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Comment by maroonblazer | Hacker News Reader

The catch with t-shirts is they MUST be made of high-quality material. I've been handed so many promotional t-shirts where it's obvious they went with the lowest-cost supplier and they just feel awful on against my skin. Straight to the Goodwill with those.

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I agree. The Gildan Heavyweight T-shirts are the kind you pick up at craft stores for $3-$4 a pop. But they tend to be stiff and too warm for my liking.

There are a variety of mid-level T-shirt brands (such as BELLA+CANVAS) that feel so much softer against the skin, no irritating seams, stand up to repeated washings, and are lighter-weight, meaning you can wear them as-is in the summer months, or under something else in the winter months, and it feels comfortable either way.

this is a very SWEng thing to say but I use plain colored t-shirts as a basic item unless there's a reason to dress up. during the fall/winter you can stack a columbia fleece vest on top (which does a great job keeping your body core warm without overheating you or impinging on your arm movement etc). this does a really good job being super comfortable for those with sensory issues etc, and generally looks more presentable than logo tees imo.

I really like the comfort colors heavyweight ones personally - this seems to be the one in my order history. They are plenty soft once you wash them especially if you run a few cycles with some fabric softener. The price isn't amazing right now (my history says $6.50-8 is more typical) but the site ships fast and doesn't care if you're commercial or don't want logos etc.

https://www.jiffyshirts.com/comfortcolors-C1717.html?ac=Whit...

Bella+Canvas shirts are great. Almost my entire wardrobe consists of Bella+Canvas shirts I picked up at conferences.

I used to get others but most of them are too scratchy or bad in some other way. I used to still get them "because they're free" but what's the point if I never wear them? I do have some extra large but scratchy shirts that are tolerable to wear.

I have a really good Datadog shirt that's not Bella+Canvas.

My experience with Bella+Canvas was that the ratio between the sleeves/shoulders and torso felt really disproportionate in a way that I haven't felt with most other shirts, so they don't really work for me. The material itself did feel nice though.

Just want to +1 Bella+Canvas. I look for 100% cotton, made in the US (insofar as possible) shirts and there aren't that many options, especially stylish ones, so BC has been a staple for me.

I have a bunch of running event t-shirts and they are almost all CANVAS; is that the same as BELLA+CANVAS? Because I love those shirts and wear them everywhere (to my wife’s annoyance).

Yes, I believe so. I loved an event t-shirt so much that I followed up with the organizer to track down the printer and their supplier, since the tag inside the t-shirt has no branding.

At the time, I thought BELLA+CANVAS only sold wholesale, but I now see a retail section on their website!

https://shop.bellacanvas.com/

There's also sites like https://www.blankapparel.com/ that will sell you individual blanks from quite a variety of brands (including Bella+Canvas).

Michaels carries their shirts as well as Gildan brand.

Thanks a TON! A few dollars a shirt is wonderful since I already know I love these, and I actually prefer unprinted.

Looks like there are individual sellers reselling Bella Canvas shirts and hoodies on Amazon for much cheaper, depending on your risk tolerance for Amazon sellers.

The retail store doesn't have the 3001's that I usually get; those are about twice the price on amazon than the other bulk sites. Probably worth it for one or two, but if you want a bulk amount it's worth buying at one of those sites.

I think this goes for anything. I have dozens of water bottles from conferences. I use the Yeti and some of the other nice ones. All the no-name stuff that feels cheap and smells like chemicals… never used them once.

I have a gift branded Yeti tumbler from a blue chip legal firm that I detest (way overpriced work) but it's also the nicest tumbler I have, so it gets the most use. One of these days I'll strip off the logo.

100% High quality t-shirts are a must, anything else gets used as a wash rag. Bonus points if the design isn't too corporate, and logs are a side affect.

My favorite t-shirt to this day is a Chef t-shirt I got at a conference.

What’s the best quality t shirt money can buy now?

I guess "The Bear" 80€ white t-shirt: https://merzbschwanen.com/blog/blog-good-news-1/merz-b-schwa...

why not straight to the trash. why would you feel that some article of clothing that is so poorly made that you refuse to wear it should be foisted upon someone else? this just feels like you trying to make yourself feel good without actually doing any good.

On the one hand, shoppers at GoodWill aren't there at gunpoint, being forced to empty their wallets. Nothing is being "foisted" on anyone.

On the other hand, in a sense many of them are, except instead of gunpoint it's economics that mean their clothing choices have a hard dollar limit on them - and at the end of the day, it's better to have a subpar t-shirt than no t-shirt at all.

So I don't think anyone is being hurt here. At worst, the person you're replying to could have done better by donating the shirts to a charity that doesn't sell the clothing, but gives it away.

Anyway, I hope you made yourself feel good with your comment, even if you didn't do any good.

Goodwill recycles a bunch of clothes, anyway. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-does-goodwill-do-with-yo...

and they throw away a ton of donations too. they have to, people use goodwill as the substitute for a dumpster, nobody wants your grease-stained metallica shirt with a couple 2" holes in it or the 200th set of hummels either.

Some random suggestions:

1. other people may not feel the same way about the material

2. somebody else one or two sizes smaller might be able to make routine use of it with some other garment underneath

3. somebody else might feel it's fine for emergency use or painting and decorating or whatever

4. could come in handy for use with an animal

Furthermore, in some places (e.g. MA), it's actually illegal to toss textiles in the trash. I'm sure no one cares with a garment here and there but if you have a couple of large trashbags you should probably be donating them.

Don't forget rags for in the shop, I love me some old t-shirts for that.

I've never had a t-shirt "feel bad against my skin". And I wear some pretty cheap t-shirts. I'll take 'em.

(Or "One man's trash is another man's treasure").

Maybe they'll wear it for painting. Or waxing the car.

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