Help! I can’t find a good fitting t-shirt
Hello! I am new here and am finally taking my search of finding new clothes serious. I have been struggling for years to find shirts and have been rotating through the same old 10 shirts I’ve had for years with holes in the armpits and I’ve finally had enough.
I’ve recently tried multiple different stores for shirts but I’ve been very discouraged and am hoping some of you experts can help me out!
So I am about 6ft tall, 157 (slim tall build) and usually wear a medium shirt. In fact most 100% cotton medium sized shirts in store fit mostly really well. However every item I wash them they shrink just enough (or sometimes too much) that they are then too short and I joke that they are crop tops. However, large shirts are usually not much longer and are quite a bit wider and even when I shrink them have a similar problem in terms of length, except they also look a little big on me (even when intentionally shrinking).
I’ve tried long or tall shirts but I’m just not tall enough for those (they were wayyy too long).
Another small problem I have also noticed is that some shirts have armpits that sit really low on me (not actually in my armpit) which is very uncomfortable and looks bad imo.
I have been very conscious about washing clothes on a delicate, tap cold cycle, with a low spin speed and drying on a delicate cycle with the lowest heat setting because of this reason (as well as not wanting to shrink my other clothes such as flannels, sweaters, pants).
TLDR: I am kind of in between a medium and large shirt and am having a hard time finding shirts that aren’t super short, won’t shrink after first fit, and also actually have the armpit fit in my armpit. I don’t have a long torso or anything but am just kind of tall and slim.
Any suggestions? Thank you!
135 Replies
Have you measured (a) shirt(s) you own whose fit you like? Many places have sizing guides that could help before you make any purchases
I have not tired that and it seems like a good idea. I guess I will have to find my favorite or best fitting shirt and then look up how to measure it and see if I can use those measurements to find shirts. I just think it still may be a little challenging.
I was honestly just hoping I could find others that are slim and tall and see where they’ve found luck with shirts. Or just recommendations for shirts that don’t shrink or are pre-shrunk so I can try those and go from there.
So basically you are looking for longer than average slim shirts?
inb4 rick owens
And want some options to try out different armpit placements?
i was thinking it
I smelt it
I don’t want slim shirts because that would be too slim. I fit great width wise with a medium shirt (unless it shrinks a ton) but they just need to be longer. Or just not shrink lol!
medium and slim mean nothing, look at your measurements
I don’t want to undercut you but I want to encourage you to think outside of just straight on the tag sizing
Should I first measure the shirt that fits me best or measure myself?
I’m looking at polo Ralph Lauren shirts on eBay for summer and a large can be a 22” chest or a 27” chest
measure the shirt
Shirt imo
Since the fit is what you’re worried about most (shrinkage aside)
I see, yeah maybe I need to get away from just medium/large.
I have literally been looking for years and just been so discouraged.
Definitely doesn't hurt to know your actual measured chest size though especially for using brand/website size guides
I will do both but focus more on the shirt measurement. Assuming I have a shirt that I really like the fit of. Most of my shirts I have a problem with but don’t want to waste money buying new shirts if they are going to have the same problem.
You could also air dry tees ig
What if you bought a large t shirt and wore it for a few weeks and then got used to it so now all of them fit
I do for most of mine
I’m 5’7 145 lb and I wear L and sometimes XL t shirts and no one has ever said they look bad on me
alt simply just buy the biggest shirts and embraced the wide fit
Yeah my friend is like 5’9 140-150 and only wears XL and looks great
Obviously body type can affect this but you just sound like a normally built guy
Problem with larges (even if first wash slightly shrunk) is that they usually are for wider shoulders I assume and the armpit of the shirt is basically a few inches below my actually armpit and it not only is uncomfortable but looks awful on me.
Plus larges usually don’t increase shirt length so I have the same problem of barely raising my arm and showing my belly lol.
So it’s not that I mind the bigger, baggier look, but it just is too much.
Imo the armpit of the shirt shouldn’t hug your armpit
I’m sure they don’t look awful on you and it’s in your mind. Most 6’0 people I know wear L or XL
And look great
My buddy that wears M looks like his shirts are too small
I don’t want it to completely hug, but it’s like so much lower the shirt doesn’t even touch and it just sits so low and I’ll sweat and it’ll drip down my whole body haha
Also it’s not a jacket where the shoulder seam needs to be on your shoulder
for what its worth, even if you dont want to wear them oversized shirts are pretty in these days so i doubt others will think it looks odd
This is how I like my shirts to fit
I don’t want it to completely hug, but it’s like so much lower the shirt doesn’t even touch and it just sits so low and I’ll sweat and it’ll drip down my whole body haha
Which brands have you tried? Might help people rec some others
Great fitting shirt!
