Online Custom Dress Shirts and Polos: A Review of Apposta Custom Clothing
Apposta Custom Shirts (Click To View)
In today's world, we are getting more used to getting products tailored to us. Online custom clothing has become more and more popular as well as a more viable option. With advances in technology, brands can get you a perfect fit without ever seeing you in person. Today we are going to review one of the brands who are doing online custom right!
If you follow my content, links to my channels below, you may know that I work in a bespoke clothing shop. That said, my standards are very high when it comes to tailored clothing. When I first came across Apposta, I had low expectations, thinking that there was no way they could get me a perfect fit, but I was wrong.
Apposta is not a newcomer to the online custom space. This Italian online shirt maker has been making perfectly fitting shirts online for nearly a decade. What first attracted me to them was adding a long sleeve polo to my wardrobe. While I can get these at work, I wanted to find a brand for you to try as well, though I would gladly welcome a visit to our shop. Apposta had some excellent options on their site, so I was excited to give them a try.
The process on Apposta's website is quite simple; walking you through cloth selection, sleeve length, cuff style, pocket, fit, and collar style. While this can get complicated if you want it to, it is also quite simple with their graphics and pictures to show you precisely what you are getting. The most challenging part is the measuring process. I would recommend having someone take the measurements on you though you can measure a perfectly fitting shirt as well if you have one. Apposta does have pictures and videos to walk you through each measurement, making this part relatively easy.
My Experience
For my shirts, I wanted to try out both a Polo and a dress shirt to get a good feel for the range Apposta has to offer. I went through the process detailed above and waited about three weeks before it was delivered, which for a custom shirt is a decent ship time.
The Polo
Apposta Custom Long Sleeve Navy Polo (Click to View)
My polo fit perfectly out of the box. I went with a Navy Pique long sleeve polo, and I absolutely love it. The cloth is a great weight that looks and feels just like it should. I did notice that after washing and drying it (on low heat), the polo has shrunk some, but not enough that sizing is an issue. If you are worried about shrinkage and want to dry your polo in the dryer, be sure to add a little to your chest and waist measurements. Or you can hang dry the shirt, and you should have less shrinkage.
I have an orange and a red with a blue windowpane jacket that I love wearing this polo with, especially in the summer where breathability and a more casual look are desired. This red and blue windowpane bamboo jacket (to the right) is also one of my favorites to wear with the polo.
The Dress Shirt
This is where I expected to run into more issues, and I did. Most men have a slightly wider front chest width than back width. The front chest is usually an inch or two wider; I have the opposite where my back it 2 inches wider than my chest width. That means I have a 4-inch difference than most men, and I have an issue with dress shirts restricting my arm movement pretty severely.
Italian Custom Shirt (Click to View)
I tried my best to get those measurements in, but the first dress shirt I received did have the issue of having too much fabric in the front than in the back. I reached out to the Apposta team, and they handled the situation perfectly. They asked me what needed to be fixed, asked for a few measurements, and immediately put a new shirt into production. Three weeks later, I had a perfectly fitting dress shirt precisely the way I styled it. The small check is exactly what I was looking for, and I have been very impressed with the quality Apposta offers.
Price to Value
With Apposta offering shirts as inexpensive as $80 up to the $295+ range, I feel like you can find any quality of shirt that you want. At my bespoke shop, our shirts start at $165 and go up from there. I feel like this is a fantastic value for the guy who wants to try a custom shirt. If you were to buy a shirt and get it altered, you would be spending more than $80, so why not spend more of that on the quality of the cloth and less on alterations? The cloth options that Apposta carries are excellent quality. My $80 dress shirt was exactly what I would have expected quality-wise. It is not a $300 shirt quality, but not many guys need that. Apposta is here to get you a perfectly fitting custom shirt at a great price.
Conclusion
I am biased in the fact that I think that every man needs custom clothing in their closets. If you are looking for a great online company to help you out, Apposta is a great place to look. You can get a quality shirt for a great price and get a feel for what a custom shirt should feel like. Once you have been bit by the custom bug, Apposta offers you even higher quality shirts to help you along your journey. On second thought, you may not want to try an online custom shirt because your life will never be the same.
Zach Mitchem
I have been lifting weights for over 15 years and have been a competitive weightlifter and powerlifter. I have had issues with finding clothes that fit properly for as long as I can remember. In 2017 I stepped up my style game in a serious way and realized there are very few decent options for muscular men at the average online or brick and mortar store. I started a journey to find options that fit the muscular man, and the start of the 'Muscular Style' blog was born.
I write about style with the intent to help you avoid all the wasted time and frustration I have encountered in my journey. I want you to be able to buy quality clothing that fits well. Currently, I work as a professional clothier at Smith Bespoke in Salt Lake City and have made helping men dress better into my career.