When it comes to the best T-shirts for men, the gap between a forgettable cotton tube and something you will still be reaching for in a decade is enormous, and navigating that gap takes real knowledge. The team at GQ has done the legwork, testing and debating their way through the market to land on 13 essential picks and eight deeper cuts worth knowing about.
Why Your T-Shirt Choice Actually Matters
The T-shirt sits at the base of every wardrobe. Get it wrong and the whole kit suffers. Get it right and you barely need anything else: a well-chosen tee with a pair of rugged blue jeans is a complete outfit, full stop. The variables that separate a great tee from a mediocre one are material, construction, and fit, in that order. A dense, opaque cotton with even stitching and a shoulder seam that lands on the bone will outlast and outperform a cheaper rival every time.
GQ’s pick for the best overall tee is the Uniqlo Supima Cotton T-Shirt at £25. The fabric is 100% Supima cotton, knit into a mid-weight jersey that the GQ team describes as more durable and silkier than regular cotton. The classic fit is cut long enough to tuck but short enough to wear untucked, and it runs from XXS to 3XL. For the price, it is difficult to fault.
At the other end of the budget, the Gildan Hammer T-Shirt sits at around £12 (sale price) and offers a 100% US ring-spun cotton mid-weight jersey in a straight fit from S to 4XL. It will not feel silky, but it will cost you less than a cinema ticket and it will not fall apart. For anyone stocking up on basics, building a streetwear label, or just needing a reliable everyday tee without ceremony, the Gildan is the honest answer.
The Best T-Shirts for Men When Budget Is No Object
Lady White Co.’s Our T-Shirt at $110 (around £87 depending on exchange) is the standout upgrade pick. Made from 100% US cotton using tube-knit construction, it is produced within a few miles of itself in Southern California. The GQ team notes it took nearly a decade of regular wear before a replacement was needed, which makes the price easier to justify over time.
For those who want something genuinely dressy, the Stòffa Cotton and Silk-Blend Pique Tee takes the category. At 56% cotton and 44% silk, knit into a piqué fabric and cut in an oversized silhouette, it sits at $395 (currently discounted to $237). It is the kind of tee that gets worn as the lead garment, not tucked under a jacket.
The Merz B. Schwanen 215 T-Shirt, at $115, holds a specific appeal for anyone obsessed with vintage menswear. The tee became widely known through its appearance in the television series The Bear. What lifts it beyond cultural cache is the manufacturing behind it: according to Merz b. Schwanen, the shirt is loopwheeled in Germany, using restored vintage loopwheel knitting machines that produce cotton jersey using the tension of gravity at an excruciatingly slow pace by modern standards. The result is a dense, soft, seamless-torso tee at 245 GSM, in 100% organic cotton. You are paying for the process as much as the product.
For those prioritising sustainability, the Everybody.World Trash Tee at $40 is worth attention. Each tee is made from upcycled cotton fibres collected from factory waste, knit on tubular machines without side seams, and produced in Los Angeles. The brushed hand is softer than the name suggests.
Material Choices Worth Understanding
Beyond standard cotton, two materials stand out at the performance and comfort ends of the spectrum. Outlier’s Ultrafine Merino One Cut Tee at $150 uses a 2-ply, 16.5-micron merino wool that naturally regulates temperature, wicks moisture, and resists odour without synthetic additions, at 190 GSM. CDLP’s Midweight T-Shirt at $125 takes a different route: 67% Tencel lyocell and 33% pima cotton, producing what GQ describes as the silkiest tee they have encountered. Lyocell, derived from wood pulp, is lightweight, breathable, and naturally anti-microbial.
For heavyweight wear, Buck Mason’s Field-Spec Cotton Heavy Tee at $62 comes in at 310 GSM in 100% cotton jersey, with a slightly cropped classic fit available in tall sizes. GQ notes it has drawn more unsolicited compliments than any other tee in the wardrobe, which, for a plain cotton T-shirt, is about as good a real-world endorsement as exists.
GQ senior commerce editor Avidan Grossman makes the case plainly for the Calvin Klein Cotton T-Shirt as the best undershirt pick: ‘Fellas, not every shirt needs to moisture wick or odour block. If you just want an undershirt that gets the job done, don’t overthink it.’ At $65 for a five-pack, the 100% cotton, lightweight straight-fit tee cuts through every trend in the category without apology.
The Velva Sheen Pocket Tee rounds out the core list at $100 for a two-pack, made from 100% US cotton jersey on tube-knit machines in Los Angeles, with a vintage-style fit: higher sleeve cap, shorter sleeve, classic straight silhouette. It is the pick for anyone chasing that particular found-in-a-box feel without actually digging through a charity shop.
