# Brooks Brothers Extra Slim Fit sizing dilemma



## cazoo (Jan 29, 2009)

Gentlemen,

I just ordered 3 Brooks Brothers Extra Slim-Fit shirts, their OCBD, but found that the sizing was off from what I was used to. Normally I wear a 15.5 neck and 34 sleeve. When I washed them they felt too tight in the neck and chest and the sleeves were about 1" too long.

Should I size up in the neck and size down in sleeve length and order them in 16 and 33? Or will these shirts continue to shrink even further after more washing? I'm going to send these shirts back to BB but not sure if I should re-order them in another size or go elsewhere. Their normal slim fits are just too wide in the body for me. Thanks for your help.


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## joenobody0 (Jun 30, 2009)

I had the exact same thing happen to me with the regular slim fits. The shirts became unwearable after one washing. I'm debating if I should send them back for exchange.

I really should have washed only one. I feel bad returning all three in washed condition.


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## AdamsSutherland (Jan 22, 2008)

How small are you guys/how tight do you want your shirts?


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## WindsorNot (Aug 7, 2009)

There are others like me? I had a trio, ordered over different periods, or slim fits. Two fit exceptionally well after my exacting size science, while one has shrunk and feels a tad slim. I wonder if the sizing on these is 100% consistent. Send it back if you are not satisfied and explain the problem.


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## 10gallonhat (Dec 13, 2009)

I have a lot of BB traditional fits and they all shrunk about a half size in the neck so I'm used to buying a bigger size than my other shirts.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

If the neck and sleeves are the only problem, I'd think your suggested solution should work well. 

BB's Supima OCBDs seem to shrink much more horizontally than they do vertically.


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## joenobody0 (Jun 30, 2009)

AdamsSutherland said:


> How small are you guys/how tight do you want your shirts?


I'm apparently not small enough for BB slim fit shirts after you wash them!


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## Youngster (Jun 5, 2008)

Take advantage of BB's customer service and return them. Be an empowered consumer!


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## Pink and Green (Jul 22, 2009)

This is exactly why I'm avoiding the slim /extra slim stuff until I'm close enough to a retail shop to try them on or return them.


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## My Pet. A Pantsuit (Dec 25, 2008)

Ooh... The whole extra slim fit thing is a toughie. 

Our store doesn't stock them regularly, but rarely have the people for whom I have had them transferred in for actually bought them. They usually end up realizing how well the slim fit actually fits them, and just go with that. Not to say that someone with a very lithe build mightn't benefit from such a fit, but for the average man, it is rarely as comfortable or as slimming as they think.

I had the chance to try one on that someone didn't pick up, and it fit me very oddly. The neck, which was a half size larger than I normally take, was clearly too large, but the rest of the body was excruciatingly slim. I'm more or less of average build, the shirt left nothing to the imagination, and I knew that it would only get smaller.

This is gonna break a lot of hearts, but the extra slim fit really ought to be non-iron, IMO. In my experience, the NI shirts hardly shrink at all even after being in the drier, as opposed to the regular finish shirts which shrink even if you eschew the drier. For this reason, all of my regular finish shirts fit me a lot better than my non-irons, since I'm really like a 15 1/4 neck.


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## 10gallonhat (Dec 13, 2009)

My Pet said:


> the NI shirts hardly shrink at all even after being in the drier


Really? Which ones do you buy? I have a few of the luxury oxfords and I'm pretty sure they had the NI labels on them but they shrank anyway. On the other hand, none of the NI sport shirts shrank.

The lesson here is buy one, wash it, try it, return it and buy however many sizes up you need, and never gain or lose any weight.


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## My Pet. A Pantsuit (Dec 25, 2008)

^
I have mostly broadcloth, and a few BrooksCool oxfords in the Non-Iron finish, all off of the main line. I know the Royal Oxford luxury shirts you're referring to, but I haven't bought any of those yet.


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## 10gallonhat (Dec 13, 2009)

My Pet said:


> ^
> I have mostly broadcloth, and a few BrooksCool oxfords in the Non-Iron finish, all off of the main line. I know the Royal Oxford luxury shirts you're referring to, but I haven't bought any of those yet.


