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Blank Label Daily Hookup Deal – $50 for $100 in credit

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The Daily Hookup – $50 for $100 at Blank Label

It’s nice to be wanted.  And here comes a potential, polite, land war for the custom shirting affections of you guys in the Dappered readership.  The U.S. made label ratio/clothing has already weighed in, and Blank Label is up next.  There’s a shirt on the way from Blank Label for testing but it hasn’t arrived yet.  The Daily Hookup deal just launched today (Wednesday 9/7) and no word on when the purchase window closes.

Blank Label shirts start at $60 and peak at $98.  A few of you have recommended them in the comments section and on twitter.  One of you (what’s up Ryan) even contacted their CEO, told him about Dappered, and he in turn got in touch with us.  Blank Label has also been featured  by the New York Times.  Impressive.

There are three different options for getting your measurements right.  You can actually send them your best fitting shirt for them to mimic, you can measure that shirt yourself, or… you can input your own sizes:

The Blank Label that’s on the way.  Spread collar, no pocket, checked, w/ an off white collar lining.

You input your data into blank fields, so in theory you can get as precise as you like.  They also ask for body type, fit preference, and your preferred off the rack shirt brand.  Huge points there.  That’s a smart detail to ask for.  Customizations don’t end at the collar placket and cuffs.  Multiple location monogramming is included and you can change the lining on the cuffs, collar, and even change the button color.  It doesn’t look like they’re made in the U.S.

The Daily Hookup was one of the many sites offering Bonobos gift certificates not too long ago.  There’s a definite savings here, but shirts average around $78.  So chances are it won’t be quite half price if you get one shirt (or two shirts for that matter)  Still a great deal, but not exactly half off.

You do have to use your voucher by December 31st of 2011, but you don’t have to use it all at once.  Also, once you’ve used at least part of it, you have a full year to use up the rest.  Got that?

Time to hand it over to you guys.  Who’s got a Blank Label shirt?  Thoughts?  You in?  Leave it all below…

Comments

  1. this is awesome, my new favorite site.  anybody have any reviews of their hit/miss ratio on the information slide labeled above? or if i send in my favorite fitting shirt will they keep that information for future purchases with the ability to customize a bit more (i.e., i want a less dressy shirt and something more casual, can add the “untuck option” to my saved sizes? the possibilities are endless!

  2. @b9ce4a199e0ad2cbe608a51f313ed03c:disqus I used their Ask Our Tailors survey and was pretty happy with the fit. It wasn’t perfect, they offered a remake but it was a shirt I was happy to wear so I just changed my size on my next shirt. They also allowed me to make a customization to the cuff size so I could accommodate my watch

  3. From the NYT article, they’re made in Shanghai, but the company is based in Boston.
    “… Mr. Bi tells me by phone from Shanghai, where Blank Label shirts are sewn to customers’ specifications and delivered anywhere in the world in about four weeks. But Blank Label, his Web start-up based in Boston …”

  4. thats pretty awesome, i was just playing around with the details and got excited about not having to search high and low for some shirts i want. question: how is the fabric on these? 

  5. I am happy to rave about this company. I’ve had 4 shirts made by them and they’re all great. I can’t speak to their various measuring options, though. I derived measurements for my first shirt from some other shirts. That one turned out nearly perfect and I have based my other measurements off of that. But their customer service is TOP NOTCH. They make personal phone calls to check up on shirts once they’ve arrived. One order did get delayed, but when I contacted them they apologized profusely and offered me a 100 dollar credit. I’ve received hand written thank you notes for being a customer. That is all on top of the fact that they make great, high quality shirts. No fraying or loose buttons and nice fabrics. I’ve looked and there simply is no real competitor. They’ll also be happy to send you a full package of fabric samples at no cost. Oh, and all the shirts are ACTUALLY custom, which means you can modify them beyond what the website allows you to do. Want a cutaway or club collar? One cuff wider to accommodate a watch? Short sleeves? If you just put your request in the comments, they’ll take care of it. Everyone should get themselves some Blank Labels. 

  9. @764003db934b419c402196ae5a70687d:disqus Thanks a lot for the feedback, glad to hear you enjoyed the experience. We really would’ve made you a new shirt, but I’m glad you were fair about it. Looking fwd to what you order next!

  10. @b9ce4a199e0ad2cbe608a51f313ed03c:disqus  Basically if you don’t really have a dress shirt that fits well, I’d say you should use the Ask Our Tailors option, and we’ll be your first. If you do have a shirt that already fits well, then you can either measure it (we have instructions) or send it in. We are planning on a function where you can save multiple sizes, e.g. tucked/ untucked, work/ casual, etc, for now you can just ask us for help and we’ll give some guidance on sizing. Happy to help however we can.

  11. Hello Brad! Thanks for being such an awesome advocate, wow, just wow! Glad you’ve had such a stella experience, we hope it continues for a long time to come.

  12. Talking Bird and Summer Skin fabrics references to Death Cab for Cutie songs? Haha. Either way I’m a fan…

  13. I second the question on the fabrics.. to the guys who already have some shirts, how is the quality of the fabrics and how well do they wash and wear?

  16. I haven’t tried them yet, although am excited to. I’ve heard about them from a colleague who keeps raving about them. If it helps, I think he would only shop somewhere that had the quality to hold up.

  17. Also, is the fabric that is in the picture at the top of the page the aforementioned Summer Skin? Or a different one? It looks slightly different than on the website, so I wasn’t sure…

  19. Sorry, not the one in the middle of the article, but the one that’s folded up top in the header, next to the “Blank Label: $50 gets you $100 worth of customized shirts”

  20. I bought one.  A while back.  On a $70 shirt, the fabric seemed pretty cheap.  Better than most shirts I’ve had custom made in China, but way lower quality than the lowest quality Brooks Brothers MTM shirts.  I think the fabric is comparable to a $20-$25 name-brand shirt that you might find at Costco (eg).

