‘The simplest, coolest item in your wardrobe’: 14 of the best white T-shirts for men
Fabric, fit, weight and drape – there’s more to picking the perfect tee than meets the eye. Our menswear expert rounds up his favourites
I didn’t think about Marlon Brando when I got dressed this morning. Or James Dean or Steve McQueen, for that matter. But every time you pull a white T-shirt over your head, they’re the ones you should have in the back of your mind.
Before they came along, a white T-shirt was just underwear. They made the silhouette cultural shorthand for effortless style and, ever since, it’s been the simplest – and coolest – thing in every wardrobe. These days, Jacob Elordi’s off-duty wardrobe usually consists of a white T-shirt – whether that’s under a cardigan, tucked into tailored trousers, or just visible at the hem of a zipped-up work jacket.
Finding the perfect white T-shirt can be harder than it looks – weight, drape, neckline, fabric, fit and the shade of white itself all matter when something’s so minimal in design. As a stylist, I bring a few iterations to every fitting because it’s the basic that gets along so easily with everything else: denim, tailoring, casual shirts, smart trousers and sports shorts. Here’s how to choose the right one, plus the best white T-shirts you can buy now.
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The best white T-shirts for men
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<em>Best cult pick:</em>Merz b Schwanen 215 classic fit T-shirt
Few white T-shirts have made a cultural impact like Merz b Schwanen’s 215. It’s the top Jeremy Allen White wears throughout The Bear – and it turned a 115-year-old, niche German heritage label into a cult menswear label overnight. If you’ve seen the show, you’ll understand why: a classic crew neck; a snug, considered fit through the torso; and considered details often missed by other brands – triangle inserts under the arms to relieve stress on the seam, and baseball stitching (a crisscross, zigzag pattern). It’s worth noting that it runs small, though, so size up.
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<em>Best high-street white T-shirt:</em>M&S Autograph Supima cotton crew neck T-shirt
I’ve tried a number of high-street white T-shirts this year, and this one – by Marks & Spencer’s premium line Autograph – is my favourite. It’s relaxed, but not oversized. It’s lightweight, but still substantial. And it’s made from Supima cotton, which has longer fibres, so it’s softer, stronger and more resistant to pilling. At £20, it’s the best argument you’ll find for skipping the designer brands.
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<em>The insider’s favourite:</em>CDLP lyocell-blend T-shirt
From Stockholm, CDLP is the basics brand every man in fashion swears by – it’s a strong choice for a plain, minimal tee for the kind of person who doesn’t even like logos on their gym kit. Its cult lyocell-blend T-shirt is the one every fashion insider has in their wardrobe – it’s well-cut, nicely constructed, soft, and breathable enough to hold up in a heatwave. OK, £95 isn’t cheap, but it’s worth it.
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<em>The sustainable choice:</em>Asket the T-shirt
Asket wears its sustainable fashion credentials on its sleeve – you can see the full supply chain of every garment, from the factory where it’s stitched, to the carbon, water and energy breakdown. This tee is milled, cut and sewn in facilities in northern Portugal and uses 5.7kg CO2 in the production process. According to Carbonfact, a sustainability platform that helps brands such as APC, Ganni and Finisterre understand their carbon footprint, that’s well below the typical 10.6kg per T-shirt. Green credentials aside, it’s a weighty organic cotton design with hems built specifically to minimise shrinking and twisting. Even better, if it starts to look a little worse for wear, Asket will take it back in any condition and you’ll get money off your next one.
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<em>Best oversized white T-shirt:</em>Arket 270gsm oversized T-shirt
Arket promises affordable basics that look as if they cost way more than their RRP. This oversized T-shirt hits the mark. It’s the kind you’d expect to see on an off-duty creative director in east London: considered and relaxed, and best worn with work trousers and trainers. The jersey has a weight that looks expensive – and the sleeves hit just above the elbow, exactly the right length for this cut.
