Here’s a short shopping guide that you can use to aid you in your quest for the perfect pullover for every moment of your life:

Choosing the Right Fabric:

Whether you’re on the hunt for a new formal dress shirt to wear out on a date or you’re just looking for a new polo to wear out on the golf course; fabrics are essential. There are a variety of fabrics available for men’s shirts and each one of them brings a different element of style and a different tactile feel. Your tunic is going to be rubbing up against your skin at all times while you’re wearing it and the last thing you want is something itchy or irritating.

The general rule of thumb for fabrics is: the softer they get the more formal they are and the more expensive. Rough and rugged materials like oxford and twill make for great outdoor work clothes while the softer linens, broadcloths, and poplin are softer to the touch and make for perfect formal and professional wear.

If you’d rather save a few bucks and just get a universally god fabric, you can’t go wrong with cotton. Cotton along with the various cotton blends is the most popular fabric. A cotton breathes nicely and it can be soft to the touch so it won’t irritate your skin. Cotton is great for sports, casual business, and formal dress alike because it is such a versatile and applicable material. Cotton doesn’t wrinkle easily and it is incredibly durable, that’s why you find it in just about every kind out there.

Finding the Proper Fit:

The next step in the shirt purchasing process is finding the proper fit. The fastest way to look silly in your men’s shirts is to wear something that’s unflattering due to its size. Like Goldilocks testing out the bear’s beds you need to discard the ones that are too big and too small and find the one that fits your body type just right.

There are three basic categories for the fit of a man’s shirt, dress or otherwise, and they are: Regular, Athletic, and Full.

Regular:
In most cases while you’re out shopping for t shirts, short sleeve, as well as dress, you’re going to run into the regular fit variety. These are your standard sizes (small, medium, and large) and they are designed to work with any body type.

Athletic:
Whenever you see the words “tailored” or “fitted” next to the sizing of it you’re looking at the Athletic variety. These shirts are designed for the thin and fit among us. Generally, the it will be cut closer to the body so that they give the wearer a slimmer appearance. You can assume that an athletic fit will feel and appear smaller than a regular fit.

Full:
On the other side of the spectrum you have your full fitted shirts. These are designed to be loose and cater to the big and tall demographic. Whenever you see a “full” tag on one you should assume that it is quite larger than the regular fit.

Deciding on Colors, Prints, and Patterns:

All of these decisions are usually made simultaneously while you’re shopping but it is a good idea to identify them one at a time anyway. After you’ve come to grips with your chosen fabric and your ideal fit you can start to think about style choices like colors, prints, and patterns.

Style is all about confidence and it is about fitting in while at the same time adding your own individuality through subtle accents. A few questions you should ask yourself before you go purchasing some wildly patterned are: How do your peers dress? Will wearing this pattern or print make you feel confident about yourself and how you look? What are you going to be doing in this shirt and will the pattern match the activity?

Don’t Forget the Minor Details:

Aside from colors, prints, and patterns you still have a few more details to be concerned about. Men’s shirts have a variety of different collar schemes, cuff styles, and pocket patterns and you want to choose a pullover that looks good on your body type and fits in with what you’re doing while you’re wearing it. When going over these details remember that it is all a matter of personal preference and style.

Collars:
There are six types of collars out there to choose from: straight-point, button-down, spread, tab, club, and pinned. You will want to try on a few of the collar variations before deciding on which one is right for you.

Cuffs:
The three main cuff types are the barrel, French, and convertible cuff. Keep in mind that the French, or double, cuff style requires you to use cufflinks. Of course, not all tunics will even have a cuff. T-shirts, polo’s, and some long sleeve turtlencks don’t even bother with them.

Shopping Online vs. Shopping at the Store

All right, you have finally come to the point where you know all you need to know and you just want to get out there and make a purchase. But where should you start? These days there are two major retail venues: your local brick and mortar clothes stores and the online retailers on the Internet. Both venues offer some pros and some cons; let’s explore them.

If you choose to shop online you are going to be met with an infinite array of choices. You can custom your search results to get the exact fit, fabric, color pattern, and any other stylistic feature you want and you can purchase instantly. However, when shopping online you are not given the opportunity to try it on and you also have to wait for them to come in the mail a few days later. Some clothes retailers like Zappos.com offer free returns for clothes that don’t fit but that can be a hassle if you need it right away.

On the other hand, brick and mortar stores have a more limited selection of items, it will take you longer to sift through all of the garbage to find exactly what you want, but you can try the mens shirts on right then and there and see if you like how it looks on you.