Whether he likes it or not, FADER editor Matthew Schnipper is an honorary member of the style team. His classic uniform of button-downs, personally worn-in APCs, plimsolls and famous Slept On specs has had a calming effect on the more schizophrenic stylings on our side of the office (80s/90s meets 70s?) for as long as we can remember. So when an invitation to Thomas Pink's "Personally Pink" made-to-order shirt service came in the mail we figured Matthew was the right man to put the service to the test. Could TP make a shirt fit better than one from the MS collection of carefully sourced-out standard fits?
For every Personally Pink-equipped Thomas Pink store there is a wood paneled bat-cave of an office where all the fittings are conducted. It's pretty heavily official with about a gazillion different "test" shirts in varying sizes and cuts, and enough cuffs and collars to outfit an army of Schnippers. John Liguori, the General Manager of Thomas Pink's Madison Ave, was at hand to measure Matthew up, and school us about the science of shirting. There are A LOT of rules and vocab that go along with the tailoring—for example ever heard of a gauntlet? The gauntlet button is that button below the cuff that keeps the shirt from gaping. Besides the new verbiage, there were a couple of rules that we'll probably remember forever.
1. A perfectly fitting shirt should have room for two fingers around the neckline.
2. About a 1/4 inch of shirt cuff should be seen peeping out of your jacket.
After selecting collars and cuffs (pretty conservative button-down collar and cuff), Matthew had a flick through the fabric book. At this point even he'll admit to being a little bit overwhelmed by the choices and I think this might have affected his decision not to get his shirt monogrammed (why not!) with his initials.
A few weeks later Matthew opened up his special pink box and then wore his specifically made slim cut, oxford (yes please to a pocket!) shirt. Perhaps it doesn't have the same softness or artful dishevellment around the collar as some of his other shirts, and perhaps it's a little longer than he might usually wear, but all in all we'd say a 90% success story—just like Schnipper-wear, only a smidgen spiffier.