NathanCustom Tailors

Dress shirt brands, compared on what actually wears out

A dress shirt is judged after a year, not in a photograph. Two specifications decide that year: whether the collar interlining is glued to the cloth, and whether the size was fitted to you or you were fitted to the size. This page puts every brand we could verify side by side on both, with the source and the date for every figure.

15 of the 18 brands here do not publish their collar interlining at all, at every price from $50 to $250 a shirt. Disclosure does not improve as you spend more. It is the cheaper brands that print the yarn ply and the cotton count; several of the most expensive print neither, nor the country the shirt was made in. Those absences are in the table too, because an absence you can point at is worth more than a claim you cannot check.

BrandSegmentLowest advertisedCollarSizingSpec per dollar
Nathan TailorsBespoke shirtmaker$39Fused or unfused, your choice at orderIndividual pattern drafted for you100/100 · Exceptional
Proper ClothOnline made-to-measure$125Fused or unfused, your choice at orderQuestionnaire-derived size100/100 · Exceptional
Spier & MackayPremium ready-to-wear$58Fused or unfused, your choice at orderNeck + sleeve length100/100 · Exceptional
LuxireOnline made-to-measure$70Not published by the brandMade to your measurements100/100 · Exceptional
HockertyOnline made-to-measure$69Not published by the brandQuestionnaire-derived size77/100 · Exceptional
IndochinoOnline made-to-measure$97Not published by the brandMade to your measurements73/100 · Strong
Black LapelOnline made-to-measure$99Not published by the brandMade to your measurements71/100 · Strong
L.L.BeanValue / off-the-rack$65Not published by the brandNeck + sleeve length54/100 · Fair
Charles TyrwhittHigh-street shirtmaker$75Not published by the brandNeck + sleeve length47/100 · Fair
T.M. LewinHigh-street shirtmaker$86Not published by the brandNeck + sleeve length41/100 · Fair
Deo VeritasOnline made-to-measure$150Not published by the brandQuestionnaire-derived size35/100 · Fair
EtonPremium ready-to-wear$250Not published by the brandNeck size only7/100 · Paying for the name
Brooks BrothersPremium ready-to-wear$99Not published by the brandAlpha sizing (S/M/L/XL)0/100 · Paying for the name
UniqloValue / off-the-rack$50Not published by the brandAlpha sizing (S/M/L/XL)0/100 · Paying for the name
J.CrewValue / off-the-rack$98Not published by the brandAlpha sizing (S/M/L/XL)0/100 · Paying for the name
UNTUCKitValue / off-the-rack$79Not published by the brandAlpha sizing (S/M/L/XL)0/100 · Paying for the name
BonobosValue / off-the-rack$89Not published by the brandAlpha sizing (S/M/L/XL)0/100 · Paying for the name
Lands’ EndValue / off-the-rack$42Not published by the brandAlpha sizing (S/M/L/XL)0/100 · Paying for the name

How the score works

Spec per dollar weighs the collar interlining and the sizing method against the lowest per-shirt price the brand advertises itself — its multi-buy ladder or standing sale, not a list price it does not expect you to pay. A brand that declines to publish its interlining scores nothing on that axis. That is not a penalty we invented; it is the absence of a claim anyone can check.

Our own shirts sit in the table on the same terms as everyone else's: $39–$59 garment-only depending on the cloth, cut from a pattern drafted to your measurements, with shipping quoted separately.

Every head-to-head