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<em>Best value for money:</em>Rise & Fall classic cotton crew neck T-shirt
Rise & Fall has a commitment to skipping the markup you see with many of its competitors – which, according to the brand, can be as much as 80% more. It does this by partnering directly with factories and making small, just-in-time runs of each garment, which are then sold direct-to-consumer to forgo wholesale margins and expensive overheads. This T-shirt has credentials usually reserved for ones closer to the £70 mark, with weighty organic cotton, a proper collar, and a versatile shape that disappears under a shirt or jacket but still looks great worn solo.
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<em>Best for layering:</em>Uniqlo Airism crew neck T-shirt
This is the T-shirt that does the important (albeit thankless) job of layering nicely underneath everything else. Uniqlo’s Airism fabric looks like cotton but is blended with other materials to work more like sportswear – controlling moisture and odour, and feeling smooth on the skin – so you can layer up a shirt, jumper and jacket without profusely sweating by the time your commute’s over. At less than £15, it’s a T-shirt you can buy multiples of.
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<em>The gold standard:</em>Sunspel Classic T‑shirt
If you ask most menswear obsessives to name the definitive white T-shirt, Sunspel’s Classic is the one they’ll say. Part of that’s down to the fit – close and body-skimming for a smart finish that also looks good under layers. The brand has more than a century’s experience making T-shirts, and heritage goes a long way in the menswear world. This one’s handmade in the brand’s UK factory using lightweight Supima cotton that’s traceable to the California farm it’s from.
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<em>Best for channelling James Dean:</em>Reiss Count air-water cotton tailored-fit T-shirt
Some men want a T-shirt with a little breathing space, while others want the kind James Dean would wear – one that leaves nothing to the imagination. Reiss caters to the latter with the Count: it’s tailored for a close fit and made from the brand’s signature “air-water cotton” – cotton that’s finished using a specific air and water treatment that softens the fibres for an ultra-smooth finish. It’s tapered at the waist, too, so it’s the closest to tailoring you’ll get with a T-shirt.
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<em>Best white T-shirt for travel:</em>David Gandy Wellwear cotton crew
You only want to pack one or two T-shirts when you’re travelling – especially if you’ve got a budget airline acting like your carry-on owes them money. You want a T-shirt that stays clean for longer and looks good with anything. David Gandy Wellwear’s cotton crew has an anti-odour and antibacterial treatment so it can cope with an eight-hour flight, a few hours’ sightseeing and a dinner reservation.
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<em>Best designer white T-shirt:</em>Margaret Howell short-sleeve T-shirt
Margaret Howell is one of the most respected names in British design, loved by the type of person who can spot a Robin Day chair from across the room. This T-shirt encapsulates why: it’s a relaxed, lightweight take that does the highbrow nonchalant thing well. The slightly off-white colour will fit in perfectly if you have a lot of stone, sand and faded khaki in the rest of your wardrobe.
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<em>Best multipack white T-shirts:</em>H&M three-pack regular fit T-shirts
Buying a multipack makes sense if you wear a T-shirt every day, but only if the quality is actually there. H&M’s set of three regular-fit white T-shirts offers a straight-up silhouette that works in almost every scenario, and the fabric and weight punch well above the price.
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<em>Best white T-shirt for the lived-in look:</em>Cos brushed-cotton T-shirt
Cos has been making this brushed cotton T-shirt since the brand launched (in 2007), which tells you everything you need to know. The soft fabric means it feels closer to your old, slubby sweatshirt than a standard tee – the type of T-shirt Jeff Bridges’ the Dude would wear in The Big Lebowski (though he’d probably go for a V-neck).
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<em>Best American import:</em>Todd Snyder premium jersey tee
If you’ve been watching Love Story on Disney+ – the Ryan Murphy series about JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette that’s had everyone obsessing over 90s New York – you’ll already know Todd Snyder’s vibe. He even wrote the foreword to American Style, a forthcoming book celebrating JFK Jr’s legacy. This tee is very much on the same moodboard. It’s slim enough to wear under a jacket for your meeting in Midtown but nice enough to wear on its own while you cycle around the city. The Portuguese cotton is also soft enough to satisfy even the most discerning American scion.
