Tribeca Citizen | New Kid on the Block: ManuelRacim

New Kid on the Block: ManuelRacim

June 7, 2013 • Shopping

ManuelRacim has opened an attractive jewel box of a shop at 44 Hudson (next door to Shoofly) selling men’s shirts—made-to-measure shirts, to be precise. If you’ve never worn a custom-made dress shirt, you really should give it a try.

How it works: First, you visit the shop, where a stylist will measure you. Then comes the fun part—designing your shirts. Around 200 fabrics are hanging on the wall, so you can see at a glance what you like (versus flipping through binders) and fondle them to your heart’s content. There are 15 collar styles, each available in four heights, in four types of rigidity, with two buttons or one. Eight cuff shapes are on offer, each in three cuff finishes. Finally, you can customize the button color, buttonhole stitching, collar fabric (if you want to mix it up), and monogramming. Naturally, the stylist is on hand to rescue anyone feeling overwhelmed by so much decision-making.

Shirts range from $125 to $295, and remarkably, the price depends only on the fabric and not on the complexity of the design (the one exception being if you splurge on mother-of-pearl buttons). What’s more, there’s no minimum order. The shirts are made in France with Italian fabric: “Our manufacturer is a good friend,” says co-founder, Manuel Guardiola. “We worked with him for many years doing ready to wear, and we know the quality of his work.” Your shirts get delivered to the store within just two weeks. Best of all, once you’ve been measured, you can order shirts using ManuelRacim’s website. The impressive interface incorporates 3-D modeling so that every change you make to your prospective shirt shows up right onscreen.