Vastrm Aims to Make Bad-Fitting Menswear a Thing of the Past

Guys, have you ever purchased clothes online, waited for your orders eagerly, then ended up being disappointed because they didn't fit as well as you had hoped? How many times have you had to return ill-fitting garments? Or perhaps, you've given up on shopping online for apparel altogether? All hope is not lost, however; there's a new company that's looking to put an end to men's online clothes shopping woes.

Fresh out of Y Combinator's summer 2012 class, Vastrm (pronounced vas' trum) is a clothing company that offers mass customization of menswear, starting with polo shirts. Vastrm, which means “cloth” in Sanskrit, was founded by Jonathan Tang, whose family has been in the fabric business for years. Tang got the idea for the company when a customer told him about a perfect shirt he had bought in Italy. The customer has never been able to find a shirt that fit as nicely and was even thinking about returning to Italy just to hunt the manufacturer down.

As a Vastrm client, you start by taking a short quiz, entering your measurements and body type to determine your Vastrm Fit ID. The company will then send you two to three sample shirts to try on for free. Afterwards, you can go back to the site and make any necessary adjustments to the sleeve length, waist, bottom hem, and so on. Once your Vastrm Fit ID has been finalized, you can begin designing your own shirt by choosing the fabric, collar, pocket, cuff, side vents, and placket types. Or you can select from the several pre-designed styles that are already available on the Vastrm website. Customized shirts will take about three weeks to arrive on your doorstep.

According to Tang, Vastrm will be adding more shirt styles to its inventory over the next 6 to 12 months.