Small-sized button up shirts under $50?

I'm 5'3'' tall, 34'' chest measurement and a 13'' neck measurement. My ideal would be either a blue or grey in a light pattern, or possibly a lavender or maroon shirt. I can be flexible on this, I'm just looking for a little more variety than your basic white/light blue (every time someone puts me in white I look like I need to be in the hospital anyway). Think something that'll look nice over dark wash jeans or with slacks rather than something you'd wear under a suit. Don't care if it technically comes from the boy's department as long as it's not complete trash.
26 Replies
Yakkeks
Yakkeks23h ago
Under 50$ new is propably Charles Tyrwhitt with their 3-for-99 deal. Spier&Mackay stuff is a little bit more pricey but pretty good for the price point. If you are okay with used stuff there will be a ton of shirts on ebay et. al.
femto
femto18h ago
13" is smaller than the smallest men's sizes for most brands including what Leo mentioned. But have you been able to try on 14"/XS shirts? Since usually you have to add an inch or so for your actual shirt size, and more with brands like Charles Tyrwhitt and Todd Snyder. My guess is some brands will work and some won't and trying them on will be best. If you have dimensions that work with a Ralph Lauren alpha size for example, there indeed should be loads of options used.
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP15h ago
it's a little tricky because I do live in an area where things aren't usually available. I think out here H&M is our top of the line fashion store. so I'd probably need to order stuff and return it and that can be tricky so the specific issue is usually that for most brands, it's hard to find stuff that fits my measurements. like I'll try on a size small shirt and it looks like I'm wearing a tent. I was hoping for specific ideas on places that would be able to fit my measurements without having to go to specialty stores for short men that are charging $100+ for a shirt that comes in white or baby blue.
Yakkeks
Yakkeks15h ago
Oh yeah, Im not used to the imperial system so I missed how small that is my bad
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP15h ago
yeah, I'm aware of some of the "short men" brands but they're kind of...boring? and I don't have a lot of call for your super basic shirt - light blue looks nice under a suit but most of the call I have is more like, slacks or nice jeans with a button down and it just looks boring there.
adaptation
adaptation15h ago
im a fellow 34 (although much taller) and im running around but ill drop a manifesto in a second here long story short number one thing is know your shoulder measurements
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
I have a tape measure! looks like I'm getting a 16'' shoulder measurement
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
ok we're around the same measurements shoulder n chest yeah it is tough finding stuff
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
yeah, little tricky to measure myself but I verified with my favorite flannel shirt - it's an old navy XS
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
the shoulder check is super important because its what determines the 'fitting like a tent' aspect more so than the chest
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
Like this shirt has an extra 10in in the chest but it fits my shoulders so it all works out in the draping
No description
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
I see, yeah. hard part is usually figuring out what brands to try - I don't mind ordering some things to try so long as I have some idea where to start. stuff tends to run long on me too but that's at least easier to fix.
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
there arent a lot of brands that are consistently doing that sizing (especially in your price range) new which is what makes it tricky i dont think i own more than 1 or 2 shirts from the same brand its sort of picking up stuff where you can find it a lot of womens stuff will be done in a narrower shoulder so that can actually be a source of well fitting stuff sometimes also might help with the length issue as theyre generally cut a bit shorter
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
eh women's stuff on me is...complicated for gender identity reasons
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
alright heard
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
I do boys clothing sometimes if I can find brands that do reasonable variety/quality
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
how do you feel about new vs secondhand
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
I mean, that's where all my shoes and half my pants came from secondhand I usually make runs when I have to go down to the richer areas
adaptation
adaptation14h ago
a lot of big online spots (im thinking of therealreal specifically) allow you to sort by sizing pretty nicely https://www.therealreal.com/shop/men?price_to=75&mens_chest%5B%5D=59&mens_chest%5B%5D=60 like try this you can't sort by shoulder but it will be listed on each listing
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP14h ago
ah gotcha! fortunately I really only need like, 2-3 dress shirts. I'm not wearing them every day. (given that I work from home I'm not even guaranteeing I'm wearing an actual non-pajama shirt every day) so I just need to be able to look Respectable twice a week or so.
femto
femto11h ago
Being able to try on probably hundreds of shirts at thrift stores has helped. I've noticed one around me skews XS/S/M, hope you can find a place like that 🙏 I have the opposite shoulder problem :xd:
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP10h ago
I hope so lol. I don't get down to the nice places very often at all. up where I am doesn't have so much because it's a rural area and the thrifting tends to be mostly walmart/target stuff that's not even much cheaper.
femto
femto10h ago
Ah I see Do you have a Nordstrom or anything like that in the area? It's overpriced to me but that's a good way to see what's out there, sometimes. And one of my friends is a regular at the children's section at Nordstrom and praises the staff there, just got their whole outfit for their wedding there (sizes do be funny) But yeah even if it's a boring/overpriced/business shirt or whatever observing what works (like what shape around the top block) helped me. Took me a while but I realized most chore coats don't work, may be different for you. Etc
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP9h ago
yeah I think the highest end thing we have here is Macys wait, no, that closed down We've got american eagle, old navy, H&M, and JCPenney and that's about it
femto
femto9h ago
That's not nothing but :wailperish:
felisnoctis
felisnoctisOP8h ago
we do have an outlet mall, sometimes I can score something cool there, or poking around the racks at ross
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