In this hands-on Mizzen and Main shirts review, we look at fit, quality and style to figure out if this performance shirt brand is worth your money.

What if your dress shirt had the same properties as your running tops? What if it were moisture-wicking, body-skimming, and just better than cotton? Mizzen and Main (a.k.a., Mizzen+Main) performance dress shirts claim to offer that.

In this article, TMM reviewer Tony Gorga offers his experience with Mizzen and Main with a special emphasis on how the shirts fit a shorter-than-average guy.

About Mizzen and Main

Conceived in the mid-2000s by Kevin Lavelle, the idea originated from underarm sweat stains he saw on a Congressional staffer late for a meeting.

What if we could you, know, not have that? What if a dress shirt could be sweat-absorbing, stretchy, and comfortable to wear? What if you could also just throw it in the wash and not have to bother ironing it?

Why not just make it?

Many prototypes later, Lavelle and co-founder Web Smith launched Mizzen+Main in 2012 with a basic white dress shirt. The name comes from the “mizzen”, the mast aft (behind) the “main” sail on a sailing vessel.

Since then, the brand has ‘expanded’ its four-way-stretch to include three different dress shirt lines, short-sleeve shirts, casual shirts, polos, T-shirts, and henleys.

On the business end Lavelle, Smith, and their creative director Steven Dewitt grew the company quickly as well. Fueled by robust sales and private capital investment, they’re now found in over 750 stores nationwide.

Mizzen and Main also landed a variety of high-profile customers, including Mark Cuban, Drew Brees, and a number of other professional athletes. The company has also leveraged endorsements and partnerships with pro football player J.J. Watt and PGA Tour golfer Phil Mickelson.