OK, I've seen many different, and often conflicting, comments regarding the sizing and quality of these shirts. I have ordered many of them now as I was shopping for a couple of flannel shirts recently and bought various shirts in different sizes to compare before settling on the ones that worked best for me. Hopefully I can shed some light on what these shirts are and aren't and some information on the sizing. First, these are relatively inexpensive shirts with, from what I've seen from the several that I have received, are decent quality for the money. Are they perfect? No, you have to pay quite a bit more to get that. But they are good enough for casual outdoor type shirts. I've seen several reviews knocking the shirts because they aren't as thick as they thought they'd be for the price, or they had a couple of threads that needed trimmed, or they shrunk in the wash, or they didn't fit perfectly, etc. $30 is not an expensive shirt. Shirts that are made of top quality fabric, are fitted/tailored and have perfect stitching are two to four times the price of these shirts and are made by far more notable companies like Pendleton, Patagonia, Kuhl, Carhartt, etc. If that's what you're expecting and looking for, then go spend the money or look for brands like those on sale/clearance. These shirts seem fine for the price to me. For those that seem to feel that these are expensive shirts at $30-$40, what do you consider a cheap shirt? I mean, yeah, you can get a $10 shirt at Walmart, but I don't think that's really what we're comparing to here? In regard to fabric thickness, there are all types of flannel shirts out there that vary in fabric weight depending on the purpose of the shirt. The fabric weights of the various Legendary Whitetails shirts is clearly shown in the comparison chart and specifications. To give a low rating because the shirt isn't as thick as you expected it to be makes no sense. If you wanted a heavier shirt, then you should have bought a heavier shirt. It doesn't reflect poorly on the shirt just because it isn't what somebody expected when the fabric weight is clearly stated. Legendary Whitetails do make heavier shirts, so if that's what you need, then there you go. They are, of course, more expensive, but that has to be expected. So, now to the most controversial aspect of these shirts - the fit. First, again, these are not fitted/tailored shirts. They will fit a bit boxy and loose, which is to be expected. There is also the fact that any given person will have a different opinion on how a shirt fits based on their body type and there own personal preferences and comfort. That being said, I did find the sizing a bit different than other brands, particularly in comparison to some of the higher end brands. I'm 6' and 235 lbs. (yes, losing 20 lbs. is on my to do list) with a somewhat muscular/athletic build and wide shoulders. At the moment, I have a little bit of a gut, but I don't appear overly fat. I'm generally between a L and XL in most shirts, depending on how the shirt is cut. I like my clothing to be generally well fitting, but not too tight/restricting. I do not like swimming in blousy shirts. Now, as I said, everyone has different opinions on how they want their clothing to fit. For example, there was a review by a gentlemen who says that he's 5' 11" and 215 lbs. and claimed that the XL fit him perfectly, and he included pictures. Looking at the pictures, it was my opinion that the XL does not fit him at all. It was way to big. The sleeves were way too long and blousy, and the body was way too loose and long. Having tried the XL myself, as someone that is an inch taller and 20 lbs. heavier than the mentioned reviewer, the XL was even way too big on me. So, I tried the large. The large fits me better than the XL, but not perfectly. The sleeve length on the large was about perfect for me (I generally wear 34/35 sleeves), with the cuffs right at my wrist at the top of my hand, even when reaching forward, and not too baggy around the arms. The large also fit OK around my mid-section, with enough room for comfort, but not baggy. The only minor issue was around the chest/armpit area, which was a little snug. If I push my chest out a little, I could see the fabric stretching a bit at the button in the middle of my chest. If the shirt shrinks at all, it's going to be a problem in this area. Otherwise, it's pretty good. Now, I do wonder if the manufacturer intends these shirts to be worn in an oversized, baggy manner. The pictures showing the model (the guy with the bow and arrow) wearing the shirt appear to indicate that the shirt is way too big for the model. He has the cuffs turned up to show the suede inner lining, yet the sleeves still come down to the tops of his hands. If the cuffs were turned down, they would cover his hands. Also, the body of the shirt looks very blousy on the model. This leads me to believe that the shirt the model is wearing is way too big for him. So, that brings us to shrinkage. The manufacturer's laundering instructions are to wash gentle cycle in cold water, and tumble dry low heat. Some reviewers claim to have followed these directions, but still saw significant shrinkage. Others did not specify if they followed the instructions, and claim to have seen shrinkage, so who knows what actually happened there. Others claim that their shirts shrank 2-3 sizes, which I find hard to believe unless they simply disregarded the laundering instructions altogether and used high heat across the board for a couple of hours. After trying the various shirts that I ordered, I decided to keep two shirts in size large, as the XL shirts were just too big. One of the shirts is a LW Legendary Flannel, and the other is a LW Buck Camp Flannel. The primary differences are that the Buck Camp Flannel has corduroy neck and cuff lining where the Legendary Flannel has a suede-like material at the neck and cuffs, and the Buck Camp Flannel is 100% cotton flannel, while the Legendary has a small percentage of spandex mixed in to give a little stretch. Now, some reviewers would suggest to buy a larger size and shrink it to fit the way that you want. Following this advice, I would have kept the XL and then washed it in hot water and dried it on high heat to shrink it. However, I would have had to shrink the XL quite a bit to get a fit that I would consider optimal (i.e. not overly loose and blousy, and shorter sleeves), and there is a bit of risk in shrinking these shirts too much, as some other reviewers have pointed out. Shrinking shirts like these with heat can cause some undesirable results, as the various fabric pannels can shrink at different rates, especially where two different materials (i.e. like corduroy or synthetic seude and cotton flannel) are sewn back to back. This can lead to odd twisting and uneven seems, with pockets flaps and collars curling at the edges. I washed both size large shirts on the delicate cycle in cold water and then dried on the "air" dry setting for thirty minutes, which resulted in a damp shirt that I then hung to dry the rest of the way. The hung shirts dried completely overnight. There was no noticeable shrinkage when laundering in this way. If you generally launder everything in warm or hot water and dry on high heat, then I'd recommend going up a size if the size you usually wear will be too small if it shrinks. However, as I mentioned, laundering in this way seems like a fast way to ruin the shirt, if you ask me. Rather, I would recommend buying the size that fits you best out of the bag, and then launder according to the instructions, and air dry the shirt with no heat. Probably the best suggestion I can make is to buy these shirts in your regular size as well as one size up, and compare them. Hopefully this provides some perspective for people who are as confused by all the reviews as I was.
