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Who makes good quality t-shirts?

Kleinfeld

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I am looking for plain and simple slim fit t-shirts, in white or grey, to wear underneath V neck sweaters. But everything I buy at the department store is crap. I am looking for good quality t-shirts , so the neck does not get deformed with use etc.
 

mogili222

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I have had really good experience with the legend wash slim fit Ts from Eddie Bauer..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
 

Gauss17

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I have had really good experience with the legend wash slim fit Ts from Eddie Bauer..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus


These are very nice, but thicker than typical T-shirts in my experience. This can obviously be a pro or a con.

I am also a big fan of J. Crew T-shirts.
 
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brokeassp

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where to get said vulva shirts? Not seeing them via google
 

Kleinfeld

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Thanks, that´s a lot of options, I wonder what´s the difference in quality, Uniglo for example cost ten dollars and the t-shirts from mister freedom cost like 80 dollars.
 

eskamobob1

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Thanks, that´s a lot of options, I wonder what´s the difference in quality, Uniglo for example cost ten dollars and the t-shirts from mister freedom cost like 80 dollars.

There are quite huge diferences between those two in particular. The first (and most important IMO) is the fabric. The MF skivvy T uses an extremely durable and rather thick all high quality cotton tubular knit fabric (NOTE: it is not loopwheel, but still has a solid number of the benefits). It can take quite a beating, but because it is made to be durable it does not have as good of a drape as something like an APC T. The Uniqlo uses a much lower end cotton and is also rather thin. As such it probabaly has a slightly better drape, but wont be as durable. The second difference is the construction. The skivy T (IIRC) uses triple needle sitching and flay locked seams, once again, making it crazy durable. It is likely tied for the most tank of a T I have ever laid my hands on with TFH's Heavy Cut. Uniqlos Ts use a much more standard construction method (that is cheaper to do) and as such are not able to take as much of a beating. Truly, these two shirts are not in the same division, much the less the same league.

All of this said, here comes the part I dont like to admit. To the majority of people, super high end Ts (MF, TFH, Outlier, etc.) are not worth it. Most people simply dont care about owning the same T for a decade or that their shirt was produced solely in developed countries where all workers are receiving a fair wage, or if it was made by craftsmen that have been doing this for the entire lives and are extremely good at it. Now if these are things that matter to you, welcome to the high end market, but to most, they simply dont. I would consider all of these things, do some more research, and think on it quite a bit before you drop $100 on a T
 

Made in California

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There are quite huge diferences between those two in particular. The first (and most important IMO) is the fabric. The MF skivvy T uses an extremely durable and rather thick all high quality cotton tubular knit fabric (NOTE: it is not loopwheel, but still has a solid number of the benefits). It can take quite a beating, but because it is made to be durable it does not have as good of a drape as something like an APC T. The Uniqlo uses a much lower end cotton and is also rather thin. As such it probabaly has a slightly better drape, but wont be as durable. The second difference is the construction. The skivy T (IIRC) uses triple needle sitching and flay locked seams, once again, making it crazy durable. It is likely tied for the most tank of a T I have ever laid my hands on with TFH's Heavy Cut. Uniqlos Ts use a much more standard construction method (that is cheaper to do) and as such are not able to take as much of a beating. Truly, these two shirts are not in the same division, much the less the same league.

All of this said, here comes the part I dont like to admit. To the majority of people, super high end Ts (MF, TFH, Outlier, etc.) are not worth it. Most people simply dont care about owning the same T for a decade or that their shirt was produced solely in developed countries where all workers are receiving a fair wage, or if it was made by craftsmen that have been doing this for the entire lives and are extremely good at it. Now if these are things that matter to you, welcome to the high end market, but to most, they simply dont. I would consider all of these things, do some more research, and think on it quite a bit before you drop $100 on a T


I really liked your post here and it makes me feel like looking up a lot of the manufacturing techniques you mentioned that I'm completely ignorant about. However I feel in an effort to be complete you missed a couple important aspects. I've got a few shirts at that price point ($100+) that when I bought them, I thought "I'm buying this for the design, and am aware I am totally overpaying in regards to quality". That being said, I am really happy with the result. The higher-end tees, in addition to having a better fit, retain their color really well. They don't get faded when they go through the wash and even a grey tee has a slight sheen that emanates quality in way that an AA tee simply doesn't - it's like comparing RLPL polos to the Polo line. I used to love my AA tees until I got a few that were nicer and I feel I didn't know what I was missing.

