The Best T-Shirts for Men
A plain t-shirt is the hardest thing in a man's wardrobe to get right, and most brands fail in at least one dimension: the neckline collapses after six washes, the fabric pills by winter, or the fit is cut for a body type that doesn't exist outside a mood board. This guide covers the pieces that passed all three tests, across two categories: the tees and basics worth owning, and the shirts worth spending real money on. The shortlist is short on purpose. Everything here has been scored by Loopwheel, and nothing below an 8.1 made the cut.
The Tees & Basics
The why behind each pick, how to choose between them, and what to look for is free with an account.
The Short Sleeve Rugby Shirt in Port Stripe
Taylor Stitch's Short Sleeve Rugby in Port Stripe is a 12-oz organic cotton knit with rubber buttons and reinforced underarms at $98, which is either a fair price for a shirt built to survive real use or a lot for a rugby shirt, depending on how hard you wear your clothes.
Taylor Stitch's 10 oz. seed stitch waffle crew runs $78, holds its neck shape after repeat washing better than most, and is worth knowing about if you're building around overshirts this season, with a minor caveat on garment-dye sizing consistency.
Buck Mason's Venice Wash Slub Tee is 145 GSM Supima cotton, cut and sewn at the brand's own Pennsylvania mill, and it costs $48.
Taylor Stitch's Pacific Polo arrives pre-washed in rinsed indigo, cuts regular and true to size, and at $98 for GOTS-certified organic cotton pique it asks almost nothing of you while giving most of what you want from a warm-weather polo.
Reigning Champ's $75 Solotex Mesh Tiebreak tee is made in Vietnam rather than Vancouver, scores a 2/10 on the loud-to-subtle scale, and travels better than most things in your bag.
The Shirts
Whiting - Blue And Ecru Oran Check Overshirt
Wax London's Whiting overshirt in a French-woven oran check is $235, true to size, and bold enough that the pattern is doing most of the work — which, at this construction level, it earns the right to do.
The Conimbriga is a $180 cotton shirt from a fourth-generation Portuguese mill family, with mother of pearl buttons and a regular cut that runs true, and it scores a 9 out of 10 on make quality without once asking you to care about its heritage.
Portuguese Flannel's Dots camp shirt in navy is a $269 dobby-weave shirt made by a fourth-generation Guimarães textile family, with mother of pearl buttons and a dot pattern that reads as texture at close range and as a statement from across a room.
Portuguese Flannel's Summer Boucle is a 100% cotton camp-collar shirt made in Guimarães from a family mill dating to 1935, with shell mother-of-pearl buttons and a green boucle texture that registers immediately as deliberate, at $188.
Taylor Stitch's Hawthorne Shirt in Blue Pin Dot Dobby is a 7-oz. garment-washed organic cotton camp collar with felled seams and a flat hem, at $148, it's one of the more honestly constructed options in a crowded category.
Why each piece made the shortlist, how to choose between them, and what to look for. Create a free account to read it all and tune the picks to your taste.
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