Every small apparel brand, us included, describes its tees with the same three words. It's worth knowing what they actually mean before you spend $33 on a shirt, because they tell you how the shirt will fit, how it will feel on day one, and how it will change over the first month.
Weight
Tee weight is the fabric's weight per square yard. A standard promo tee, the kind you get at a 5K, is around 5 to 5.3 ounces. "Heavyweight" starts around 6 ounces and runs up to 7.5 for the boxy streetwear stuff. Our solid tees and long sleeves sit in the 6-ounce-plus range: heavy enough to hang straight and hide what's underneath, light enough to wear in a Charleston September. A heavier tee holds its shape at the collar longer, drapes instead of clinging, and takes a print better because the surface is denser.
Garment-dyed vs garment-washed
Most tees are made from fabric that's dyed on a roll, then cut and sewn. A garment-dyed tee is cut and sewn first, in undyed cotton, and then the finished shirt is dyed. That's why garment-dyed shirts have that slightly uneven, lived-in color and why the seams are usually a hair darker than the body: the dye pools there. Comfort Colors built a whole business on it.
A variation called pigment dye uses a pigment that coats the outside of the fiber instead of soaking in. It gives you the faded vintage look right away, and it fades a bit more over time, which some people love and some don't.
Garment-washed is the finishing step, not the dye. After the shirt is sewn (and dyed, if it's garment-dyed), it goes through a wash with softeners or enzymes that break down the stiff surface fibers. The result is a shirt that feels like it's been through the laundry a dozen times before you ever put it on. It also takes most of the shrinkage out before you buy it. A garment-washed heavyweight tee will typically shrink 2 or 3 percent max with normal care, versus noticeably more for a raw, unwashed cotton tee.
Our tees are heavyweight, garment-washed cotton. Expect a little color variation shirt to shirt in the Sand and Military Green especially. That's the process, not a defect, and it's why two people wearing the same shirt don't look like a uniform.
Sizing
These run true to size with a relaxed, not boxy, cut. If you're between sizes and you like a tee to hang, go up. If you want it to sit closer, stay where you are. The long sleeve is the same body with a longer sleeve and a ribbed cuff. 2XL and 3XL are $3 more, which is what the blank costs us, not a markup.
How to break one in
A garment-washed tee is already most of the way there, but the first few washes still matter.
Wash it inside out, cold, on a normal cycle with a regular amount of mild detergent. Cold keeps the color and the print. Inside out protects the chest mark and the back print from rubbing against zippers and jeans.
Skip fabric softener. It coats the fibers and makes a heavyweight tee feel greasy over time. If you want it softer faster, add half a cup of white vinegar to the rinse instead. It smells like vinegar for about four minutes and then it doesn't.
Dry it low, or hang it. High heat is what shrinks cotton and cracks prints. Tumble low, or pull it out damp and hang it on a hanger with the shoulders squared. Three or four washes in, the shirt is broken in. Ten washes in, it's the one you reach for.
Don't do the sandpaper thing. There's a whole internet of people scuffing tees with pumice stones to fake age. On a shirt with a print, that's how you take the print off. Salt-water soaks and vinegar are fine. Abrasives are not.
Care for the print
The duck mark on the chest and the ACE WATERFOWL across the back are printed, not embroidered, so they move with the fabric. Inside-out washing and low heat are the two things that keep a print sharp. If you ever iron the shirt, iron it inside out and skip the print.
The solid tees are $33 in Sand, Military Green, and Black. The long sleeves are $40 in the same three. The Mossy Oak tees are the same shirt in licensed Bottomland and Treestand for $40. All on preorder; the first run ships in 6 to 8 weeks.