If anything I could go bigger tbh
This is maybe a silly question but where do you wear your pants? That feels like a big variable as far as shirt length being "long enough" goes
This is normal
I know I think that’s my problem, is I’m “supposed” to be l or xl but I’m only 157 pounds and actually used to be 135lbs. Only now started filling out but am just too slender still.
Look, you should just try out a L for a month or so and trust me you’ll get used to it
good point, the "Long T shirts" of yesteryear went hand in hand with the low rise jeans
Weight doesn’t factor into shirt sizes
Unless you are very plus sized then you need to size up
And shirt sizing varies wildly
Online ceramics blanks are huge
I know weight doesn’t factor, but I’m just using it as a way to show how slim I am just guess?
Others are not
This is literally the difference between a shirt sort of fitting me and me wooshing around the city like I’m pretending to be Batman
And it’s the same brand
Interesting
I have a comfort colors t
It’s fine
A little long if anything
The only shirt I know I’ve liked is a high quality comfort colors shirt but I tried to buy plain ones in the past and they shrunk and were basically crop tops.
But they have like
A million tees
and mine have NOT shrunk
Sorry trying to make sure I’m replying to the right stuff haha
Either the shirt or the like 3 tank tops i bought
I swear I’m washing things correctly because it was a problem in the past and I really hyper focused on it and in my experience stuff isn’t shrinking anymore, except for first wash.
Would line dry be considered just hanging on a rack and air drying?
I am just providing a data point but my comfort colors stuff hasn’t shrunk
And I’ve tumble dried those on high lol
To be fair, I bought basic plain comfort color tee's at a craft story and I assume they weren't the quality stuff.
I don't line dry, I do delicate with the lowest heat setting and make sure they are just dry and not warm coming out.
I got mine off Amazon but again they have a handful of tees and tanks
I don't understand haha. I apprecaite all of you guys trying to help solve my problem. I will probably just take a picture of myself with the tee's I hate and a tee I like.
It's just weird, I mean I've felt like I can't be the only person dealing with this problem, but it seems like I am lol!
This is not true
Sometimes things that cost more are worse
Like not a universal axiom either way
less problems if ur willing to pay more
I have tried, but I am so skeptical of forking out $30-$40 a tee shirt to not have it feel perfect.
Char nailed it tbh, you're getting caught up on conflating weight & shirt size.
Measure your most loved tee, and when you're buying new ones make sure the measurements match the one you already own, regardless of size.
American giant, Uniqlo, Gildan, LA apparel, comfort colors, everybody world, etc - brand reputations aside - all have a bunch of options to explore
I'm 6'1" and even when I was wildly underweight at 120lb I was wearing a large
Don't put your tees in the dryer. Air dry them on a rack.
*unless you don’t care about them
in which case they go in the hot box
Guess in the future I will start doing this with shirts I care about or new purchases.
Or put your tees in the dryer because of all your clothes your tees are probably most suited for the dryer and just factor in shrinkage
You don’t wanna have one fit and then go on vacation where there’s only a washer and dryer and have to dry your clothes and they shrink that one time
Well, that’s what I was wanting to do but have had a hard time doing so. Even with being careful. Or I should say I have a hard time finding shirts that won’t do so.
I dry all my clothes lol and they turn out fine
I am taking some pics now of shirts. Figure that could help with recommendations and opinions.
yeah, but OPs shape (6', 157#) means most shirts are going to be a little short on him, and he's going to be very sensitive to shrinkage.
Here are some actually good recommendations
Fair but like just wear an XL
Or wear a slim l/xl if you want the armpit holes to be tiny
And he probably doesn't need a boxy cut. A regular cut will already be boxy enough.
If my 5’7 gnome ass can wear L and XL, a 6’0 guy can wear XL
So I'd recommend trying a Uniqlo Supima T, not their boxier cuts.
Not a t shirt but this is an XL sweater
Char this is so cute
depends on the fit he wants. I have some large tees, and I don't like how I look in them.
We can’t recommend a shirt without knowing the measurements he’s looking for, looking at sizing charts is probably the best bet here
tyty
This is one of the shirts I find fits comfortably, looks fairly good, and has a good length. It's a comfort colors shirt.
However, this the basic comfort colors shirt I purchased from a craft store and has shrunk.
I would measure it and compare it to measurements on size charts on websites of t shirt retailers
Both look fine to me but I see what you’re saying
I know they are bad pictures, and frankly they may not show the difference, but the gray shirt if I lift up my arms even a little, shows almost to my belly button. It's horrible.
