The Zip-Fit Shirt From Teddy Stratford

A really good fitting shirt can be quite hard to come by. If you’re buying a standard shirt these days there are a few different styles of cut to buy from to get different types of fit; The usual standard types of fit could leave your shirt feeling a bit too baggy, which is not a great look for a smart shirt.

Another other option is a fitted shirt, even these occasionally don’t fit as you’d like, and some feel like you’re ready to burst out of your shirt. The other option is getting tailor fitted shirts custom made for you, but this can be really expensive to buy and find a tailor to suit your needs.

Teddy Stratford have created a solution to this problem, and they’re calling it “The best fitting shirt on the Planet“.

REALTED: How To Measure Yourself For Clothes & Size Guide

The secret behind it all is clever yet simple. It’s a zip. The front of the shirt appears to have a usual button placket you’d find with any other shirt, but behind the buttons is a zip. The collar, top and bottom buttons are real buttons with the rest of the placket having buttons which cover up the zip, making the shirt front appear the same as any other.

The idea comes from founder of Teddy Stratford, Bryan Davis. He was in Bangkok and was pulled over by the police, this would probably worry most people, but Bryan noticed that the cop’s shirt fitted so well, and so asked him where he got it from.

He directed him to a Thai tailor who has made police uniforms for his entire life. He then discovered that the button down shirts they were wearing were in fact made with a zipper, and the idea took off from there.

The collar is also a new kind of collar, with a patent-pending interlocking system that keeps the collar upright using a standard collar stay and anchoring it to the collar stand.

As you’ll know if you’re a regular reader of the Michael 84 blog I love fashion which is made in the west or produced locally. You almost always get far better quality and especially the fine detail and finish, they’re always products which are made with that extra bit of ingenuity and you can see and feel the quality of the end result.

The Zip-Fit shirts from Teddy Stratford are handmade in the Garment District in New York City, sewn together by a skilled shirt maker.

The Real Test – Does It Fit?

I can honestly say that this shirt fits like nothing I’ve previously bought. The fit is incredibly good, it fits like a really good fitted T-Shirt which is something I’ve never previously experienced with a shirt, even a fitted style. It makes me wonder why this has not been thought of before.

Learn More & Buy

There is a lot more to this story, and you can get your hands on a shirt by backing the Kickstarter campaign. They’ll retail for $185 but if you pledge $95 (Around £60) you can get a hand made Zip-Fit shirt which is a good deal.

Check out Teddy Stratford on Kickstarter here and get your own shirt or pledge to the campaign.