# LL Bean Chamois Fit help please



## ytc (Mar 20, 2012)

Hello,

I recently bought a green Bean (lol) chamois shirt in medium. The body is the traditional fit and I have no problem with that, and the length of the body is perfect. However, the sleeves were on the verge of being too short and I was afraid that with a dry they would look ridiculous. I _despise_ sleeves that are too short.

So I sent it back and got a medium tall. MISTAKE. The sleeves are perfect! but the body length is wayyyy too long.

So far as I see it I have two options:

Send this medium tall back and reclaim the medium regular and hope the sleeves don't shorten. This of course is all contingent on the advice of you, dear reader.

Keep this medium tall and try to shrink it.

What would you do?

For the record my dress shirt size is 16x35 or 16.5x35 depending on the day. No I will not purchase a size large because it would be way too baggy.

(One more annoyance: I bought one of those driver henley things in medium and it fits super tight. I can pull it off just fine and I have no problem with the fit, but it is just really annoying that different categories fit altogether differently. I don't just mean a little, accounting for the natural difference between a henley and a woven shirt, but like at least 2-2.5" smaller in the chest compared to the chamois shirt in the same size.)


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## gamma68 (Mar 24, 2013)

I'm not sure how to advise the OP. But I have often wondered if chamois shirt owners wear it tucked or un-tucked over another long-sleeve shirt?


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## vwguy (Jul 23, 2004)

I have a few chamois shirts and always wear them over a long or short sleeve shirt, for me it's not really a "tuck in" shirt. To the OP, I'd go w/ the Med tall 'cause no mater how hard you try, it's going to shrink somewhat.

Brian


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## Duvel (Mar 16, 2014)

From your shirt size, it seems to me you're actually a large. I'd go with a large. These are not supposed to be slim-fitting shirts.


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## Yodan731 (Jan 23, 2011)

In my experience the sleeves shrink up to an inch over time. What about the Signature version in Large? Would be less full, if that's what you're looking for.


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## Trad-ish (Feb 19, 2011)

My experience with chamois shirts mirrors Yodans. Plan on 1" sleeve shrinkage.


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## Billax (Sep 26, 2011)

gamma68 said:


> I'm not sure how to advise the OP. But I have often wondered if chamois shirt owners wear it tucked or un-tucked over another long-sleeve shirt?


I'm a long-term Bean Chamois shirt wearer. For me, I've always worn it as a jacket, always over a shirt and sometimes over a shirt and a Turtleneck. The bottom hem is straight across, save for the last inch-and-a-half, where it curves up into the side seam, so it's tailored quite like a jacket.


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

I tuck.


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## gamma68 (Mar 24, 2013)

Billax said:


> I'm a long-term Bean Chamois shirt wearer. For me, I've always worn it as a jacket, always over a shirt and sometimes over a shirt and a Turtleneck. The bottom hem is straight across, save for the last inch-and-a-half, where it curves up into the side seam, so it's tailored quite like a jacket.


Your explanation makes a lot of sense to me, Billax. I don't think the hem on mine is straight across, however.

I may be mistaken, but didn't I see a photo of you not too long ago wearing an LLB chamois shirt tucked in?


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## roman totale XVII (Sep 18, 2009)

Duvel said:


> From your shirt size, it seems to me you're actually a large. I'd go with a large. These are not supposed to be slim-fitting shirts.


This. I'm 16/34 and a large is dead on for me.


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## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

I'm also a 16.5x35 and I wear a large in all LLB shirts. I have the black Chamois shirt in large and it's perfect.


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## ytc (Mar 20, 2012)

I think I am going to try the Signature shirt in medium regular. I chatted with them online and they said the actual garment measurement for that item/size is, in fact, 35".

Thanks everybody.


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## Billax (Sep 26, 2011)

gamma68 said:


> Your explanation makes a lot of sense to me, Billax. I don't think the hem on mine is straight across, however.
> 
> I may be mistaken, but didn't I see a photo of you not too long ago wearing an LLB chamois shirt tucked in?


Gamma, Here's a pic of mine, showing the bottom hem.










As to wearing it tucked in, I can't imagine that, as untucked has been a long-term habit of mine. Nonetheless, as a long-ago colleague often said of me, "Bill, you're often wrong, but never in doubt!" So, if you can find an incontrovertible image of me wearing a Chamois shirt tucked, I'll contribute $50 to your favorite Thrift store. That is, I'll send it to you and you can give it to the thrift store. 

I recently realized I've been wearing them for more than fifty years! My brother has worn Bean Chamois shirts nearly as long, though he's always been a "tucked" guy.


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

Tucked vs untucked? See the video. These guys aren't models, and the shirt looks very nice tucked in.

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/22611?feat=chamois-SR0&page=chamois-shirt


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## EclecticSr. (Sep 21, 2014)

LLBean chamois shirts will shrink. I'm 16X34.5, some makes 16.5x34.5 I order tall large to allow for shrinkage, I'm 6'-1". I also tuck. Though I must say, the quality of their chamois has gone down somewhat, just doesn't have the same heft as some I have purchased in years past.