Question: Is there a way to strike a balance? Like having a very thick, durable tee that also has elastane in it to give it a more sleek look or would that decrease in durability brought on by the rubber inserted into it completely defeat the purpose? Because one qualm I have is that I have tees that either are thick and durable and I never wear because the fit isn't appealing, or I have tees made out of more luxurious fabrics whose inevitable short lifespan involving too many trips through the washing machine or getting snagged on something makes me sad. Certainly there's a way to have both. :satisfied:

where to get said vulva shirts? Not seeing them via google


Omg vulva sheen... Hilarious typo
 

eskamobob1

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I really liked your post here and it makes me feel like looking up a lot of the manufacturing techniques you mentioned that I'm completely ignorant about. However I feel in an effort to be complete you missed a couple important aspects. I've got a few shirts at that price point ($100+) that when I bought them, I thought "I'm buying this for the design, and am aware I am totally overpaying in regards to quality". That being said, I am really happy with the result. The higher-end tees, in addition to having a better fit, retain their color really well. They don't get faded when they go through the wash and even a grey tee has a slight sheen that emanates quality in way that an AA tee simply doesn't - it's like comparing RLPL polos to the Polo line. I used to love my AA tees until I got a few that were nicer and I feel I didn't know what I was missing.

Question: Is there a way to strike a balance? Like having a very thick, durable tee that also has elastane in it to give it a more sleek look or would that decrease in durability brought on by the rubber inserted into it completely defeat the purpose? Because one qualm I have is that I have tees that either are thick and durable and I never wear because the fit isn't appealing, or I have tees made out of more luxurious fabrics whose inevitable short lifespan involving too many trips through the washing machine or getting snagged on something makes me sad. Certainly there's a way to have both. :satisfied:


I'll tackle this one :).

Unfortunately, like most things, there will always be a trade off. For cotton shirts I find that the spectrum is from fit to durability.

Now this is not to say that you cannot get shirts with a solid fit and good durability, but neither one will be simply fantastic. The reason for this is, for a shirt to have a good fit and drape it needs to be on the thinner side. It also needs a loose weave material so that it can bend and sway. Unfortunately, the highest durability shirts will always be made of a thick material with a tighter weave as that kind of material is what is the more resistant to tears and snags.

Here are some of the construction techniques and buzz words that are commonly used and what they do.

Terry knit:
This is just the common form of kitting used in shirts. It often creates a high tension weave and is capable of being both one of the thickest styles of shirt knits to one of the thinnest. Because of the high tension they do have a bit of a habit to deform slightly (in a similar way to denim leg twist) but it is typically minimal at best.

Tubular knit:
This is a huge category with many different techniques within it. All it means is that the fabric was knit in a tube and most of the time will mean no side seams. They are often a boot looser of a weave than terry knit, but not always.

Loopwheel:
This is a very specific form of a tubular knit. It is unfortunately extremely slow, and as such, quite expensive. Currently, all known true loopwheel machines still in existence are in japan. Because the only force on the fabric is it's own weight, loopwheel cloth has an extremely loose weave and is able to revert back to it original shape easily. What this also mean is that they will shrink a lot (as in 3" in length) with the first wash (many wash before sale though so check that out).

Over all a loopwheel shirt will most commonly be a thinner material with a solid drape. Because of the extremely loose weave, it will also be rather durable and snags will come out easily. It is probably the best middle ground that I know of.

Triple/double/single needle stitching:

So basically triple needle stitching is when 3 rows of seams are all sewn at the same time. Double is two (and no very common) and single is one. Triple stitched seams and collars will be extremely strong, but are over kill most of the time. It is kind of a novelty thing tbh.

Now there is a caveat. Single needle construction (when advertised as such) means a much higher attention to detail. That is because they are focusing on a single seam at a time. They will often have 3 seams on the collar as a triple needle would, but each stitch done separately. As a general rule single needle construction does mean slightly higher quality.

Wool Ts:
Here is an interesting on. Merino wool Ts have all the awesome properties of wool. They stay warm when wet, they wick moisture, they stay cool in the heat, and very commonly they are thin and have a solid drape. I recommend everyone look into them at some point. The entry level would be the REI icebreaker, and the higher end would be outliers. I would give them a look

Note:
A bit of a note of the color fastness. Different companies care different amounts about it. Most loop wheel Ts will hold color well, but things like rising sun and MF will often be not as color fast of purpose. The idea if fading color is a bit of their appeal.
 
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