Disclaimer: Tailor Lamb was kind enough to send The Peak Lapel this shirt for free for the purposes of this review.
It seems like these days there is a new entry into the world of online MTM shirting every other week or so. Tailor Lamb seems to be the latest in this long line. When they reached out to see if we would be interested in taking a look at their offerings, of course, being who we are, we said yes. So, with further ado, here are our thoughts on Tailor Lamb!
Style & Design
TailorLamb, being a young company, does not offer a tremendous amount by way of fabric selection or customization options. It’s a tightly curated list, though their customizer is actually pretty solid. The truth is that all the basics are there, and even some more interesting options too. They have a wide selection of some excellent collar options, too. But there is still lots of room to grow, but it’s a solid enough place to start. We went with a cashmere blend shirt, actually, in a nice brown herringbone-type pattern, though it is now sold out. Overall, we think Tailor Lamb is just fine in this category.
Ordering Process
The site is pretty simple and straight forward to use. The customizer is simple and neat, as well, though there is no live updating preview, and the truth is nothing really comes close to Proper Cloth’s ease of use and sleekness. Then again, this more than gets the job done, and is not too back at all.
You can enter your measurements of either your body or a shirt— the latter of which always gets best results and is what we opted for — or have their system take its best guess at how the shirt should be made to fit you. Again, quite typical of these online MTM systems.
Shipping takes 3 weeks, which is quite reasonable in the online MTM space. Shipping is $15 for under $150, which means you need to order two shirts for free shipping. This is an okay, but not great, shipping policy when compared to their competitors. The order arrives in a box in a bag, which is overall nice enough packaging. Overall, again, we think this experience in this category is quite adequate.
The Fit
The shirt out of the box the first time did not fit very well. It was too tight through the body, was way, way too short in the arms, and was quite uncomfortable in the armpit region. We emailed them with pictures and feedback, and they gladly processed a remake to address these issues. So, note that they do have a pretty flexible and open remake and satisfaction policy, which is great to see and quite necessary. The final fit was okay, but still not quite right. It is oddly tight in some places, pulls too much in others, and the armpit issue was still not corrected. This all seems to be a limitation of their MTM system, which simply cannot adjust all of these things independently. This is something we have run into frequently, which is all to say, that it’s a pretty standard MTM system, akin to Proper Cloth or Ratio, and not nearly as robust or customizable as Spier & Mackay, Chalk Mark, or even Tailor Store. In the end, the shirt also shrank considerably in the wash enough that it cannot really be worn.
Quality & Construction
The fabric was quite nice, soft, and comfortable. Construction leaves us a bit confused. The buttons are quite nice, and sewn on firmly. The details are all there, and all the finishing work is overall quite nice. However, the inside of the placket on our first shirt, after a wash, completely came apart. This is quite unsettling to see. It didn’t happen on the second shirt, and we were assured this was an anomaly, but still nothing we had ever seen in the past before, and was a bit of a red flag to us.
Beyond that, things like Poplin fabrics being called “Popeline” in their listing has us worried that perhaps there are serious language barriers or lack of experience here. Overall, quality has to be marked here as good, with the caveat that you might get unlucky.
Value & Conclusion
Tailor Lamb Custom Dress Shirts ($85+): At a price similar to Proper Cloth and other seasoned competitors, it is hard to recommend Tailor Lamb without serious reservations. They have a super nice and commendable charity program, but, beyond that, it is unclear to us what the value proposition here is beyond that of long-standing competing companies. Quality, fabric, style, design, and ordering process are all acceptable, but nothing exceptional. If you are interested in giving them a shot, we think it’ll work out okay, but we’re not sure why you would try Tailor Lamb before someone like Proper Cloth or Spier & Mackay a shot.