It should be so easy to find the perfect button-down shirt. All you’re asking for is good fabric, a nice fit, seams that are pucker-free and buttons that don’t fall off before you even get home from the store, right?

Why is it that if you’re a woman, the shirt inevitably gaps at the bust-line, and if you’re a guy, the sleeves or neck never really fit just so? Then there are the issues of cleaning: When the shirt shrinks, those dreaded puckers pop up, the garment is a wrinkled mess after drying, and the color fades — or if white, yellows.

Clothing designers and manufacturers have thrown themselves at this issue, and we’re happy to report that there have been improvements lately on a number of these fronts.

Props in the women’s department go first and foremost to Rochelle Behrens, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist who turned her attention to matters of clothing after tiring of the dreaded bust-line gap she had in her daily uniform of suits worn with button-down shirts. The product she introduced a year ago, The Shirt (the-shirt.com), has several hidden buttons on the placket that keep the blouse fastened, an invention both simple and ingenious.

There are 10 buttons on up the front of her designs, compared with seven or eight on a normal woman’s shirt. The Shirt became a big hit after being touted by Oprah Winfrey as a “must-have” for 2011, and retailers like Molly’s of Denver are carrying the designs, which sell for about $95. “It’s not the most expensive shirt we sell, but it’s very popular because women like the fit,” said store owner Molly Broeren.

In addition to its “dual-button technology,” The Shirt has a little bit of stretch in it, another selling point. Behrens has been so successful that she’s adding new styles and fabrics that will be in stores soon.

While retailers like Banana Republic are offering stretch in some of their men’s shirts, a bigger selling point lately is wrinkle-resistance. Companies ranging from L.L. Bean to Banana Republic are making their men’s button-downs easy to wear, clean and wear again with minimal effort. L.L. Bean claims on its website that customers can give the shirt “a quick spin in the dryer” between wearings to freshen up the garment.

This is discouraging news for dry cleaners and launderers everywhere, but it’s welcomed by consumers. Savvy shoppers would sooner spend a little money at the outset than pay for a shirt over and over again at the cleaners. Even better, the Bean Wrinkle-Resistant Classic Oxford Cloth Shirt is $34.95, a price that won’t break the bank for working guys.

Consumer Reports magazine last year tested five shirts for their no-iron claims and deemed a “best buy” J.C. Penney’s Stafford Signature, $30. “It looked smooth right out of the dryer and has an interesting detail: a gusset on the tail to prevent seams from separating when pulled,” says the magazine.

But men in search of the perfect shirt are setting the bar a little higher and going custom. Hil Davis, chief executive of J. Hilburn, says he’s seeing an uptick in his custom shirt business and claims to have sold more than 60,000 such shirts in 2010. There are three types of customers, he says: those already buying custom in suits, so it’s only logical they start ordering shirts made to order; guys who have thought about it but are price-sensitive; and guys who have never thought of it because they think it will be too expensive. But with many better men’s shirts selling for $60-$100 in department and specialty stores, it’s not a stretch to spend $90-$160 to have one custom made to your exact specifications, Hilburn says. “We’ve made custom affordable; it’s luxury within reach.”

The selling points? J. Hilburn offers 250 choices of fabric, and there are 14 different collar types to choose from. Customers also get to pick the pocket and cuff styles. A “style adviser” comes to your office or home to do the measurements and the turnaround time is a month or less.

A custom touch

While spending a lot of money on a shirt doesn’t guarantee it will fit you perfectly and last a lifetime, the old adage that you get what you pay for can be true. Craig Taylor, an automotive designer who turned his attention to apparel 19 years ago, specializes in women’s shirts sold at stores like Neiman Marcus. His clientele includes such celebrities as Katie Couric, Courteney Cox and Hillary Clinton, women who don’t flinch at spending $200 on shirts made of silks and printed cottons from Italian mills.

Taylor offers ways to spot quality tailoring in a shirt. Better shirts will have 16-18 stitches per inch along cuffs, collars and the placket rather than 10-12 on an average shirt. And there are the details that aren’t as easy to see, but you might be able to feel or discern if you have a sewing background or a sharp salesperson to point them out: fused linings, lock stitching rather than chain stitching, side seam gussets for reinforcement, and cross-stitched buttons.

“Feel the fabric — it should have a nice ‘hand,’ ” Taylor says. “I love going to the mills and spending days picking out the fabrics for each collection.”

For Taylor, a shirt is more than utilitarian. It’s a form of expression, a mood, an attitude. “I started in menswear, but women’s is more fun because I love beautiful fabrics and I like the way women shop. They’re more open and want variety — something to wear out, something to wear with jeans.”

The perfect shirt.