This didn’t start out as a mission. I was late for work one Tuesday morning, standing in my flat surrounded by white t-shirts that didn’t fit me right. Too boxy.
Too long. Collars too tight, riding up and leaving me screaming quietly into the void about how they make me look like I have a bacon neck. All £10+ from places that described these mould-worthy garments as “ wardrobe staples” or “menswear essentials” or whatever euphemism they can use to convince you they’re the best at basics.
They weren’t. None of them were.
So, I decided to do something about it.
Over the course of three months, I shopped at thirty-seven retailers and tried forty-two different white cotton t-shirts, each costing under £20*. I washed them, lived in them, spilled cups of coffee on them (being careful not to spill on the same shirt twice). I constructed a spreadsheet detailing my thoughts and feelings on each garment during the wear-test period and used it to rank my favourites.
Here’s what I learned. * £519.97 to be exact. Sorry about that, accountant. SHOP THE EDIT Why test shirts under £20?
Look, I know what you’re thinking. “Daniel, you hypocrite. You just wrote an article about how you bought £520 worth of white t-shirts. Why should we trust your list?
You probably spent £50 on each shirt and enjoyed never washing them.” My pledge to test shirts only under £20 is mainly because that’s all I feel white t-shirts should cost. Sure, you can spend £45 on a “premium” white cotton shirt from a luxury brand and it’ll probably last longer. But it’s still a white cotton shirt.
The whole idea of a premium shirt is that you spend more money and wear it for multiple seasons until it becomes one with your skin. But white t-shirts aren’t “seasonless” staples. We wear them year-round, they sit directly next to our skin all day and they’re the only piece of clothing that you can see when wearing the priciest jacket.
They’re the most important item in your wardrobe and yet no one seems to agree on what the “best” budget-friendly options are. So let’s lay down some rules: every shirt I tested was a plain crew neck (no v-necks, sorry Tommy). They each had to be short-sleeved, purchased in the UK, and cost less than £20. * I didn’t test packs of multiple shirts that would technically be under £20 each because you usually get better quality for buying singles.
Where possible I visited shops in-person but bought online when necessary. I washed each twice before judging them, according to the instructions on the care label. I also judged them across five different categories: fabric, cut/sizing, collar roll, opacity, and shrinkage after washing.
But first, let’s talk about white t-shirt philosophy. Essentially, there are two camps when it comes to white tees. People who like to regularly replace them, almost treating them as semi-disposable-items you shouldn’t care about too much.
Versus people that believe you should spend years caring for “the perfect white t-shirt”. If you’re in former camp, price and appearance are probably your biggest concerns. If you’re in the latter, things like construction and fabric blend are more important to you.
Personally, I’m in the latter camp. I like having a small roster of t-shirts that I know will never disappoint me when I put them on. But I tried every shirt on this list with both mindsets in mind.
Now, for the stuff no one wants to wear. Finishing last isn’t necessarily a mark against these shirts, they just failed to impress more premium options. I started with &Other Stories’ Classic Loose Fit shirt because it was the worst. £18 spent on a polyester blend basic is never okay, but after washing it became see-through as heck and the side seams moved up almost three inches.
The collar also stretched WAY beyond its intended size, giving me a neckline that I would consider scandalous for Victorian England. Utter garbage. It was shockingly bad for a brand I’ve had success with in the past.
However, their Organic Cotton Tee at £12 fared much better, so they’re not entirely off the list. Sadly, H&M’s Everyday T-shirt ranked similarly, and at £14.99 I expected more from them. The collar seemed slightly off-center when I tried it on, which wasn’t improved by washing.
It also wasn’t incredibly opaque even before washing, which is never a good sign. Overall it wasn’t the worst, but definitely one to avoid if you’re looking for something to wear on its own. New Look’s Essential Cotton tee is another brand I’ve had better experiences with over the years, but their entry into this list was lacking.
The fabric feels cheap, it rides up too high in the shoulders and there’s absolutely no give whatsoever. While their Contemporary Crewneck Shirt at £12 is also slightly more pricey than my general £10 price cap, it performed admirably and was far superior to this shirt. Joe Browns Classic Crew Neck is another “that used to be cool” brand I feel like we’ve all forgotten about.
But their basic remained stubbornly average. It didn’t feel exceptionally comfortable, but the collar doesn’t loosen much and it doesn’t appear to shrink much after washing either. Pretty good if you’re looking for a white t-shirt solely to bury under jackets and sweaters, but there are much better options.
Back when Banana yellow were cool and had shops in London, I picked up a couple of their basics. Their Classic White T-shirt is exactly what you’d expect from them; it’s incredibly comfortable and perfectly serviceable as a plain white shirt. That being said, it has the exact same problem as pretty much every other supermarket brand I tested; laundry shrinkage.
Their chest measurement decreased by almost 4cm after washing. Which means… DON’T TRUST SUPERMARKETS WITH WHITE T-SHIRTS. Ok, maybe that’s unfair, some were better than others.
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But Tesco’s Everyday Wear Tee, Sainsbury’s Tu shirt, and Asda’s Cotton Shirt all suffered from similar setbacks. Materials that either stretched out or shrank significantly after washing. Which led to odd fits both in the body and the neckline.
