Custom Dress Shirts: A Deo Veritas Review

Last month an online custom dress shirt company called Deo Veritas reached out. I had never heard of them before which is surprising since they’ve been around since 2007.

They asked if I’d be interested in giving their shirt designer interface a try, and providing my thoughts. After browsing through their website and reading about their customers’ overwhelmingly positive experiences on various style forums, I decided to give it a go.

THE DEO VERITAS STORY

All companies start because there’s a problem that needs to be solved. Back in 2007, there was a need in the menswear market for dress shirts. Traditional options of off-the-rack and brick and mortar tailors simply weren’t cutting it. Off-the-rack brands cater to generic body types and fail to address problematic body attributes like sloping shoulders or a longer torso.

Enter Deo Veritas.

In the beginning their goal was unique yet simple. Perfect fitting dress shirts that you could design yourself—online. Their solution was an intuitive website that allows users to visually build a shirt in real time from a gallery of curated fabrics. Beyond the perfect fit, Deo Veritas is serious about great fabric. As such, they scour the globe searching for materials that are timeless, unique and slightly ahead of the fashion curve.

Perfect fit and quality fabrics is their game. And they’re serious about it.

In today’s article I review Deo Veritas. Such a unique name for a clothing brand. The literal translation is “God” and “Truth” in Latin. Shortened from the common phrase “In Deo ac Veritas” or “In God there is Truth.”

Now I will walk through the Deo Veritas ordering process. If you’d rather see the results, you can skip this next section.

THE DEO VERITAS ORDERING PROCESS

Before getting started, you have two options when it comes to the design of your shirt. If you’re a fashion novice, go ahead and choose from a selection of predesigned shirts. And if you know exactly what you want, Deo Veritas offers a myriad of customization options, which I’ll detail below.

First, I’m going to outline the measurement options you have and then walk through the shirt designer interface.

Taking Your Measurements

1. Standard measurements (off-the-rack)

The first measuring method is based on your standard off-the-rack numbers for collar size, sleeve, shoulders, and fit style. In addition, they also record your height and weight.

2. QSIZING (8 simple questions)

QSIZING is a unique algorithm that accurately predicts your fit based on answering 8 basic questions without the need for measuring tape. Deo Veritas has aggregated data from tens of thousands of fit profiles from men across all ages and sizes, which allows for pinpoint accuracy.

This is the easiest method if you don’t know your specific body or off-the-rack measurements. I’d like to believe that an algorithm can’t be as accurate as actually knowing your numbers, none the less, QSIZING is worth a try.

3. Existing shirt measurements (my method of choice)

By far the best method if you have a shirt that fits flawlessly. They provide videos guiding you on how to measure your existing shirt, and all you have to do is plug in the numbers. Easy peasy. In addition, Deo Veritas has provided a printable PDF guiding you through the process of measuring your shirt.

4. Body Measurements (it’s good to know yours)

The fourth method is based on your body measurements. If you have them, great, if not, you can have a friend measure you. It’s good to know your measurements and beneficial to have a tailor or someone with experience in menswear to measure you if you’re going to go this route. Again, Deo Veritas has provided a printable PDF guiding you through the process of measuring your body.

Deo Veritas Custom Dress Shirt Designer Interface

As a graphic and web designer I’ve experienced and worked with my fair share of user interfaces (UI).

Deo Veritas’ custom dress shirt designer UI is simple and easy to follow along. It’s also optimized for mobile devices, which is essential these days.

There was, however, one minor hiccup in which I saved my measurement profile over an existing one, but it failed to save, so I had to re-do them. I went through the process of putting in my numbers again, hit save, and it once again didn’t save. I realized the problem was because I wasn’t logged in. Not sure why I kept getting logged out so quickly. It would have been nice to know that I was not logged in and that changes would not be saved. Whether it was an issue with my browser’s cookies or something on their backend, I’ll be sure to let them know.

After selecting your fabric type, it’s on to the fun part. The custom dress shirt designer allows for endless customization options from the collar, cuffs, and buttons, down to monogramming, and additional options like back pleats or contrast thread.

Ordering Process Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

DELIVERY & PACKAGING

Date ordered: 2/15/17
Date received: 2/23/17

Deo Veritas claims to be “the fastest made-to-measure shirts in the world,” guaranteed in less than 2 weeks. My shirt came in 8 days. I’ve tried quite a few custom clothiers, and Deo Veritas is definitely the fastest. Heck, it’s faster than some of the major retailers out there.

