What Should Polo Shirts Fit Like? The Ultimate Guide For Men

COLLAR & NECK OPENING

The collar size isn’t something you should be concerned about because it’s quite standard across all brands. Make sure they aren’t too little.

However, pay special attention to the buttons; you want the buttons to end no further than the top of your armpits. Anything beyond that, as shown in the image below, is too long and will result in a super deep v-neck when unbuttoned – not ideal.

Wearing polo shirts with the top 1-2 buttons unfastened will help frame your face and enhance its appearance. When trying on a polo shirt for the first time, unfasten the top two buttons, regardless of whether it’s a two, three, or four button polo, to observe how the neck opening lays on your body. The collar/opening should not be totally flat on your chest like this:

You want it to stand up and have some structure, as shown in the figure below. However, you don’t want it to be so stiff that it doesn’t expand out a little when unbuttoned.

SLEEVES

The sleeves should fall mid-bicep and embrace your arms lightly. Some polo shirts include a ribbed band at the end of the sleeve where it will hug a little tighter, which is acceptable as well. Regardless, the sleeves should not be so tight that your biceps appear to be strangled. You also don’t want to have a lot of slack or space around the bicep. That just looks cheap and ugly, and it makes your arms look ridiculously small. If the polo fits well elsewhere, have your tailor shrink it down to better accommodate your arms.

BODY/TORSO

As I always state in my shirting articles, the best fitting polo will be one in which you can pinch (not pull) between 1 and 2 inches of fabric on either side of your stomach. This is true of EVERY SINGLE BODY TYPE. Many of my larger clients argue with me about this… until they see how cool it looks. The “Like This” image above has just enough cloth to pinch.

LENGTH

The shirt should fall midway between the upper and middle crotch. I prefer it to be closer to the mid-crotch than the upper-crotch because it avoids displaying stomach when reaching for things and allows it to be softly tucked into the front of your belt/pants to break up your proportions if desired.

TAILS

Fortunately, most designers are getting rid of tails, which I don’t particularly enjoy. However, if you have a polo shirt with a tail, the back should be no more than 2 inches longer than the front. Even so, I’d recommend getting a polo without a tail because 99.9% of the time it doesn’t look well.