There’s A Reason These T-Shirts Have Luxury-Level Price Tags

New York City is known for a few things: bagels, coffee, and, I would argue, a T-shirt that actually fits well. I’m talking about the shirts made by the city’s most discerning cotton obsessives — people who have taken it upon themselves to perfect what might be the most universal garment in the modern wardrobe. The T-shirt represents the idea that something can be luxurious but quotidian, rather than just fancy or rare. When everyone’s wearing some variation of a T-shirt-and-jeans uniform, the minute differences become even more interesting: the weight of the cotton, the sleeve length, or even the sliver of stomach that shows when you raise your arms. These are the new status symbols.Given the high stakes, I conducted a little market research with some of the best and brightest people wearing tees today. Whether designed here, printed here, or simply beloved by many, I sourced the top-tier tees from the metropole’s most opinionated dressers. Most cost upwards of $50, which is a lot to ask of something you might mainly wear just to do laundry. But the question isn’t necessarily whether these tees qualify as capital-L luxury, but what they do to redefine it. The three camps are these: the true boxy classics, the not-so-quiet luxury contenders, and the indie upstarts. As a lifelong skeptic of the plain tee, I hate to say that I was wrong. Although bruised, my ego has never felt more comfortable. The True Boxy ClassicsLQQK Studio BlanksAlex Dondero from LQQK Studio isn’t particularly interested in fashion; he’s interested in a good ass shirt. There’s a difference! The Brooklyn print studio, sometimes referred to as the Graham Avenue Garment District for its rep as a go-to for custom in-house printed tees, got its start in the 2010s printing posters and merchandise for bands. Eventually, Dondero founded LQQK Studio to scale up the more popular prints he put on tees.His favorite “blank” (or plain) T-shirt to print on of all time? The AlStyle 1301, a wholesale classic whose tubular-knit construction means it’s made like a sock rather than sewn together from two separate panels. That absence of side seams matters more than one might think, or at least to heads like Dondero. “The tubular knit is going to stretch and fill in all the negative spaces in the right way,” he tells me over the phone. LQQK itself prints on the Los Angeles Apparel 1801GS, a heavyweight, garment-dyed blank that Dondero considers something of a contemporary industry standard. “That is the shirt that has redefined what a wholesale blank, at least quality-wise, should be,” he says. The philosophy is refreshingly unromantic. Dondero believes that an excellent, readily available wholesale blank can beat an expensive small-batch cut-and-sew shirt. And for people who prefer the washed-a-million-times vintage tee feel, I’d agree. Who it’s for: That guy who totally would frontside half-cab that little curb if his knees didn’t sound like ASMR of someone eating potato chips. Or, anyone who wants custom tees batched at the highest quality.Everybody.World — Heavyweight Boxier Trash Tee, $49The Everybody.World Trash Tee is basically the ethically sourced Hanes Beefy-T of my dreams. Heavy enough to survive multiple washes but comfortable enough to wear, and with added guiltlessness because it’s made from 100% reclaimed cotton waste. The Boxier Trash Tee is also a tubular knit, which gives it that seamless, substantial quality I feel defines a proper blank. It hangs away from the body in the best way and only improves with age like my favorite Hanes Beefy. There’s a whole family of Trash Tees, but the Boxier and the Classic are standouts. At $48 and $46 respectively, these are thoughtfully made T-shirts that you could call, dare I say, pieces. Who it’s for: The crunchier post-normcore Millennials and Millennial sympathizers who romanticize cool-dad normcore. Or an actual cool dad. Not-So-Quiet LuxuryLeset — Margo Tee, $78 / Margo Longsleeve tee, $88 People can’t seem to shut up about the Leset Margo because it might actually be the T-shirt equivalent of the magic jeans from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. As in, somehow, this tee works on everyone. The magic is in the proportions. The crewneck sits right where it should, and the sleeves don’t pinch or hang. On-body, too, the silhouette lands somewhere between a snatched fitted tee and a baggy one. I’ve been wearing mine the way I would a Hanes multipack crewneck: underneath Oxford shirts, tucked into little skirts, and as a third-space garment to do my laundry. It’s basically the fancier, scaled-up version of a shirt I already own. Is it better, wear-wise, than the men’s Hanes crewneck multipack? As a woman with a more feminine body shape, yes. But that’s because the Margo is a true cut-and-sew made from a softer cotton. It’s kind of like a pre-customized Hanes tee with higher quality fabrics, so you don’t have to over-wear your tees or wash them a million times to get to the excellence of the Margo. I think that’s this tee’s greatest strength. If I were to recommend one version, though, I’d go for the long-sleeve. It’s more versatile, especially for layering, and looks particularly good beneath the short-sleeved Margo. Who it’s for: Both the best and worst person you’ve ever met at pilates. Both are impeccably