It used to be thought that short sleeved dress shirts for men were something far from fashionable, and likely downright geeky. This is only true though when the fabrics are wrong, and the fit is bad. If the fit is slim and properly cut for your body, and the fabric is playful and right for the summer, a short sleeved dress shirt can actually be super stylish and is highly recommended as an addition to your summer wardrobe.
And if you’re looking for a great place to go for them, my current favorite is from Proper Cloth. Now, we’ve spoken about Proper Cloth here on the site before, and they are likely the best online custom shirtmaker for most guys. But they also allow you to create short sleeved shirt sizes as well, and they have an awesome selection of super summery fabrics. We went with a madras, but they have everything from linens, to Oxford cloths, to more fun prints and rayon fabrics. While you can’t go wrong with a button down collar or a nice soft spread, they also allow for camp collars, which are super casual and would look awesome worn to a pool, beach, or out on the town with a pair of shorts.
As far as the fit, Proper Cloth can auto-convert the fit to a short sleeved size for you if you would like, or you can adjust it yourself. We here at TPL would recommend adding just a bit of room to the waist, and making sure the sleeves are slim enough on your bicep that they would hug them if you cuff the sleeve-end once (which is a stylish way to wear your short sleeved shirts). We also appreciate that Proper Cloth allows you to set both an armhole measurement as well as a sleeve opening measurement separately, which means you can get a perfect, comfortable fit. (If only they let you do the same thing with armholes and biceps on long-sleeved shirts — then they would truly be the perfect shirtmaker!).
In the end, it’s a great fit, a summery, colorful, lightweight fabric, and it is quickly becoming a go to and favorite shirt for warmer days. Just a suggestion! But we think it’s a good one.