Dress shirts: Large body with thinner neck

[Tubaryan12]

TubeNettizens: Do any of you know of a brand of dress shirt will fit a larger guy with a relatively thin neck? My neck is a 19, but over the last 10 years or so, I have only found one company (Modena) that made a shirt that fits my 350 lb body and not have a neck on the shirt that is at least a 21-22. The company no longer cuts their shirts this way. I know I could have custom shirts made, but I'm trying to stay in the sub $50 range.

Is there another company that you know of that makes off the rack shirts where the neck fits, and there is room to spare in the body?

[KevinMadden]

When I was 350 (now I'm down to just under 250 ) I found the roundtree and Yorke ( at Dillard's) "big" cut worked well, I had plenty of room in the 18 1/2 'big' shirts

[Three Valves]

Damn "slim fit" anything!!

[Tubaryan12]

When I was 350 (now I'm down to just under 250 ) I found the roundtree and Yorke ( at Dillard's) "big" cut worked well, I had plenty of room in the 18 1/2 'big' shirts

No luck with this. Closer than the "new" Modena shirts, but not quite the same.

I guess my best bet is to make the body match the shirt....lol

[iiipopes]

I am an "in-between" sleeve length: 33. Most manufacturers make "combination" sizes: 32/33, 34/35, etc. That means they make them 32 1/2, 34 1/2, etc. So I have to have a shirt that is either 1/2 inch too short or wayyyy too long and try to have the sleeves hemmed or hitched up.

I had a similar experience to the OP. Land's End, when it was its own company, had the individual sleeve lengths. So did JCPenney Stafford. I could get a 33 and know it was going to fit: JCP in the poly/cotton for every day, the all cotton LE pinpoint when I really needed a sharp collar and front. Then Land's End sold out to Sears, and JCP tried to be all things to all people, and now nothing fits.

I am also considering going with custom shirts. Here's why: a good quality well-fitting shirt will last twice or three times as long as an off-the rack shirt that does not drape properly over the body. So I can spend $30 to $50 on a retail shirt that will last "X" amount of time, or spend $50 to $120 on a shirt that will always look good, take a proper pressing (which "fused" collars never really can, and when the fusing detiorates, the collar starts puckering), never fidget with the collar or cuff, looks good with or without a jacket or tie or both or neither, never worry about it coming untucked, and it will last "3X" amount of time. Finally, a bespoke shirt maker does something very few others do anymore: allow for the 3% cotton shrinkage. Remember when you used to purchase Levi's 501's and the rule of thumb was get an inch bigger in the waist and inseam than you actually wear, so they would shrink down? Real cotton dress shirts are made to do the same thing. Don't just buy a shirt and put it on - professionally launder it before you wear it so you see how it really fits.

One of the worst things a person can do is skimp on clothing, especially for those of us who perform regularly. I don't mean a person has to go to Saville Row or Jermyn Street, but a few dollars up front with proper care can be that little bit of polish that will help get the next gig at the same place.

I'll save my tuba-tuxedo rant for another day, as I could completely fill up Sean's bandwidth if let loose. And it looks like LE and JCP are coming back with a line of shirts with discrete sleeve lengths (Yes, I know, several other companies have them, in the $50 to $70 range - and for me, they all came back at 32 1/2 after the first trip to the laundry.)