dressed. Nu Swim — Organic Cotton Daily Tee, $88Real ones remember the original Nu Swim Baby Tee. I certainly do, which is why I approached its replacement, the Organic Cotton Daily Tee, with a little bit of suspicion.The newer version feels slightly slimmer, with a carefully considered cut-and-sew construction handmade in New York City. That local production helps explain the $88 price tag, as does the organic cotton fine-rib fabric, which, like the old baby tee, is my preferred degree of softness.The neckline also takes a huge W, with a three-quarter-inch binding that gives substantial opening without being too wide. These are the kinds of details I look for that you can’t get in a multipack.I’m still an original Baby Tee purist, but there’s something to be said for a shirt that reveals exactly a sliver of lower abdomen when paired with low- or mid-rise bottoms.Who it’s for: People who call the stuff in their bags “everyday carries.”The Indie UpstartsEthereal Archetype — White V-Neck, $115The V-neck has had a strange fashion life. Once a defining feature of the going-out shirt, then a casualty of the deep-V menswear era, it’s spent the past several years relegated to a kind of shame. But not to Denée Francis, founder of Ethereal Archetype — an indie brand that, in my opinion, makes the best V-neck. “I spent a year perfecting it, making a ton of drafts. Wide shoulders, small waist, sexy biceps,” Francis says. “Drops like perfectly an inch or two below the pubes. It’s deep — if you have chest hair, this is for you. If you don’t, this is for you. This is a sexy-ass fitted tee.” Luxury, for Francis, comes from the wearer, and I agree having worn her V-neck to work, dinner, out, then back to work again the next day because I slept over at my boyfriend’s house. It’s the kind of V-neck that can support that kind of wear, not just because of the 96% cotton 4% lycra composition, but also because the thick trim that makes the V-neck, well, a V-neck performs almost like athletic wear. While not “luxury” in the fashion industry sense, this tee feels like a luxury to wear, which is arguably the whole point. It “even hits the mark for what would even be considered a ‘luxury commercial product,’” Francis says, referring to the production behind her $115 tee. And having bought one, it’s one of the few products in this lineup that has actually changed my mind. Who’s it for: The absolute baddest of the bad who attends underground functions you have to find out about on Telegram.Oksana Worns — The Clasp Tee in Engorged, $118Liana Satenstein, former Vogue editor, current proprietor of the excellent personal Substack Neverworns, and now founder of Oksana Worns, has essentially made and scaled the long-sleeve she wanted to see in the world: the Clasp Tee, an easy cotton staple with a little hardware detail that gives it all the appeal of a blouse. More specifically, it’s the shirt she wanted to wear repeatedly without having to take it to the dry cleaner.The idea came from a laundry disaster. Satenstein had a favorite top with a particular cut and clasp detail, which accidentally ended up in a hot wash and dryer (RIP). Rather than replacing it with another delicate garment, she decided to make her own, this time with machine washability as a nonnegotiable.“I have a kid now, so I really can’t wear a lot of these precious things that I like out in the world all the time,” Satenstein tells me. And she’s right. Fashion has spent so long romanticizing clothes that require special treatment that we’ve somehow forgotten how incredible it is to own something that doesn’t. “The T-shirt is fashion’s attempt at curing the common cold,” Satenstein adds.The Clasp is pretty close to a cure. I’ve worn mine with sweatpants and fancy skirts and kept wearing it until hygiene concerns finally forced me to wash it. For Satenstein, the project is an extension of the way she already gets dressed rather than an attempt to invent some new fashion-girl persona. The product is personal, but the practicality is universal.Who it’s for: Any girl who has ever played MyScene personal-style computer games. Also, every fashion writer and editor in New York City.Plain Jane NYC — The Shortie Tee, $78If there’s one T-shirt in this entire experiment that I’d confidently recommend to just about anyone, it’s Plain Jane NYC’s Shortie Tee.The New York-based brand has approached the cotton T-shirt like an engineering problem, which, frankly, is how more people should be approaching clothes. Its tees come in sizes 2XS through 4XL, and sizing up or down actually changes the way you can wear them without completely destroying the proportions.The real selling point, though, is the range of cuts. There’s the Cap Sleeve, the Shortie, and the Short Sleeve, each with a slightly different relationship to the torso and upper arm. All are available in black and white, and you can customize your own multipacks on the brand’s website. The shirts are made from 100% American-sourced Supima cotton and assembled in New York City. The fabric is exceptionally soft, but the fit is what really does it for me. The Shortie is my perfect crop. It hits exactly where I want a T-shirt to hit. Of the cut-and-sew tees, this is my personal favorite. Not because it’s the fanciest or most expensive, but because it's the one I keep wanting to wear.Who it’s for: Everyone you’ve ever met, ever.