    However, I never really intended these to be “work” shirts.  That’s what Brooks Brothers was for.  These were supposed to be “fun” shirts.  I’m willing to pay a big premium if I can get a shirt that actually fits right.As far as cut, I have crazy proportions (I’m very tall, and very thin).  The cut was pretty good (I used my Brooks Brothers shirts as the basis for the measurements I gave Blank label).  My only gripe was that the cuffs were too wide around.All in all, given my troubles finding shirts, I think Blank Label has a place in my wardrobe.  I’ll probably buy this deal, but only so I can try the $98 shirt for 50% off.  I’m planning on trying ratio as well, so I can do a compare/contrast.

  21. One other thought:  Their website can be somewhat glitchy, and it sometimes gives you contradictory information.  Good customer service when you point it out, but the OCD in me is bothered by it.

  23. Hey Mike, sorry to hear you didn’t have a quality shirting experience with us. We have improved our fabric quality quite a bit this year. It’s taken us a while to develop the right relationships with top fabric mills, I hope you do get to try it out again. And feel free to let us know if there’s a cuff measurement you’d like us to use.

  26. Nate – we’d love to at some point, but it’s not feasible for us yet. Because we make our shirts in the US and use high-quality imported fabrics, we have lower margins than most of our competitors. I don’t mean that to be a knock on competition, it’s just a choice we made. Truth is, we’re probably never going to be able to compete on price with anyone that manufactures in Asia because there is such a discrepancy between labor costs. Regardless, I hope you’ll give us a shot. I think you’ll be impressed with our quality. 

  27. Definitely understandable. I will definitely give Ratio a shot a some point . . probably when I’m not looking to buy a car in 3 weeks though!

  28. I believe I’m one of the aforementioned commenters (commentors? Firefox doesn’t like either.) who recommended BL in previous posts. If not, I should have been.

    To answer the questions posted a few times, the fabric quality is certainly on-par or better than pre-made shirts in the same price range and is easily the best of the other online-MTM in the same price range I’ve tried. They wash well, though the collar and cuffs do wrinkle a little more than most shirts; it’s nothing a quick ironing can’t fix, however.

    As you might expect, the fit and finish is excellent. I decided to measure a shirt I already owned, making incremental adjustments, and all five shirts — from two separate orders — fit as well as I could have hoped. I’ve also been very impressed with their service: while I’ve never encountered any problems with my orders, I nonetheless received a touching, hand-written note thanking me for my second purchase and, recently, a personal email from Mr. Bi himself just checking to see how I was enjoying my shirts. Needless to say, I’ll definitely be jumping on this.

  31. Cool deal, but this Daily Hookup site is crass and tacky.  Please let us know when you’re on a more tasteful site… I’d love to give you guys a try.

  32. First shirt ordered! Went with the Guarded Pearl . . have to make full use of that coupon. Depending on how much I like it (probably a lot), I will definitely pick up one in Summer Skin!

  33. Seeing that Ratio is jumping in on commenting…

    I personally choose savings usually and would most likely go with the Blank Label deal but there is definitelly a draw towards a US made product.

  34. Hm, I’m a sucker for James Bond and blame the fictional man for most of my sartorial obsession. I’m not crazy with replicating the look like a civil war reenactor but there are a few things I still like to steal here and there. Curious, do either of the commenting companies, Blank Label or Ratio, offer a ‘cocktail cuff’ on their shirts? As made famous by Turnbull & Asser? I don’t see the option listed on either website, perhaps as an e-mail in option?

  35. Matthew – I agree that the cocktail cuff is great, but we don’t currently offer it. We do, however, offer a few other cuff options as an “email-in” option. 

  36. Fair point, and I agree, but I’ve actually chatted with the owner of Blank Label about this and he’s got an interesting perspective. He’s been able to find good tailors in Shanghai to work with, and in the meantime keeps growing the team in the US to keep up, I think they’re now at eight people in web developers, customer support and marketing.  

  37. Wow, hand written letters! I’ve ordered quite a few Blank Label shirts and haven’t got the note yet. I’m in envy of you Mr Jones.

  38. Love James Bond, but unfortunately we don’t have the Cocktail Cuff. We will be introducing some new collar features over the weekend so stay tuned 🙂

  40. I got one of those from LEC too! It was a nice touch…too bad most of their clothing fits too loosely for me to really get into the brand.

  41. “Crass and tacky”? Puhlease… As we read in the Holy Book of Jack Nicholson, Sky7i, “Go sell ‘crazy’ somewhere else…”

  42. Fan, 

    Can you buy more than 1 voucher? I would be interested in this but would like to buy more than 1.

    Thanks.

  43. Hey Chris, thanks for wanting to be a repeat customer first time around! With this promotion, we’re only doing one voucher per person. It’s really not a money make for us, just something to get people to experience our approach to custom. Hope you get to try it out.

  44. Haha, wow, so many postings by Ratio and Blank Label. It’s kind of funny to see the two companies responding, competing with and talking to each other.

  45. sky71, we hate to see anyone not enjoy their user experience on the site, but we absolutely love all feedback that we can get to help improve that experience for our users.  We are completing our public beta this month and have a lot of changes we are readying based on our user feedback during the last 2 months.

    Would you mind sharing some of the things that you didn’t enjoy about the site so that I can take those to my User Experience Engineering team and work on improving them? I’m the IT / Engineering Manager for The Daily Hookup and will be happy to address any concerns you have.