As for the packaging, it comes in a minimalist cardboard box. They nailed a fast delivery and clean packaging, which is all you can ask for really.

Delivery & Packaging Rating: 5/5 Stars

FINISHED PRODUCT

I had Deo Veritas model an existing custom dress shirt that already fit me well. As I tried the shirt on, my initial reaction was that it was a bit loose, particularly in the arms. I could have easily gone back and asked for minor alterations to bring the sleeves and body in a bit, but decided not to.

The Fit

It actually feels and looks great, while allowing for maximum mobility which is important. I have some shirts that look great when I’m standing straight, but when I begin moving, certain areas tighten up and restrict movement. That’s not the case with this shirt. That being said, it’s not an exact replication of the shirt I measured.

A post shared by Gentleman Within ?PHILLY (@thegentwithin) on Mar 31, 2017 at 1:19pm PDT

Be sure to scroll through the above image to see all the views.

• The shoulder seam ends exactly where it should, right along my shoulder bone.
• The collar fits perfectly without any restriction, allowing 2 fingers to fit comfortably in-between the collar and my neck.
• The armholes sit high while still allowing for comfortable movement.
• The sleeves fall properly and end where they should, right between the wrist and thumb bone.
• The shirt tuck is nice and clean with zero muffin top, excess fabric around the waist.

The Details

Fabric:

Since Spring is officially here, I went with the Borneo Yellow and Blue Medium Check Shirt, made of their featured fabric from Soktas in Egypt.

• 100% Egyptian Cotton by Soktas™
• 2 ply / 100s
• Poplin Weave
• Light-Medium Weight

Design:

• Collar: Button-down
• Cuffs: 1 Button Rounded (standard cuffs)
• Placket: Front
• Buttons: Plastic Resin (as opposed to mother of pearl)
• Interlining: Sewn (instead of fused)
• Monogramming: No
• Fabric Contrast: No

A post shared by Gentleman Within ?PHILLY (@thegentwithin) on Mar 30, 2017 at 5:43pm PDT

I’m going to get a little technical here, so bear with me.

I didn’t do too much customizing, but I did opt for a button-down collar for a more casual vibe. You’ll notice the collar roll which is the arch formed by the collar when it’s buttoned down to the shirt. A good collar roll not only looks great, but is a sign of a well constructed shirt.

I also went with a sewn interlining for the collar as opposed to the traditional fused collar. The difference is that non-fused (sewn) collars are softer in feel, seen almost exclusively on made-to-measure and bespoke shirts. Fused collars are stiffer with a sharper look that you’ll find on most off the rack shirts. Check this resource for a more info. on fused vs. sewn collars.

Other Shirt Highlights

What is a dress shirt yoke?

First of all, the yoke is a panel of fabric on the upper back of the dress shirt. Its purpose is to support the strain of the shoulder and upper back. It’s called ‘split’ because it has two fabric panels, split down the middle. In essence the benefit of the split over single is that a split yoke allows for pattern matching and will stretch to accommodate your movement better.

Stitching

All Deo Veritas shirts feature a single needle stitching with a minimum of 16 stitches per inch. In the case of a custom dress shirt, the less needles and the more stitches to create the shirt, the better.

For more details and specifics on Deo Veritas shirt options and features, visit their site here.

Finished Product Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

PRICE & ADDITIONAL INFO

The total cost for my shirt was $115 + $9 for the sewn collar for a total of $124, which isn’t cheap by any means. Their shirts range from $70-$145. 

All Deo Veritas custom dress shirts are 100% hand cut and sewn—crafted from their facilities in Istanbul, Turkey, which is known throughout Europe as a premier destination for both tailored clothing and high end shirting fabric. They source premium fabrics from world renowned brands like Tessitura Monti, Soktas, and Thomas Mason.

In my opinion, it’s worthwhile to invest in quality clothing, at least the best quality you can afford, and Deo Veritas makes one heck of a quality custom dress shirt.

CONCLUSION

“We started the company with a simple premise—creating beautiful dress shirts that fit perfectly. In the years that have passed, our passion to fulfill that mission is as strong as ever. We love our jobs, our product, and our customers.”

Their dedication to crafting high-quality dress shirts with a focus on fit is clear.

If you’re looking to give custom dress shirts a go, Deo Veritas is definitely worth the investment.

A note: The shirt in this review was complimentary. These are all my thoughts and opinions based on my experience and some online research.

Have you tried Deo Veritas or any other custom shirting companies? Let us know what your experience has been like.