off my tie without unknotting it (missionary trick ) and having buttons makes that difficult.

I have no idea on the # of buttons.

Does anyone still make double breasted suits? Single breasted is the way to go now. I love a classic 2 button black or dark gray suit. I own one 3-button suit (dark blue) but rarely wear it.

[San Juan Sun]

Anyone have any experience with Joseph A Bank? I need to buy a couple of suits, and they're having one of their 200 yearly "buy 1 get 3" sales. I also need to buy a bunch of dress shirts made.

If you're so inclined, tell me what you think about:

Buttoned collars?
Number of buttons on sleeves? (My mentor says 4 is classic)
Single or double breasted?

I'll be getting suits/shirts all dry cleaned. I'll only wear the suit jacket < 20% of the time.

Good thing we have a decent amount of lawyers who have to dress well. If it was all engineers I just get advice about Kirkland jeans.

[HauteCoug]

Yeah, but then you have to go back and fight the crowds anyway, right? I thought you were saying you could go, get a salesperson to point out the items that would go on sale, select which ones you wanted, have the salesperson pull them from the floor and then you could go back on the day of the sale and just pay for your items. That would be pretty sweet. It would probably ruin the sale for most, but still pretty sweet.

Oh, I see what you were saying. Yes - they'll be pulled aside. They'll be placed on hold for you. You should do it!

[falafel]

Not having shopped in men's before I can only speak to what I've seen in women's, but your stylist or salesperson will show you all of the items on the floor that will be on the sale; no need to pull anything aside. It happens a lot more often than people realize.

Yeah, but then you have to go back and fight the crowds anyway, right? I thought you were saying you could go, get a salesperson to point out the items that would go on sale, select which ones you wanted, have the salesperson pull them from the floor and then you could go back on the day of the sale and just pay for your items. That would be pretty sweet. It would probably ruin the sale for most, but still pretty sweet.

[HauteCoug]

Do they set it aside for you? Meaning you get to shop the sale before the sale?

Not having shopped in men's before I can only speak to what I've seen in women's, but your stylist or salesperson will show you all of the items on the floor that will be on the sale; no need to pull anything aside. It happens a lot more often than people realize.

[falafel]

Robin - this is what you do. Go to the store and tell them you want a stylist to do a presale with you for men's half-yearly. They'll show you all the stuff that will be on sale and you will get first pick. Then they will ring it up on Monday and you can pick it up whenever. Trust me... it's the best way to do it!

Do they set it aside for you? Meaning you get to shop the sale before the sale?

[HauteCoug]

Robin - this is what you do. Go to the store and tell them you want a stylist to do a presale with you for men's half-yearly. They'll show you all the stuff that will be on sale and you will get first pick. Then they will ring it up on Monday and you can pick it up whenever. Trust me... it's the best way to do it!

[MarkGrace]

Robin, Ryan Gosling demands that you remove his image from your profile because of your disparaging remarks about Disneyland.

[Donuthole]

That would be cool. Maybe we can find a time that works for Solon to come down and we could have a games-sesh (or if y'all feel about that the way I do about Disneyland, then we could just go grab a bite to eat.)

I'm not 100% sure I know what a "games-sesh" is. But if it means what I think it means, that's your second straight post in this thread with a superfluous hyphen.

[RobinFinderson]

Hey, i'll be in St. Double G as well. Let's grab breakfast, and we can commiserate about our non-presence at the NMHYS.

That would be cool. Maybe we can find a time that works for Solon to come down and we could have a games-sesh (or if y'all feel about that the way I do about Disneyland, then we could just go grab a bite to eat.)