by My style of fashion has always been confined to readymades, picking up that jeans (predominantly a shade of blue) and a casual T-Shirt (most probably a plain colour) . The occasion would ideally be for a birthday, Pongal or for Diwali. Occasionally I pick up a dress that’s available during a sale in Amazon/Flipkart. Thanks to a “Everyday casual wear” policy at work, I have never really bothered to get a good collection of Formal shirts and pants.
My style, lately has however been shifting towards a more formal attire, thanks to some solid advice by my good friend. I even managed to get a nice pair of formal shirts for my birthday and I haven’t ever been more convinced. Power dressing indeed. So that basically took off as a tipping point to start leaning towards wearing a formal or atleast a semi-formal attire more often.
This was when I discovered a Customized premium Shirt Store called The Bombay Shirt Company through a friend. Since it was situated close to work in Adyar, I thought of giving them a try and see how a fully customized shirt might look like. The results were pretty fantastic.
What can you customize in a shirt?
Well if your guesses are just size and design, you might be pretty shocked at what Bombay Shirt Company can offer. The no of customizations is 20+ including Fabric, Weave, Pattern, Collar (Style , Contrast,Stiffness) , Buttons among others. Listed below is the step by step process of the shirt customization at the store.
The Customization Process
As soon as I began , I was handed a iPad that asked me to choose an option for each customization offered. An executive beside me the different options and how I could go about choosing the ideal shirt for myself.
The customization are as follows :
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Fabric
It all begins with a Fabric Selection . This includes Single Ply, Double Ply, Premium, Italian Fabrics, Japanese Fabrics among others. The single ply shirts are the cheaper options and starts from 1990 INR.
The composition of this fabric includes Cotton, Linen, Tencel, Egyptian Cotton and Denims.
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Colour
Next you choose a colour. You can be spoilt for choices here, as they pretty much have multiple shades of every colour. So if you have a specific colour in mind, high chances are that you can spot the exact one here.
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Pattern
Colour is followed by Pattern selection. You can choose from a checked pattern, striped pattern, Desginer prints and of course finally the standard solids.
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The Collar
Once you are done choosing the fabric, colour and pattern of the shirt you head on to the collar portion. If you think this is a relatively easier option was , you are once again mistaken. Turns out there are 5 types of customizations to be done in the collar portion alone.
This includes
- Collar Style
Collar Style has the most options including Spread Eagle, Madmen, Prince Charlie, Club, Wing and many more. Spread Eagle is the standard collar that’s available in most shirts, while the Evil Pandit Collar is the one Pandit Nehru wore and been quite a style statement among many.
You also get to choose among a few options for each of these collar parts below.
2.Collar Contrast
3.Collar Buttons
4.Collar Stiffness
5.Collar Piping
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Cuff Style
Though not immediately noticeable at first glance, the cuff style also plays an important role in the overall look. The options include the standard Single Convertible,, Double Bond ( Just like a James Bond Suit).
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Monogram
My most favourite part of the customization was the monogram. You can get to have your initials (upto 3 letters) stitched on the cuff or the back collar.
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Placket
Placket is the portion that covers the portion of the buttons. You can either choose to make it as a no background or a regular double lining or even a slim pencil version.
Here’s some other customizations that you can do :
My Experience & Review of Bombay Shirt Company
The overall customization roughly takes 30 mins – 1 hour depending on the time you take to choose a colour and design. The shirt I customized was a creamish yellow colour, single ply, a regular placket one, a monogram with HKM as initials, blue buttons, a slim fit on the arms and a few other customization.
With a tailor to assist on the sizing options, the actual fit was almost perfect, exactly to my preferences. The chosen colour was spot on(exactly as shown) and I loved the fabric thickness as well. The overall price was 2200 including taxes. The delivery time of the shirt was less than 7 days, and this is great,given its manufactured as a single piece entirely on the mentioned specifications.
On the whole, with a fair pricing range of 2000-5000 INR (given its a premium blend with 20+ options custom tailored shirt), this definitely would be my primary choice to pick up a shirt for any planned special occasion. In case the fit is not per your liking or slightly different, you get a free replacement or you can also get the shirt altered directly in the store, if its a minor issue.
The only downside is that the general promised time for a delivery is generally 14 days for the second time order and this may not work for you if you are in a big hurry.
You can do the whole shirt selection process online in the BombayShirts Website
(The above link also helps you to get 250rs off on your first purchase when you sign up)
