In Review: UNIQLO Easy Care Broadcloth Dress Shirts

UNIQLO Slim Fit Easy Care Dress Shirts – $39.90

Not gonna spill a lot of digital ink over these things. They’re shirts. 96% Cotton / 4% Spandex broadcloth (AKA poplin) shirts. And unfortunately, not the best shirts at that. They appear to occupy a space on the dressed-up spectrum that doesn’t really need to be occupied. They’re somewhere between a casual OCBD and a crisp substantial collar dress shirt. Here’s what that means:

The Good

• The Fit: Nice and trim through the sides. It’s a true slim. A medium fits a 15.5″ neck decently well. A little tight, but not bad. Sleeve length seems neither too short nor too long on arms that usually wear a 33 sleeve.
• The Fabric: 96% cotton / 4% spandex  fabric has more stretch to it than most other “stretch” shirts.
• No pocket: This could go either way. Some people like having a pocket on their dress shirts, some flat out don’t. Strange that the images on UNIQLO’s site sure seem to show a pocket though.
• The Price: $39.90 should drop to $29.90 or less with sales.

In person with the white & the blue. Slim through the sides.
Size shown (for both) = Medium on 5’10” / 185.

The Not as Good

• The Fabric: Yep, it’s both a good and a bad. While lightweight, it’s kinda flimsy. And while they claim it’s wrinkle resistant, it doesn’t appear to really shed wrinkles. They came out of the box a mess.
• The Collar: Smaller by design and flimsy. They come with thin plastic collar stays, but even with beefier alloy stays, the collar just doesn’t look good tieless. Length of the point is 2.5″ from start to end,  instead of a more standard 2.75″ – 3″. It’s more casual looking. A four-in-hand tied knit works, but a standard silk with a half windsor might clash.
• Lack of pleats: There’s no box or side pleats on the back. You can move around though thanks to the stretch. But a pleat of some kind would have been nice.

Smaller than your average collar.

The Bottom Line

So, what are these shirts? Think of a lower quality Banana Republic stretch poplin, with a smaller, floppier collar and thinner fabric. In terms of dressiness, they’re a step above an OCBD (even though the fabrics are quite different in texture), but nowhere near a crisp dress shirt with a substantial collar. That, and they come in Small/Medium/Large, instead of neck and sleeve measurements.

If they’re on sale and you despise button down collar casual shirts (not many do despise casual button down collars on their casual shirts), maybe pick one up. If you’re looking for something to go with a suit or under a blazer, it’s best to look somewhere else like Target, Macy’s, Express, or Nordstrom.