A polo fits correctly when the shoulder seam sits on the edge of your shoulder bone, the body leaves roughly an inch of spare fabric at each side of the chest, the sleeve ends at mid bicep, and the hem falls to around the middle of your fly. A premium polo shirt is one that gets all four right on your body and keeps them through washing.
Check the fit at home, tags on
If you buy polo shirts online in Pakistan, your fitting room is the mirror at home. Try the shirt on the day it arrives, with the tags attached and the packaging kept, in the trousers you usually wear with it. COZY offers a 30-day exchange on unworn pieces with their tags, so a wrong size is a simple swap.
Keep the size chart next to you while you work through the checks below. If one of them fails, the chart tells you which size to exchange for.
COZY Men's Polo size chart
| Size | Length | Chest | Shoulder | Bottom | Sleeve length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | 26.75 | 21 | 16 | 21 | 8.5 |
| M | 27.75 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 9 |
| L | 28.75 | 23 | 18 | 23 | 9.5 |
| XL | 29.75 | 24 | 19 | 24 | 10.5 |
The shoulder seam decides everything else
The shoulder is the one point nothing else can compensate for. If the seam sits out on your arm, the sleeve hangs low and the shirt reads a size too big even when the chest is right. If it sits inside your shoulder, the back pulls every time you reach forward.
Stand square to the mirror with your arms down, then lift them halfway. The seam should stay roughly where it started. If it drags inward or the armhole binds, the shirt is too narrow across the back, and a bigger chest measurement will not solve it. On the chart the shoulder moves an inch per size, from 16 inches on a Small to 19 on an Extra Large, so one size is the whole correction.
A polo is knit, but it is cut like a tailored garment. A classic fit polo is regular fit by another name, which our guide to slim, regular, relaxed and oversized fit types covers in full.
Through the chest and the waist
Pinch the fabric at the side of your ribs. Roughly an inch of spare cloth on each side is right. Less and the placket pulls open when you sit down. That inch also earns its place in a humid Karachi summer, because a chest that grips starts to cling once you sweat.
COZY cuts the men's polo structured through the shoulders and chest with more room through the waist, so the hem hangs straight. The chart shows this in the numbers: chest and bottom measure the same inch for inch at every size, so the body runs clean rather than tapering in. A hem that kicks outward at the sides means the body is too narrow for your waist, and a bigger size only moves that problem up to your shoulders.
Where the sleeve should end
Mid bicep, and always above the elbow. A sleeve that reaches the elbow makes a polo read as a t-shirt. The opening should sit close to the arm without gripping it or standing away from it. Sleeve length on the chart runs from 8.5 inches on a Small to 10.5 on an Extra Large, measured from the shoulder seam.
The collar, the placket and the hem
The collar should lie flat across the front and stand slightly at the back of the neck, without riding up or folding outward at the points. The placket should lie closed whether you fasten it or not. If the fabric strains to stay shut, the chest is too tight.
The hem belongs around the middle of your fly. Shorter and it lifts out of your waistband when you move. Longer and the polo reads as a long tee. At that length it works untucked with jeans or chinos at the weekend, and tucked into classic fit pants for the office.
Why a premium polo shirt keeps its fit
Fit is a pattern decision. Keeping it is a fabric decision. The COZY Men's Polo is knit in piqué cotton with polyester and spandex, and the fabric is pre-shrunk. It does not shrink.
That matters more on a polo than on a tee. A tee that shrinks slightly still reads as a tee. A polo has a collar and a placket set into the body, so when the body moves, the collar stops sitting flat and the placket stops lying closed. It also means the numbers in the chart above still describe the shirt after it has been washed. Collar density, placket finish and seam quality are covered in our guide to what to check before you buy a polo. If you have not bought one yet, how to choose a men's polo shirt covers the decision itself.
The COZY Men's Polo is a classic tailored fit, cut and sewn in-house in Karachi. Our male model is 5 ft 11 and wears a Medium. It sits in the Polo Collection alongside the ladies rugby polo, which has its own size chart on its product page. Every COZY piece ships with a free string bag.