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What you need to know
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How to choose the perfect white T-shirt
There’s no such thing as one perfect white T-shirt. Some might see it as a one-and-done situation, but having a favourite tee doesn’t mean it’s right for every occasion.
It’s best to think “rotation” rather than “one-hit wonder”. I have 14 that I wear regularly: a lightweight one for layering; something more designed for dressing up; a slinky style à la Brando for a night out; one that sits nicely under a blazer for work; the comfiest one for travel; an oversized option for the beach (just watch the sun cream marks); and the rest for everything in between.
There are a few universal rules. Number one: the fabric needs to look and feel premium – that usually means leaning towards natural fibres such as cotton rather than anything that feels too synthetic. Heavier textiles tend to look more expensive, but thin T-shirts have a place too for layering and when it’s above 30C.
Number two: it needs to fit correctly. If there’s a T-shirt you like on the upper body but the hemline is somewhere around your crotch, get it tailored. Your local dry cleaner is usually a safe and convenient bet; just check the Google reviews beforehand. If you’re choosing something oversized, it needs to look intentional. Personally, I love a boxy T-shirt – one that’s a little cropped (I’m 5ft 8in) and roomy through the body without drowning my frame.
Number three: pay attention to the small stuff. Since it’s so simple in design, the finer details really matter, such as the collar, shoulder seam, sleeve length and overall construction. Take note when you’re in the changing room – not just how it looks in the mirror straight-on but also how it moves with your body. If it’s significantly pulling anywhere on your body while you walk, that usually means it’s too tight – unless, of course, you’re aiming for a slim-fitting T-shirt to show off the work you’ve been putting in at the gym.
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How should my white T-shirt fit?
The fit of your white T-shirt matters more than anything else – but it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation because it depends entirely on how you’re wearing it.
Wearing it on its own, untucked, the hemline should sit around the middle of your fly – or, if you’re feeling bold, the top, which means a flash of midriff every time you raise your arms (the tried-and-tested Paul Mescal fit). Sleeves should hit somewhere between mid and lower biceps, and a thick collar tends to look most expensive. A straight or boxy tee cut from a heavy cotton works best here because it will hold its shape throughout the day.
If you’re layering, you want something closer-fitting that sits neatly under a shirt, jacket or jumper without bunching – in this case, go for a less prominent collar, since you don’t want it competing with whatever’s on top. The same logic applies when tucking into tailored trousers: excess fabric will ruin the line of your outfit. If any of your current collection feel too big, you could try an army tuck – gathering the excess fabric at the sides and folding it back before tucking it in.
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How to keep a white T-shirt white
You might think keeping a white T-shirt white means hot washes and aggressive detergents, but you’d be wrong. The golden rule is simple: cold wash, inside out. Excessive heat breaks down cotton fibres over time and causes white fabric to turn yellow or grey, while washing inside out protects the surface of the fabric from fading.
For tougher stains – the inevitable mark of sun cream, the rogue splash of bolognese or red wine – a stain remover such as Vanish applied directly before washing should do the job without the need to crank up the temperature. Just don’t be tempted to bleach: it might seem like the obvious fix, but over time it’ll yellow your whites faster than almost anything else. Instead, you could try sodium percarbonate. When mixed with warm water, it separates into oxygen to lift organic matter; soda ash to neutralise minerals; and water, which leaves no residue – unlike harsher chemicals, so it’s a safe, eco-friendly alternative.
The worst culprit of all is the armpit stain – that yellowy-grey area that appears after a few months of wear. The best defence is to act fast: if you’ve been sweating, rinse the underarm area with cold water while it’s still wet (the stains set in once the sweat dries). For anything that’s already past it, a paste of baking soda and water left on the stain for 30 minutes before washing is an easy fix, and it won’t damage the fabric like bleach.
For more, read how to wear a quarter-zip jumper without looking like a finance bro
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Peter Bevan is a stylist and fashion journalist covering menswear, womenswear and beauty