RibbedTee Undershirt - Blog | Comfortable, Cool, Fitted Cotton undershirts

A little over two weeks ago, we made some very exciting announcements which included the introduction of the womens’ RibbedTee, new colors, and international shipping in this blog post. Unfortunately, we forgot to mention that the much anticipated men’s 2XL RibbedTee (available in crew neck and v-neck, in colors white and black) will be available for purchase in our online store in just a couple of weeks on June 30th.

Of course, if you just can’t wait, feel free to order them today and as soon as they are in stock, we’ll ship your order out immediately.

Keep an eye out for more announcements coming soon!

At RibbedTee.com, we’re happy when you’re happy. We’d like to take a quick moment to thank everyone for all the wonderful feedback and testimonials we’ve been getting on our men’s RibbedTee undershirt. We’ve also received some questions about the availability of new colors, additional product lines, and shipping internationally.

Here are some exciting updates we’d like to share with you:

1. Women’s RibbedTee. That’s right, the women’s version of the RibbedTee undershirt/tee will be available for purchase online starting in late July 2008. Expect the same great features* of RibbedTee undershirts in a design specifically made for women. They will be available in the following colors: white, black, and pink. Watch out guys, these are going to be hot!
2. New Colors. That’s right guys — RibbedTee undershirts will soon be available in gray and one additional neutral-tone color. Now you’ll be able to pair your RibbedTee undershirt with nearly everything in your wardrobe.
3. International Shipping. In a recent website upgrade, we added support for international shipping to all states/regions/counties in Australia and Canada via USPS first class, international priority, and international express mail. We will be adding more destinations soon, so please check back with us or email us to request information on shipping to your country.

If you’d like to be notified when our new undershirts and colors will be available and haven’t shopped with us before, please visit our Online Store and subscribe to our mailing list.

* features: form fit, tailored cut, cool comfort, extra long, stays tucked in, no gathering, low-profile trim

I came across this Askmen.com article where blogger and fashion correspondent Chris Rovny answers the following question from one of his readers:

I recently landed my first real office job and noticed that a lot of my colleagues wear T-shirts or “wife-beaters” underneath their dress shirts. What’s the deal? Is it fashionable, or not, to wear something underneath a dress shirt? And if it is, are there any rules to follow when picking which one to wear?

Chris provides his reader with the following advice:

Firstly, men who tend to sweat excessively wear undershirts to prevent sweat stains from becoming visible throughout the day. Other guys wear them to save on dry cleaning because undershirts help keep the sweat and other natural body odors from penetrating the shirt, keeping it clean for a longer amount of time…more here

…But if you do wear a T or sleeveless shirt (also known as a wife-beater) underneath your dress shirt, then the general rule is that it should be as sheer or thin as possible.

…Also, steer clear of undershirts that feature thicker and more apparent seams around the arms and collar because they tend to stand out more. Finally, you should wear a low-cut V-neck undershirt when wearing a dress shirt sans tie.

Gosh, did Chris know about the special features of the RibbedTee undershirt? It sounds like he’s describing them to a “tee” (no pun intended).

• “thin as possible” - we pride ourselves on making our undershirts with a specially designed super-soft 6.0 ounce 2×1 ribbed cotton. This allows us to provide you with an extremely comfortable, form fitting undershirt that breathes so it keeps you cool all day long and won’t show through your outwear.
• “steer clear of undershirts that feature thicker and more apparent seams” - no thick seams on our undershirts! We have purposely designed our shirts with flat, low-profile seams around the neck collar line as well as around the arms and bottom.
• “low cut v-neck” - Check. We offer both types of collars (crew neck and v-neck) to choose from.

Great advice from an expert in the fashion world. Check out one of our product pages for a full list of features we offer in our undershirts.

Here at RibbedTee.com, we believe we have created an affordable, one-of-a-kind undershirt for people looking for a better, more comfortable alternative to the typical Hanes® or Fruit of the Loom undershirt you can get at your local discount store.

