Casual shirts for a short & stocky build

[CP96]

Ok, as the thread title says, I'm a pretty short and stocky guy looking for casual shirts. More specifically, I have a fairly broad chest and shoulders for my height but a short torso and narrow waist (height 5'7", chest 38, waist 32). Shirts that fit across the chest and shoulders are usually way too long and too baggy around the waist (even tailored cuts). Get the length right and they end up straining across the chest. Seriously, it's like modern off-the-shelf shirts are made exclusively for tall, skinny models with no real variety on offer for the massive variations in every-day real-life male bodies. I guess that womens' fashion has faced similar problems for a while as well. I like wearing shirts but right now I really can't find any that fit me.

I've tried taking shirts that fit across the chest and shoulders to get altered but there's two problems with this.
1 - Actual tailors are pretty expensive, and this is just for hard-wearing casual shirts that I don't want to spend lots of money on.
2 - dry cleaners are cheaper but I often mess up the measurements and in any case they can generally only make shirts shorter, not faff about with taking the waist in.

Does anybody know of any particular brands that are good for a shorter, muscular build? Cheers.

[PintsizeBro]

I've actually had quite good luck with Express, actually. I know they're not cheap, but they tend to look good on me. And they do have a nice line of shirts made from very slightly stretchy material for a good fit.

Of course, it has been a few years since I bought shirts there, so take this with a grain of salt.

[Conreezy]

Express and Calvin Klein have very slim cuts that cut into the waist while having some room for the shoulders. (I think CK calls it Extreme Slim or something.) They're usually longer, however, as they're supposed to be tucked in, and the Express shirts aren't of very good quality.

I have measurements not too far off from yours. Personally, I buy shirts that fit my shoulders and have the waists altered. I trust the tailor who does it because I've gone to her multiple times. Sure, I've also gone with bad tailors and ruined shirts with shoddy work, but after getting over the learning curve and finding someone I like, I find the results worth the effort.

As for the money, I take the cost of the alterations into account with the cost of the garment, so I never buy something I can't afford to have altered.

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