How to wear the correct sleeve length of your suit?

Posted by Bobby Humphrey On January - 13 - 2010

How to wear the correct sleeve length of your suit?

Different people make different choices, but everybody should let their sleeves of the shirt pop out a little bit. How much exactly? That is where you can let your creativity kick in. You should always take two aspects in account; the sleeve length of your shirt and the sleeve length of your suit.

A sleeve is defined as something that covers your arm, not your arm and hand. From this basic principle, we can continue our story.

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Notice that the sleeves of a Double-Cuffed shirt tend to stick out more than a Single Cuffed shirt. The reason for this is that the sleeves of the Single Cuffed shirt fall on your wristbone and the sleeves of the Double Cuffed shirt stick out a little bit further than your wristbone, almost at the beginning of your hand. So what is the correct sleeve length for a shirt? With the Single Cuffed shirt falling on your wristbone, it should show about 0,50 inch (or approximately 1,3 cm) underneath your suit’s sleeves. The Double Cuffed shirt is allowed to show more, think about 0,80 inch (approximately 2 cm).

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The second aspect to take in account is the sleeve length of the suit. These sleeves should always end at the wristbone, with your arm at rest. This way the shirt has enough length to stick out underneath it. Please, never, ever demonstrate that your sleeves are too short by sticking out your both arms. First of all, you will never assume a position like that, unless driving a car. Secondly, you are not allowed to wear a jacket whilst driving a car.

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I personally think that it is a great detail to have your shirt pop out a little bit underneath your sleeves. Especially when you are wearing a coloured shirt, the matching colours of your combination are a great additive to your appearance. Wearing your sleeves on the correct length also shows that you are wearing a suit tailored to your sizes and not some suit in somebody else’s size. So if you have your tricks up your sleeve, visit a tailor, and make sure you wear your heart on your sleeve.

Cheers,

Bobby

Featured, How to

7 Responses

Thony-d Said,
Hey Bobby!

Thanks voor the tips man, now when I go to India or China for some suits I now exactly how I want them to make the sleeves. The tips you guys give are awesome.

_T

Posted on August 11th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Bobby Humphrey Said,
Remember to make your left cuff wider to create extra space for your watch!

Posted on September 28th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Thom Said,
Bobby, I have never heard of such a thing as making cuffs two different widths.

Posted on December 10th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Bobby Humphrey Said,
Hi Thom!, apologies for the late reply, I was in Dusseldorf/Germany on the Christmas-market enjoying my Gluhwein… sehr gemutlich…
About the cuffs, most of my dress shirts have a wider left cuff than right cuff… I do this on purpose to create extra space for my watch.. I have measured it; my left cuff is 1cm ‘longer’ than my right cuff… It’s not a lot, but I find it more comfortable this way… Whenever I choose to wear a pullover or sweater over my shirt, I naturally leave all buttons on my cuffs open..

Posted on December 13th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Tyren Patterson Said,
Hey Bobby

im a 35 length in the arm. With a french cuff shirt that leaves considerable amount of material in the arm. The shirts are from Hawes and Curtis off the rack so I can complain, it to me is not all that attractive without a suit but with it look great.

Your thoughts on extra material in the arms?

Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Bobby Humphrey Said,
Hey Tyren,

If you buy your shirts off the rack and have a 35 length in the arm, you will always have to come up with some solution to make the shirt look better without the suit… If I were you, I would visit a looking tailor and have him do simple job: shortening the sleeves. Make sure you stretch your arms out a little bit when he is pinning you down, just to make sure he doesn’t take out too much fabric. If he’s a good tailor, he will be able to even replace the buttons on your lower arm. You shoudn’t pay more than a couple of pounds and have it done to one shirt at first: this way, you can check whether or not the tailor got his skills… good luck, and let me know what the result was!

(For those that didn’t know, a standard shirt is about 65cm in sleeve length, an extra sleeve length shirt about 70cm (f.e. 42-7))

Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Tyren Patterson Said,
Thanks Bobby,

I appreciate the info. I have taken a shirt to the tailor and will update you when its done. Is it common that most men do not concern themselves with this question because a suit jacket usually covers the shirt?

Posted on January 14th, 2010 at 10:55 pm