They may be cheap to buy, but they’re not great at holding up after multiple wears. Tesco and Asda weren’t the only retailers I visited that don’t sell clothes as their primary business either. John Lewis’ Supima Cotton Crew Neck was another disappointment.
It feels thinner than it looks in the pictures and isn’t terribly opaque. But the real kicker for me is that it rides up too much in the shoulders. Nothing about this shirt feels intentional in its fit and the material has slightly stretched in the shoulders and neck after washing.
Which means… Don’t @ me in the comments about Nike shirts – I stopped wearing theirs about a decade ago because they always rode up my shoulders too much. But their Cotton Essential stood up pretty well to my wash-test. Stays true to fitting pretty much straight out of the packet, doesn’t shrink or stretch too much, and feels nice enough.
If you’re looking for a white shirt to sleep in and wash every other wear then this is probably your guy. Although after testing Joules’ Simply Cotton tee I can’t say I feel great about any of their shirts anymore. Similar story to New Look; it’s not terrible, but it seems hastily put together and feels slightly off centered around the shoulders and neck.
After fucking up the neck with that Sears monstrosity, Primark’s Classic Crew Neck is slightly better overall but still feels off. Maybe it’s just me, but their shirts never seem to fit me how I want them to. Maybe it’s because I actually press clothes before putting them on these days, but Primark shirts always feel slightly cheap and barely opaque enough in person.
Next did fairly well with their 100% Cotton tee. The fabric is lightweight without being too thin and feels nice to wear. Slightly odd stretching at the collar as seen in the photos above, but overall a solid choice.
However, their Essential Cotton tee loses a couple of points for having a stretched-out collar, which doesn’t recover very well after washing. I hate to say I told you so, Sagas, but I told you so. Their Classic Cotton tee remains baggy around the shoulders and doesn’t feel extremely durable.
But no shirt disappointed me more than Marks & Spencer’s Premium Cotton T-shirt. Considering how long they flaccidly hung off my body after washing, I was worried about transparency. Luckily, that isn’t an issue but saying something doesn’t bleed through when you hold it up to the light isn’t exactly a shining endorsement.
This t-shirt isn’t terrible. It’s just oddly cut with a terrible collar and doesn’t survive washing particularly well either. Which actually works really well for M&S’ fifty-shirts-for-the-price-of-two pack… …because it’s basically two NEXT shirts.
Which is perfectly fine if all you’re going to use them for is stuffing under jumpers. But because these two shirts perform about the same, they both fall into “meh” category for me. Topman’s Organic Cotton Tee is slightly cheaper at £8 each, but feels softer and doesnaperformed noticeably better in my mind.
Ranking my favourites was much harder than I thought it would be. There were a handful of shirts that stood out to me as immediate favorites, like H&M’s Premium Cotton T-shirt at £12.99. It feels nice and thick without being sweaty, and doesn’t ride up too much in the shoulders either.
The only problem I have with it is that it was slightly too long before washing. After washing, the body did shorten quite a bit, but the sleeves and shoulders remained the same length. Which isn’t necessarily a problem but something to note if you’re worried about reaching your fingertips by the time you cuff your sleeves.
Speaking of cuffed sleeves, Uniqlo’s Supima Cotton Crew Neck is one of the best whites for when you actually want to cuff your sleeves. I haven’t properly tested it out to see if the material holds up when cuffing (listed as a “Suit Style” shirt on Uniqlo’s website) but it’s otherwise fantastic. Best White T-Shirts Tucked into jeans it sits perfectly at mid upper-arm.
It doesn’t ride up too high on the shoulders and while the neckline is slightly wide, it doesn’t gap open like Sears did. Winner, winner, white shirt dinner. So there you have it; my fifty-plus shirts worth of experience compressed into a handy-dandy list for you to choose from.
But why stop there? If I’ve learned one thing from doing laundry this past month, it’s that cotton weight matters more than “100% cotton” ever will. A 180+ GSM pure cotton shirt will almost always outperform a thinner “premium” option.
Something I also figured out? The construction of a shirt’s seams are the biggest indicator of how it will age after washing. Especially with white t-shirts, take a look at where the shoulder seams sit before you wash it for the first time.
If they don’t sit right then they likely won’t move regardless of how many times you stretch them or throw them in the dryer.
My biggest lesson? There is no one-size-fits-all best white t-shirt, there’s just the best white t-shirt for how you personally dress.
If you’re most likely to wear white tees as your top layer that people can see, go for something thicker and more opaque. If you’re always layering them under sweaters and jackets, fit and collar construction are more important than being slightly sheer. Don’t like washing them?
Or plan on replacing them every few months? Then constructlessness and fabric weight are slightly less important than just buying whatever looks nice. You do you, boo.
I went through the effort of assembling and cleaning out a dedicated white shirt drawer so now I only wear tops I know will work for me. Life’s too short to stand in front of your wardrobe late for work surrounded by thirty white shirts and somehow have nothing to wear. Did we miss any of your favourite budget friendly white t-shirts?
Let us know in the comments below!
