July in Texas has me actually succumbing to the marketing power of the bro-startup companies that are hawking sweat-wicking dress shirts. I've occasionally seen users mention mizzen+main, twillory, state and liberty, etc.
I don't trust the reviews of these things on their websites, and if you try to google for reviews you get paid ads from business insider or equivalent blog-style pages.
So I come here with these questions:
1. Do they look professional enough for business casual setting?
2. Could I throw a tie on one for a wedding for the annual outdoor Texas wedding in a barn in the summer?
3. How do they hold up over time? Any stretching or sheer after a year of wear?
Massive fan of mizzen & main...here's all my shirts in my closet minus a couple of tees & gym shirts. my closet. All mizzen & main, so i'm not just trying to hype it up without reason.
They feel just like gym shirts and don't look tacky/fake/cheap or whatever you naturally think of when you hear this stuff. Here's $50!! off, with free returns. I would go strictly with leewards and avoid spinnakers. I've been a consultant & now work in finance and believe, so I understand the importance of dressing up, but nothing was worse than hauling a boatload of shirts over to the dry-cleaners and paying $10-15 repeatedly. Or sweating to death in the summer. Or looking like your in high school wearing an undershirt.
Yes, they definitely look professional enough. They come in pretty conservative patterns as well as casual patterns. Nobody can really tell you are comfortable and they are miserable. The fact that they don't get wrinkles if you forget about the shirt in the laundry, stuff in in a suitcase, in a backpack/locker on the way to the gym, or toss it in bed with you goes a long way.
If you have to spend the energy treating your clothes so delicately you won't be able to actually have peace or focus on work.
I find top button a little tight for me on mizzen & main but your mileage may vary as they dont come in the same arm+neck size like other shirts. If your going to wear a tie wear the blue label as they have a bit larger collar. Again - fit is subject to every person. I think they are in an athletic cut and they fit ppl well as the stretch allows for you to find a fit easier.
I tried state & liberty, they had very odd sizing for me, but everyone is different. Material felt a bit 'cheap' as well. Never tried twillory.
All these places come with free returns so I'd say just buy two different sizes if your inbetween or not sure to get a feel and then just return if you don't like. Once you find your size you can hit up ebay or other locations for substantial discounts.
TLDR;
best shirt is mizzen+main, you wont' regret it. Check out their instagram @mizzenandmain and look at the tagged pictures. use link above to try it out at limited time $50! Here's $50!! off, with free returns discount. Good patterns, comfortable as hell!, no sweat stains, no yellow collars, impossible to wrinkle, look legit, investment into not paying for cleaning.
I've tried most of the brands for performance dress shirts. Basically, they all suck and this is an unsolved problem in the athleisure industry. You want a shirt with noticeable stretch while also maintaining high cotton content.
The cotton is what gives your shirt some structure so it doesn't drape and look like you're wearing a jersey. The problem is, most cotton performance shirts only allow 2 way stretch, or about 4% elastane, and it is barely noticeable thus not worth your time. Cotton also sucks up water and makes your shirt feel heavy and damp in those humid climates.
Most of the 4 way stretch options usually use a synthetic blend that has no cotton at all. As a bonus, the synthetics are typically great for wicking away moisture unlike cotton. These shirts try to play off the weird plastic texture by using patterns like gingham or plaid to hide the fact you're not wearing a traditional shirt. Still, you can't hide the lack of structure. Even with collar stays your collar will never look as crisp as a standard dress shirt.
The only company i've seen that comes even close to a middle ground is Outlier. In fact, most athleisure clothing brands were inspired by Outlier and try mimic their ideas. You'll notice on their website though that they've basically given up finding the perfect shirt. I've watched them regularly coordinate with suppliers and beta test several iterations of their dress shirts to no success. The closest they've made was the freecotton dress shirt with 60% cotton, 30% nylon, 10% elastane, much like their very successful 60/30 chino. This was a huge at the time because they used some of the latest, most innovative fabrics from Scheoller. They kept up production for a few years but ultimately considered it not worth continuing.
https://shop.outlier.nyc/shop/retail/freecotton-button-up.html