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## orange fury (Dec 8, 2013)

I normally buy LLB scotch plaid flannel shirts in Medium because of the sleeve shrinkage issue. When looking at reviews on the Bean site, a ton of them said to size down because the shirts start out oversized. Additionally, when I called LLB customer service, it appeared as though the small chamois was similar in sizing to the medium flannel. Im 5'11 and normally wear a 15/34 shirt, and I recently ordered a small apple cinnamon plaid chamois shirt. The item is back ordered and hasn't shipped, should I see about ordering a medium instead?


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## Duvel (Mar 16, 2014)

I learned not to size down in anything by Bean. Their sizes are accurate, while the fits, in the main line, are meant not to be slim but full in a traditional way, i.e., which I think looks quite good. The experience of other Bean wearers may vary, of course.


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## Semper Jeep (Oct 11, 2011)

I generally wear mine tucked in.

I have two main line ones and two signature ones. Initially, I like the fit on the signature ones better but the sleeves on them have shrunk significantly more over time and the material doesn't feel quite as hefty as the mainline ones do.


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## fred johnson (Jul 22, 2009)

I wear a 16x35 shirt and have the Bean chamois. I buy a large (not tall) and the fit is perfect for me, sleeve and body length are perfect, in fact, I believe the bean large is sized 16-16.5 x 35. I always tuck.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

Yodan731 said:


> In my experience the sleeves shrink up to an inch over time. What about the Signature version in Large? Would be less full, if that's what you're looking for.


I never put mine in the dryer. I think that helps control shrinkage somewhat.


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## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

I can also recommend the wicked good flannel in large. No shrinking or wrinkling when hung to dry. I wore one today with LL flannel lined jeans and a pair of ranger mocs.


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## xcubbies (Jul 31, 2005)

I'm thinking of taking my Bean Chamois shirts to the tailor to have him put button-down collars them, to ensure that they are truly Trad.


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## Charles Dana (Nov 20, 2006)

xcubbies said:


> I'm thinking of taking my Bean Chamois shirts to the tailor to have him put button-down collars them, to ensure that they are truly Trad.


I can't tell if you are kidding or sincere. (On the Internet, I often have a hard time determining if someone is being serious or pulling my leg. I'm so clueless.) Anyway, if you meant what you said, here's my reply: don't do it; it would be a seriously misguided move. The Bean chamois was introduced, I think, in the early 1930's and has never had a button-down collar. That means that it did not have a button-down collar during the heyday of the Ivy League look. That means that giving it a button-down collar isn't going to give it more fidelity to the Trad/Ivy aesthetic, since it never had that aesthetic in the first place. The Bean chamois has always been a sportman's shirt, and a spread or straight collar is (trad)itional on such a shirt, just as it is on a poplin safari shirt. Not every shirt from the Ivy zenith of the 1950's and early 60's had a button-down collar. Oxford cloth shirts, yes--outdoorsmen's shirts, not so much. The collar on the Bean chamois looks pretty much like it has looked for over 80 years. Don't mess with it.

I like OCBD's as much as anyone else on this forum, but not every dang shirt needs to have a dang button-down collar.

If you were only joshing--never mind.


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## fred johnson (Jul 22, 2009)

I have a couple of old LE chamois shirts which were actually great shirts and do have button down collars, I am not sure if they are still available or are equal to the bean in quality but its close.


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## gamma68 (Mar 24, 2013)

Charles Dana said:


> I can't tell if you are kidding or sincere. (On the Internet, I often have a hard time determining if someone is being serious or pulling my leg. I'm so clueless.) Anyway, if you meant what you said, here's my reply: don't do it; it would be a seriously misguided move. The Bean chamois was introduced, I think, in the early 1930's and has never had a button-down collar. That means that it did not have a button-down collar during the heyday of the Ivy League look. That means that giving it a button-down collar isn't going to give it more fidelity to the Trad/Ivy aesthetic, since it never had that aesthetic in the first place. The Bean chamois has always been a sportman's shirt, and a spread or straight collar is (trad)itional on such a shirt, just as it is on a poplin safari shirt. Not every shirt from the Ivy zenith of the 1950's and early 60's had a button-down collar. Oxford cloth shirts, yes--outdoorsmen's shirts, not so much. The collar on the Bean chamois looks pretty much like it has looked for over 80 years. Don't mess with it.
> 
> I like OCBD's as much as anyone else on this forum, but not every dang shirt needs to have a dang button-down collar.


Backing up CD's point, here's a photo of the LLB Chamois shirt from the Fall 1942 catalog:


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## Duvel (Mar 16, 2014)

Please don't add the collar buttons. Please don't.


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## xcubbies (Jul 31, 2005)

Duvel said:


> Please don't add the collar buttons. Please don't.


For your sake, I'l refrain. I see from Gamma's posting of the 1942 catalog that those asymmetric pockets were already used.


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