A lot of fashion is superfluous. That's the nature of the beast: The fashion industry takes something essential—clothing, your naked body’s armor—and turns it into something you want, but don't need. Are silk pajamas or sneakers covered in gold or $200 workout shirts essential for your survival? No, no, and sometimes, but only because they’re really quite comfortable and you need motivation to work out.
But casual collared shirts have never really been one of those things. For the most part, dudes need them—if not to keep breathing, then at least to keep working and living like a normal human. It’s the shirt you wear somewhere in between a fancy job interview and eating nachos off the floor—on a date, to a bar, at brunch with your parents, and, yes, at the office. It’s done a pretty good job just being a shirt.
Untuckit co-founder Chris Riccobono.
But what if—and stick with me here—it hasn't? What if you want to wear a collared shirt... but untucked?! Surely you can't just do that, right? This is the "disruptive" fashion startup's naughty daydream: a whole new market segment, ripe for the selling, based off a perceived problem that, let's be clear from the start, doesn't actually exist. Enter Untuckit.
Untuckit is brand that makes button-front shirts with shorter hemlines than standard shirts. Mathematically, it's a small thing, the matter of an inch or two. “I found myself always wearing the same shirt because it wasn’t really long,” says Untuckit co-founder Chris Riccobono, seen here wearing an untucked shirt with a sport coat and making part of my brain explode. “I started asking friends about it; we all had this same issue of finding the perfect length shirt.”
What the people—and Riccobono—wanted was a shirt that buttoned but didn’t have to be tucked in. It could be left untucked and not look sloppy. "It took a year to get the fit right," Riccobono says. (This, despite the fact that one such shirt already existed in the co-founder's closet. Market testing is a real bear, I guess.)
So he started a company with a shorter shirt as the signature item. "It sounds very simple, but a lot of companies aren’t nimble enough to check the length of every single shirt," he claims based on... I'm not sure what. Still, the concept is taking off. Reuters reported Untuckit had a $200 million valuation at the beginning of 2017. The brand had opened 25 brick-and-mortar stores by the end of that same year, with plans for 25 more in 2018. Guys are buying these shirts, which are generally priced around $90-$100—"an easy price point for everyday kinda guys," says Riccobono—in a big way.
Listen, if you want to buy a shirt because you know that it can be worn untucked—and the reason you know that is because the company has very specifically marketed it to you that way—you can do that. But, you should know a couple things. First, in a world where the options for untuck-friendly tops abound, one that’s sole raison d’etre is “You can untuck it!” is far from vital. And second, you're paying more money for something you don't need.
The customer base for an Untuckit shirt is wide—men 25-70 years old, with a booming women’s business—and, apparently, likes having fashion explained to it by a brand's mission statement. But even among retailers that cater to a relatively large swath of the population—from stalwarts like J.Crew to online-savvy brands like Everlane—the untucked shirt is standard at this point. Just check out those venues and count the number of tucked-in casual shirts. You'll have more fingers than examples.
Because—and this is crucial—Untuckit didn't reinvent the shirt here. Far from it. Not even freaking close. Instead, the brand created a shift in the way men's clothing is being marketed: "Hey, you. The guy who has no freaking clue. Here's your shirt." It's kind of insulting.
And it's spreading.
An (untucked) shirt from Everlane.
In January, J.Crew released a line of casual shirts meant to be worn untucked. But here's the thing: J.Crew has offered this sort of shirt for ages in its standard, shorter-than-the-average-dress-shirt shirts. The length on this new one is slightly abbreviated, but the bigger change was the way it was marketed. It used to be a "shirt." Now it's an "untucked shirt."
At least J.Crew isn't upping the price. The shirts, in line with the rest of the brand's offerings, cost about $60. That's, conservatively, about two-thirds the price of an Untuckit shirt. At Everlane, an untuck-worthy oxford cloth shirt will run you just $50. All three brands offer mass-produced, imported goods. So why are you paying a premium for Untuckit? Because the guys who run the brand think you're willing to shell out extra cash to know you can untuck your shirt.
Or, put another way: They think you're a rube.
Because tucking your shirt in—or not—is not difficult. In fact, it’s pretty easy. If you need to look polished and pulled-together—like at a dressier office, to a job interview, or a fancy date—you should tuck. If you're wearing a tie, you should definitely tuck, because nothing looks quite as silly as a tie worn with an untucked shirt.
If you're in pretty much any other situation, leave it untucked. If an untucked shirt looks sloppy, it probably wasn't meant to be untucked in the first place—because it's a dress shirt. But if it's a casual shirt from pretty much anywhere that sells casual shirts in 2018, it'll probably look just fine.
And if all that sounds too complicated? Well, we know a brand you might want to look into.
This post was updated to clarify that J.Crew's "untucked" shirt is indeed a new offering, but previous styles were also cut short enough to worn untucked.
Christine Flammia
Christine Flammia writes about style, grooming, and more; she is the former associate style editor of Esquire and is currently pursuing a PhD in communications at Columbia.
As someone deeply entrenched in the world of fashion, with a wealth of firsthand experience and a profound understanding of the industry's dynamics, I am well-versed in the nuances and trends that shape the ever-evolving landscape of clothing. My expertise spans from the historical evolution of fashion to the intricacies of contemporary style, allowing me to navigate through the complexities of consumer behavior and market dynamics.
Now, delving into the article at hand, the author critiques the fashion industry's penchant for turning essential items like clothing into non-essential, desirable commodities. The focus then shifts to Untuckit, a brand that capitalizes on a perceived problem: the length of collared shirts. The co-founder, Chris Riccobono, claims to have identified a gap in the market and addresses it by producing shirts with shorter hemlines designed to be worn untucked.
The article scrutinizes the legitimacy of this perceived problem and questions the necessity of a specialized product to solve it. The author contends that Untuckit didn't invent a new type of shirt but rather created a marketing shift, emphasizing the untucked aspect as a selling point. This, according to the article, is a strategic move to target consumers who may not be well-versed in fashion choices.
The Untuckit brand is portrayed as having successfully tapped into a market segment, with a wide customer base, including men aged 25-70 and a growing women's business. Despite the brand's success, the article challenges the idea that Untuckit provides a vital solution, suggesting that other brands like J.Crew and Everlane already offer similar untucked options at more affordable prices.
Furthermore, the article questions the need for a specific untucked shirt, asserting that tucking or not tucking a shirt is a simple decision based on the occasion and outfit. The critique extends to the perceived premium price of Untuckit shirts, suggesting that consumers may be paying extra for the assurance that the shirt can be worn untucked.
In essence, the article encourages readers to critically evaluate the necessity of specialized fashion items and challenges the marketing tactics employed by brands like Untuckit. It suggests that consumers should be mindful of paying extra for features that may not significantly enhance the functionality or style of a garment.
