Hey gents, today we’re going to be talking about a topic that I am particularly passionate about. It’s keeping your shirt tucked in. In the same way how I describe most of my day pulling out my socks to make sure they’re all the way up to my calves, it’s a comfort thing for me.

I would do the exact same thing with my shirt. When I’m walking around, standing up, or moving, I’m constantly fixing my shirt and adjusting the small details. And that’s why I love shirttail garters.

Let’s talk about the methods that you can use to keep your shirt tucked in, what I find the most effective, and what I think you should try out.

Misconceptions on Tucking a Shirt

First, a major misconception is that if you get a perfect-fitting shirt and perfect-fitting trousers, then keeping your shirt tucked will not be an issue. It still is an issue and I think that it’s almost exacerbated because you know that the pants and shirts fit perfectly, but they still come up as you wear them throughout the day.

Even my collection of perfectly-fitting, made-to-measure shirts don’t stay tucked on their own. No amount of bespoke tailoring will keep a shirt in place unless the guy wearing it doesn’t move.

This is why so many people have tried to come up with devices to keep them tucked.

Some work. Some don’t.

Different Ways You Can Keep Your Shirt Tucked

There are some techniques you can try that don’t require any devices, like the military tuck or tucking your shirts into your underwear. But these still aren’t a viable solution for a long day and you’ll still end up retucking several times.

Another option is to simply buy longer dress shirt and I’ve tried that as well. Older shirtmakers, notably London’s Turnbull & Asser, made their bespoke dress shirts longer specifically for this reason. But even a shirt that goes to your knees will still billow out as you move during the day.

The trouble is, most devices don’t work much better.

You’ll find some interesting things on Amazon like shirt dots, hidden suspender belts, or Tucked Trunks, which I did a video on awhile back. These are basically a pair of underwear with a rubberized belt attached to the waistband to keep your shirt in place. You also have some some specialized options like Magnetuck, which involves sandwiching your shirt between two magnets and wedging them right under your belt.

There’s also the Tidy Tuck. These are a $5 pair of straps that go around your calves. They’re surprisingly effective but they look like hooker garters and they make the whole bathroom process quite difficult.

I wasn’t particularly fond of these options, or any of the other methods I tested: most of them were either really cumbersome or simply didn’t work. But the fact that you’ll see hundreds of results on Amazon when you look for shirt-tucking methods testifies to the fact that this is an important issue for guys that brands are scrambling to solve, often with silly methods.

This brings me to the one method I’ve found that works:

SHIRTTAIL GARTERS

No joke, these are essential in any stylish man’s wardrobe. Shirttail garters, also known as shirt stays, are in my opinion the only tucking mechanism that works because they’re the only option that creates the required tension to keep your shirt in place.

Usually consisting of an elastic strip attached to a metal and rubber clasp, shirttail garters reliably keep your shirt in place through attaching it to your sock or, as in the picture below, wrapping it around your calf. Either way, the elastic and clasp keep the shirt in place no matter how much you move because their design anchors your shirt in place.

After wearing shirttail garters for a couple of years, they’re now a critical part of daily dress. If I’m wearing a nice shirt and I want to look put together and I’m wearing slacks, trousers, even jeans, I want the tension that that shirt stays create between my shirt and my socks.

Once you have trousers that fit well and you have this tension between your shirt and socks, you’re constantly getting automatic adjustment as you move.

Because the shirttail garter straps are anchored around your calf or attached to your socks, they pull your shirt down. If I put my hands up, it will pull my shirt upwards as well. But when I lower my hands, the socks pull the shirt back into place.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

As with every other piece of menswear I talk about, it’s worth searching for and investing in top quality. Once you buy one or two sets of shirttail garters from a reputable company, you’ll be all set.

I’ve had my KK & Jay shirttail garters for several years. It’s great elastic, they have smart leather accents, and you don’t need to accessorize them with anything else in your wardrobe because most people won’t see them.

The other company I own shirttail garters from is Sharp & Dapper. This is a company that makes their products right out of England and the main difference from the KK & Jay is that they have a third spoke, anchoring your shirt in place from three points on each side.

Sharp and Dapper and KK & Jay shirttail garters are about the same price, but I find the elastic to be exceptionally superb on the Sharp and Dapper shirttail garters. They don’t contain any of the pattern options or leather accents, but that doesn’t matter given how few people will see them. They do the job, and quite well.

Concerns With Wearing Shirttail Garters

The biggest challenge with shirt stays, and a question I hear often, is how can you go to the bathroom while wearing these things?

Fair question. Easy answer.

If you don’t need to sit, just unbuckle and unzip like you usually do and unbutton the bottom button of your shirt to give you easier access to your underwear. The stays pull your shirt down a bit further than usual so opening the bottom button will remedy that.

Need to sit? Still easy.

Drop trou. Slide the stays off to the side (you needn’t detach them), pull your shirt up a little bit over your waist, and then you have full freedom of movement to sit down and do your business.

Another question I hear often is whether shirt stays will damage the shirt. In a word, no. Although dimples form in the fabric after repeated wears, these are easily ironed out and won’t do long-term damage beyond standard wear and tear as long as the shirt’s not paper thin. What’s more, a shirt isn’t a garment that’s supposed to last forever. Shirt stays will do it far less damage than, say, white stick deodorant or repeated starching.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it, gents: some methods to keep your shirt tucked in.

Most don’t work. One does. Really well, as you can see in the photo on the right.

Shirt stays seriously make a big difference, don’t they?

As always, I love to hear from you guys. If you have any questions, you can reach me on Instagram or Twitter. I’ll also be down in the comments below.

Until next time, gents…

This is the Kavalier.

How to Tuck Your Shirt Properly | Best Shirt Tucking Methods