Of course, we’re not blind to the fact that there are some other companies out there that are also trying to provide you something better to choose from. We applaud these companies for their efforts and thought we’d share a short list of them here for our readers, so in the unlikely event our undershirts aren’t what you’re looking for (that’s very unlikely), maybe one of these will be:

1. Tommy John (www.tommyjohnonline.com) - this company provides an undershirt with something called Tailored Stretch™ technology that uses a tailor and stretch material from the belly button down to prevent their undershirt from riding up underneath your clothing.
2. Collected Threads (www.collectedthreads.com) - these folks offer up an undershirt designed with a wider and deeper neck opening to keep it from showing through your outerwear.
3. Vdri undershirt (www.vdri.net) - this undershirt company is offering a v-neck, dri-fit undershirt made from a specialized, soft and breathable form of polyester.
4. Grigioperla (available at barenecessities.com) - although super expensive ($65), this undershirt is made out of 89% Cotton, 11% Elastane-Spandex and has a nice European cut.
5. Hanro (also available at barenecessities.com) - also super, duper expensive ($78-$92) but provides those with more money than they know what to do with, an undershirt made out of “luxurious stretch cotton” (not sure what that is).
6. 2xist (www.freshpair.com or barenecessities.com) - one of the more well known undershirt brands that offers up some nice fitted cotton undershirts ranging in the $20-$30 range.
7. Coolmax undershirt (www.coolclothingusa.com) - this website provides a nice variety of undershirts and compression shirts in the $20 and up range made out of the coolmax® moisture wicking fabric (sometimes worn as undershirts, but mostly for sports wear) and are supposedly comparable to Underarmour®.

No matter what brand of undershirt you decide upon, make sure you choose one that best fits your lifestyle, your particular need, and of course, your budget!

A reader on Men.Style.com asks Glenn the Style guy this question about what kind of undershirt to wear:

Q: I recently graduated from college, am entering the professional workforce, and can’t figure out which undershirt is appropriate with a suit—a wife-beater [a-shirt] or a regular variety. I live in Florida, and it’s hot; therefore, I like the feel of a wife-beater. But is it inappropriate to have it show through a white dress shirt?

A: One advantage of wearing an undershirt is that it absorbs perspiration, and the old spouse abuser doesn’t catch any underarm drip. I think you should wear a regular or V-neck undershirt or nada, no? In la vida loca de Florida, tank tops are outerwear.

Glen, we think that’s great advice {considering that question was asked back in 2006 when RibbedTee undershirts didn’t exist}.

Since our undershirts are made of the same light, cool fitted ribbed cotton that a-shirts (aka “wifebeaters”) are made of AND they have sleeves to provide underarm protection and will absorb perspiration, your readers (and everyone else) can get both of these benefits in one RibbedTee undershirt. One additional benefit of our undershirts is that we’ve specially designed the collar, sleeve, and bottom trims so they don’t show through your outerwear. They’re so versatile, you can wear them for almost any occasion.

So next time a reader asks you a question about what type of undershirt they should wear, be sure tell them about RibbedTee undershirts!

Here’s a little trivia question. Where did the undershirt originate from?

For those inquiring minds, interestingly enough, the origins (in the U.S.) of the undershirt start with the t-shirt and seem to date back to the early 1900’s during World War I. Our friendly neighborhood Wikipedia definition tells us this:

Most research mentions this possibility that the idea of the T-shirt came to the United States during World War I when US soldiers noticed the light cotton undershirts European soldiers were using while the US soldiers were sweating in their wool uniforms. Since they were so much more comfortable they quickly became popular among the Americans, and because of their design they got the name T-shirt. Other experts credit the U.S. Navy’s “light undershirt” from 1913, described with “elastic collarette on the neck opening, called “crew neck”.

Dang, now it’s got us wondering where “v-necks” came from….

During World War II the T-shirt had become standard issue underwear in both the U.S. Army and the Navy. Although the T-shirt was formally underwear, soldiers often used it without a shirt covering it while doing heavy labor or while stationed in locations with a hot climate, just like their former underwear. As a result, the public was frequently exposed to pictures of members of the armed forces wearing pants and a T-shirt.

Well thanks Wikipedia. We really appreciate the information! It’s just too bad those folks didn’t have RibbedTee undershirts back then.