It’s just a lot shorter
Like I kind of doubt it shrunk over 1” in the wash
I personally thinkt hey both fit fairly well in the chest and down, but is just too short.
My comfort colors t is stupid long
Second looks WAY too tight in the armpit
Yeah it definitely is a little tight actually, that is a fair point. I honestly want to get rid of the shirt, but unfortunately don't have enough to do so lol.
This is why we recommend Rick
We really covered everything in the first 10 messages huh
At least with rick, you’ll know the quality is bad ahead of time
And thoughts of cost efficiency are already out the window
Here are two more just to show, I actually like these two the best in terms of fit. First is a brand new medium shirt I got as a gift but am too scared to take the tags off as I suspect it will shrink.
This shirt actually a size Large cheesy 4th of July shirt that shrunk.
Sorry, what is Rick?
Rick Owens is a designer who makes long slim t shirts
oh, yeah I think I'm good.
You might be into them idk
lol
What do you guys think of the second two shirts fit wise? Maybe I need to just find larges with longer length and just wash/dry them for the initial shrink?
Looks like a good fit
I guess I didn't realize my problem may just be idk what fit I need lol. I may just need to get used to larger shirts idk.
It’s a joke but they are great if you style them right, some one just posted a nice Rick fit in waywt
If it’s showing your belly when you lift your arms up have you considered higher rise pants
The pants I wear are already above the waist. It's definitely the shirt. It's shrunk and looks like a crop top almost.
I see
I also personally don’t think it’s a bad fit if it shows belly when you lift your arms but I understand if you’re uncomfortable with that
When you say waist do you mean like
Significantly below (relaxed waist) or at your navel (natural waist)
I’ll be honest, I looked at your pictures and assumed those pants were sitting pretty low on your waist
100% same
This is still not a label sizing thing, and many shirts won’t or shouldn’t shrink in the wash
You have me questioning how I wear pants and if I have the right sized lol.
But moving forward yes maybe cold/delicate cycle in the wash and air/hang dry
If your pants fit they’re the right size, they just might not be high rise/waisted
Where the rise is the measurement between your crotch seam and the waistband
But yes when I wear a cropped or shorter tee, I try to wear a higher rise pant
Low waist pants were pretty popular for a while! It’s very normal to have!
Can you tuck in your shirt and send a pic? We can tell you if it’s low or high waisted
Unless I’m trying to https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1233809888002441336
Oh yeah they are (but not chinos)
Yeah let me do that lol... My S/O states that they are above my hips and low rise.
This is how I would like them to fit and I guess I assumed that's where I was wearing them lol. I know these are dress pants though.
This is not my domain
/ preferred fit
These fit guides usually are super outdated by the time they come out I wouldn’t trust them tbh
Like imo those are too short for those shoes and too slim through the thigh and calf especially for current trends, but it’s also what like 90% of dudes wear to the office so
Sorry, I forgot I am in a fashion discord lol. I need to specify. I like the look in terms of where they shit on the waist, not loose or tight through the thigh or leg. Length is a little short though. I wasn't planning on following these guides though just say the image.
Yes the waist is very mid rise
Those read as mid rise to me idk this is still not my domain
I think it’s a good rise
Ok thank u char
But I specifically want to see your rise to see if maybe that’s the issue
I just realized I stood weird because I was uncomfortable but this is where I usually wear these pants.
Yeah those are pretty low rise
Sheesh well, I honestly thought these would be considered medium rise. I have no idea what I'm talking about though. I honestly need a whole new wardrobe entirely and don't know where to start.
Can I interest you in our Lord and savior PRL Andrews secondhand off eBay
Guess I would have to see what they look like. I'm honestly not sure what I'm even going for at this point.
these are low rise and are sitting on your hips. No where near your waist
Like 1/5 of the fits in #waywt are in them, this is a pair I own and they’re not the most exciting but
Yeah we’re straying into “how do I build a wardrobe/find what I like” territory and the answer is find inspo
These come in a dozen different fabrics and colors
Like for example my current style is like jeans, a t shirt, and dunk low pandas or now that its warming up lulu lemon shorts, a graphic tee, and dunk low pandas. Yeah I know it's rough.
#fashion-guides are a little outdated but basic bastard mostly isn’t
learn your measurements, lurk, learn, gather inspo, try stuff out, ask questions, get feedback, iterate
Let me post a few pictures of what I like I guess.
Maybe make a new thread
I can do that
This is going to be the advice though. #fashion-guides is a wealth of knowledge
What should I title it lol?
maybe "I like these things, what else can I try"
ok yeah that makes sense thank you
Went ahead and posted a new thread if anyone is interested! https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1234917908220608588