**With thanks to Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/edzitron/2011/09/27/hughcrye/**
Hugh & Crye was founded with the belief that the entire model of creating and sizing shirts is off, to the point that they don’t use conventional models to size at all. Where you may have had to measure your neck before, Hugh & Crye asks you to refer to your muscle mass and weight to get the right cut of cloth.
“I couldn’t find a shirt that fits” said founder Pranav Vora. “I could find casual shirts, say from H&M, that fit me much better through the body, but were hardly appropriate for work or after a few washes. Dress shirts came in two varieties – boring and expensive (think defense-contractor worthy blue-billowy shirts), or trendy and cheap (think floral cuffs and cheap construction). Both varieties had something in common – they fit terribly.”
The shirts themselves range from $85 to$105, which is a little more than some Brooks Brothers slim-fits, but with higher-quality fabrics and better service. Their goal is to break men out of a classic mold that’s one part laziness and the other part frustration. “Guys have been programmed to walk into a mall, find something that could maybe work, buy 5 of them, and then leave. Now [they] come to us because our shirts truly fit better than anything else they own.” I picked up the Gingham navy slim fit, and despite (the high quality problem of) my arms being a little thicker now than they should be; I am very impressed with the quality of the fabric and the workmanship overall.
The company is completely bootstrapped and currently entering into their first external round. Based out of Georgetown, Washington DC, they just opened their first studio – part stockroom, part showroom, part office, and to quote Vora “always a creative, chaotic mess.”