Oh ok. Those are the only BB dress shirts I have, I never tried the regular ones. How do you like them? The luxuries are extremely comfortable, the shrinking is the only annoying thing.


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## My Pet. A Pantsuit (Dec 25, 2008)

a!!!!1 said:


> Oh ok. Those are the only BB dress shirts I have, I never tried the regular ones. How do you like them? The luxuries are extremely comfortable, the shrinking is the only annoying thing.


Non-iron doesn't get a lot of love on this forum, but for what they are, they go the distance. I usually get non-iron broadcloth shirts because it's a fabric that I don't "get along" with when an iron's involved.

My favorites of all the BB shirts are definitely the regular finish (must-iron) oxfords because of the little bit of slub they have, and the character of the faint wrinkles. I find that usually a good steaming takes care of any major issues with the shape.

I also don't put anything in the dryer, if I can avoid it. Not dress shirts, anyway. I hang all of mine and steam them later, which is really all the NIs need anyway. This minimizes shrink, as well as drier toll, however my first batch of NIs did end up in the drier once or twice with no real repercussions.


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## 10gallonhat (Dec 13, 2009)

My Pet said:


> Non-iron doesn't get a lot of love on this forum, but for what they are, they go the distance. I usually get non-iron broadcloth shirts because it's a fabric that I don't "get along" with when an iron's involved.
> 
> My favorites of all the BB shirts are definitely the regular finish (must-iron) oxfords because of the little bit of slub they have, and the character of the faint wrinkles. I find that usually a good steaming takes care of any major issues with the shape.
> 
> I also don't put anything in the dryer, if I can avoid it. Not dress shirts, anyway. I hang all of mine and steam them later, which is really all the NIs need anyway. This minimizes shrink, as well as drier toll, however my first batch of NIs did end up in the drier once or twice with no real repercussions.


Interesting. I throw everything in the drier, hang drying is too much trouble, I'd rather just buy a size up and let it shrink.

Why do some people not like NI? Seems nice to me. The only BB dress shirts I have are NI and I think all the sport shirts are too, and I don't have any complaints about the look/feel of any of them.


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## EastVillageTrad (May 12, 2006)

AdamsSutherland said:


> How small are you guys/how tight do you want your shirts?


I agree, my lord I have heard more crying and moaning about the sad state of affairs in the world of slim fit shirts lately...

Give me a break. Stop whining. But on a standard cut shirt and live with it...


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## Pink and Green (Jul 22, 2009)

While I empathize with not wanting to hear whining, for those of us with athletic figures (or just plain skinny!), wearing a standard box cut oxford is akin to dressing in clown clothes. We develop a sort of "Parachute" of material which is unsightly, and the sides bulge out for no reason.

Only my Land's End Tailored Fit seems to work for me, so I'm upping my order by three more shirts. The only problem is they are on back order - seemingly finding good must iron slim fits is a challenge all over!


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## EastVillageTrad (May 12, 2006)

Not if you wear your jacket, as you're supposed to! 

I have an athletic figure & I can wear both slim and regular fit OCBDs from BB. 

I either wear my jacket, form a tuck in the small of my back with the excess material or just worry about bigger things in life...like my brokerage accounts and whence the next cocktail hour is at the club...


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## Joe Beamish (Mar 21, 2008)

^ Yes. 

There's something unappealing to me about dudes getting all prissy about their eleven inch drops and their need for special little shirts. 

Something went off the track somewhere into frankly unmanly territory. That's what I think when I hear this stuff.


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## joenobody0 (Jun 30, 2009)

The replies to this thread are rather interesting. I'm not sure that I agree with the idea that wanting a shirt that fits your proportions is any less manly than talking about clothes on the internet!


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## Pink and Green (Jul 22, 2009)

EastVillageTrad said:


> Not if you wear your jacket, as you're supposed to!


The jacket and I part company when I sit at my desk, so around the office and occasionally outside I take on clownish proportions with a bad shirt (now mercifully all given away!)



EastVillageTrad said:


> whence


I see what you did there.


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## 10gallonhat (Dec 13, 2009)

EastVillageTrad said:


> Not if you wear your jacket, as you're supposed to!


I've tried shirts that were too big and you can sometimes see them bunching up in the front, even with a jacket on.


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