Hi! I'm Kyle Inghamfounder of The Distilled Man.
This is a review of my experience
with original stitch made-to-measure shirts.
So if you're like most guys you probably don't have a lot of shirts that fit you very well.
I hate to break it to you but most of us guys wear shirts that are
just too big for us if we're wearing off the rack stuff.
You know, we got our next size measure we get our sleeve length measured,
but the body is completely off.
It's you know, too flabby, it makes us look huge like it doesn't fit our bodies.
In my free ebook I talked about how when I discovered tailoring shirts and how I
could get my shirts taken in to fit my body and fit my measurements,
it was an eye-opening experience.
And you know, suddenly I basically broke up with the
rest of my closet because I have these two shirts that I had taken to the dry
cleaner and had adjusted to fit my body
and it was amazing to see what a big difference fit makes.
So while I discovered the importance of fit, you know, way back then
when it came to, you know, taking things in that I already owned.
Up until recently I haven't had a chance to experience the new
up-and-coming trend of made to measure.
And if you're not familiar with made-to-measure essentially
made-to-measure is a step between, you know,
an off-the-rack shirt and or off-the-rack clothing and fully custom.
So, you know, where as custom you're getting something completely made to you from scratch and
maybe that involves several fittings.
Made-to-measure is a is a lot less expensive.
Ultimately what they do is they take pre-created patterns, like off the rack
shirts would do but then adjust them to fit your actual measurements.
and so what you end up with is a shirt that fits you like custom,
but it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.
So recently I had a chance to customize my own shirt and build my own shirt the
original stitch and I just wanted to share my experience.
So to start out, I measured myself.
Actually, I measured myself first and then I actually have my wife for me because I
was afraid that I was gonna mess it up.
But one thing to note is that Original Stitch does have a lot of great videos
on the site about how to measure yourself and to do it the proper way.
So before sitting down to design my shirt, first I made myself an old-fashioned.
You know, you can't sit at a computer too long without refreshments,
it's not good for the soul.
Then I went to originalstitch.com.
I hit the design my shirt button.
From there I got to pick out my fabric.
I decided to go with a dressy fabric.
They were well over a hundred different fabrics to choose from.
I chose good old light blue, then I selected long sleeve because I have
really puny arms and I never tan.
So it's best to keep those puppies covered.
Next it was time to pick my collar.
I got a long face and I knew that a spread collar help widen my features so
i picked a wide spread collar.
So far my shirt was looking pretty good.
From there I got to decide whether I want to do a contrasting color for my
cuffs or my collar.
And i'm not a big fan of the Bill Lumbergh look,
so I just kept it basic, just use the same color blue.
From there I got to choose my inner collar fabric.
There are a ton of different colors to choose from.
I didn't want it to be ridiculously loud, but i wanted something interesting that
would complement the blue, so I chose this purple plaid pattern.
Purple plaid pattern say that three times fast.
Next I got to pick my cuffs.
I didn't really have a strong opinion, so although there were several choices there.
So I just stuck with round cuffs.
From there I got to choose my inner cuff fabric.
And to marry it with the the inner collar fabric,
I chose the same purple plaid pattern.
Now time for buttons.
Again more choices.
At this point with all the creative input,
I've had in designing my shirt I'm thinking,
"Boy am I glad I'm not drunk right now."
Who knows what I would have ended up with.
So to help contrast with my burly masculinity and rugged good looks,
I chose to go with a light pink.
Hey, sensitive is sexy.
My shirt was looking really good at this point.
And I contemplated for half a second adding some ridiculous word is my monogram,
and then my better judgment prevailed fortunately.
And with that I was done designing my shirt.
It was time to enter my measurements.
I double and triple check the measurements my wife and I had come up with.
I didn't for instance want to swap the next size with the chest size
or otherwise it would be a very weird looking shirt.
I took a sip of my old-fashioned.
The ice had barely melted at all.
This whole process hadn't really taken more than a few minutes.
Then I entered my measurements.
One thing that was immediately different is that I was able to enter a measurement
for my waist which is, you know, you never get that for off the rack shirts.
Usually it's just next size and sleeve length.
That's why they're so boxy.
But even after that I was given one more opportunity to tweak the fit.
I got to choose my Fit feeling.
Basically, how much extra fabric give did I want
beyond my exact body that the measurements.
I really want to see how a shirt that it was exactly measure to my body fit.
So I chose the lowest setting, regular.
At that point it was time to check out and submit my order.
With a click of a button my order information was sent halfway around the world to Japan.
Original Stitch is based in San Francisco
but all their shirts are hand made in Japan
with the highest level of craftsmanship.
I got an email confirmation saying that my order had been received and then I
can check the tracking link for progress.
After about a month I received a package
in the mail, had some funny writing on it.
It was from Japan,
from original stitch. It was my shirt.
I opened it up.
It was beautiful and it fit me perfectly.
just to give you an example of the difference between an off-the-rack shirt
that supposedly fits my measurements and the Original Stitch shirt which is built
exactly to my measurements, check this out.
Here's the off the rack shirt look at how much extra billowy fabric there is.
And here's the shirt from Original Stitch, night and day difference.
Beyond the actual shirt, I also enjoyed the process of being able to design my
own shirt and have creative input into how it turned out.
And what's also great is that if I decide I want another shirt just like
this or to create a new shirt.
My measurements are already in the system I can just click a button and get
another shirt that fits me exactly perfectly, just like this one.
So, I absolutely love my shirt from Original Stitch.
It's my favorite shirt right now.
I can, you know, I really like the workmanship,
quality of the handcrafted workmanship has a nice firm collar,
and it just fits me perfectly.
Now my only my only gripe about the experience was just that I think they
could have done a better job of setting my expectations about how long it would
take and when I would receive the shirt.
At one point I did receive an email with the tracking link once the shirt has been
shipped from Japan and I click the link and it took me to a Japanese shipping
carrier and it was actually really hard to figure out kind of what i was looking at.
And even when I entered my tracking information
ultimately he told me that something you know it's on a boat or on a carrier
moving somewhere but it wasn't telling me the ultimate delivery date or at
least it wasn't clear to me.
So when I spoke to my contact Original Stitch about this I did communicate that
that that would have been nice to have a little more communication about kind of
the status you know where my order was, and like when it was exactly what was expected.
And she did mention that you know that's one of the many upgrades
that they're working on and enhancements.
You know, looking at the shipping process and perhaps
adjusting that or looking at a different shipping carrier.
Other upgrades that they're talking about are doing a new sort of 3D model for the
modeling of your shirt while you're doing it.
That is more representative of different body sizes.
Right now, it's just based on sort of like a very svelte
athletic looking body and not everyone looks like that.
The other thing is that they're looking at more detailed descriptions of their
myriad fabrics and then the final thing is more shirt customizations like torso length.
So I have no doubt that Original Stitch will continue to improve their
process and continue to improve their service.
And honestly in the meantime they make great shirts.
I'm really happy with mine I'm going to order another one.
And if you've never had a chance to get a shirt that fits you perfectly,
now might be a great time to check it out.