Worth The Hype? Whitesville Tubular T-Shirt
A Quick Look at Their Famous 2-Pack Tees
Howdy all, I made the mistake of dipping my toes into the world of artisanal t-shirts a few weeks back, and regret to say that I’m hooked. You can read up on my review of the internet’s favorite t-shirt, the Merz B. Schwanen 215 tee here.
I’ve always been under the supposition that t-shirts don’t really need to be all that fancy — my favorite tee I’ve ever owned was a gift from the (now defunct) Christmas Tree Shops. It’s a seafoam green shirt featuring the beach that my family goes to on cape cod. It fits perfectly, and broke in almost immediately. I wear it so much that it’s going threadbare, and now there’s no direct way of replacing it sadly.
That tee from the Christmas tree shops cost no more than $5 — truly as bottom-of-the-barrel as you can get with clothing. And yet, I’ve gotten many multiples of the initial value’s worth of wear out of it. My cost-per-wear is probably in the fractions-of-a-cent territory at this point.
So why spend big bucks on something that you can so readily get for literal pocket change? The only answer I can come up with is “I like to geek out about inconsequential detailing“.
And really, that’s what this whole newsletter is about! If utility were the main driver behind my clothing choices, I’d probably dress in head-to-toe Uniqlo.
So that brings us to the topic of today’s newsletter:
Whitesville Tubular T-shirt
Whitesville was actually an American brand from the early 1900’s, and a pretty popular one at that for basic sportswear. Around the 1950s, the brand had outcompeted by the likes of Champion and Russel Athletic.
The license for the brand’s name was then bought by the Japanese company Toyo Enterprise (who also owns Sugar Cane and Buzz Rickson’s), and they once again began producing retro sportswear pieces and varsity jackets. The tubular tees themselves are billed as underwear, as opposed to a standalone layer.
This T-shirt hits every major fashionbro buzzword:
-Made in Japan
-Loopwheeled
-Long staple cotton
The result is a really nice t-shirt — the fabric is lightweight and buttery soft out of the packaging — like I’d almost characterize it as too soft. I think “softness“ as a qualifier for T-shirts in particular comes down to personal preference honestly. Some prefer a silky soft tee, while others look for a thick, textured fabric as a marker of quality.
Compared against the Merz B. Schwanen 215 tee, which very much falls into that second grouping (that is, thicker, textured fabrics), the Whitesville tubular T-shirt is pretty much at the other end of the spectrum.
Don’t get me wrong, it feels great and is incredibly comfortable, but if your idea of quality is something like the Wonderlooper double heavyweight tee (12.1 oz fabric!! I can feel myself perspiring even thinking about wearing that), then I’d maybe consider something else.
In addition to the above, Whitesville tees are loopwheeled, which creates that highly-sought-after seamless body. I should add that tubular and loopwheeled are not synonyms — you can have a tubular tee without it being loopwheeled. A good example is the Lady White Co. Our T-Shirt, which is tubular but not loopwheeled.
Another interesting little detail is the taped seam neckline, also called a double-binder neck. This adds an extra layer of durability to the neckline, to prevent it from deforming too much.
The Buying Process
I ordered these on eBay from Negitan Japan, but there are numerous Japanese sellers on the site, and I don’t really think it matters who you choose if you go this route.
Importantly, I paid $70 total for the 2 pack, including shipping, directly from Japan. If you look at American stores that stock the Whitesville tees, you’ll find that they’re priced up to $95. If you don’t mind waiting like 2 weeks, I’d go the eBay route and save yourself some pocket change.
The Fit
As with every loopwheeled product, there is an upper bound to how wide the shirts can be. I picked an XXL, which corresponds roughly to an American XL.
My stats:
I know the tee looks black, but I promise it’s navy blue. We’ve had dark, rainy weather for days now, and I’ve finally given up waiting for good natural lighting.
>Wouldn’t it have made more sense to pick out white T-shirts for this series, so there’s a better, more direct comparison?
Yeah that would’ve been smart, but I wanted some navy blue tees hehe
In Summation
Price: $35/shirt, $70 total
Overall rating: 5/5
This is basically the platonic ideal of a t-shirt. It does its job well, and most importantly it’s a reasonable price. A lot of high-quality T-shirts are pushing $100/shirt now, which is a little ridiculous, and frankly borderline insulting.
A price point where you don’t have to fret over being able to use the shirt for its intended purpose is a huge upside in an increasingly silly menswear landscape.
My only complaint for the tubular tees is that the black shirt comes with this God-awful gray contrast stitching, and the gray shirt is overly heathered for my tastes. I personally would only consider the white and the blue options.
Minutiae
Speaking of rad T-shirts, I’m bringing this energy back for Summer 2025
