The Internet’s Favorite T-Shirts, Ranked. (Pt. 2)

Summary

Part 2 of Michael’s t-shirt ranking series covers brands that viewers recommended in comments from the first video. He tests 12 shirts ranging from budget options like Front General Store ($38) and Pro Club to premium Japanese loop wheel brands like Samurai and the $200 Sunspel Sea Island cotton shirt. The video also covers animal fiber alternatives like merino and alpaca, explaining why they weren’t included in the main rankings.

The winner with 25.8% of votes is Bronson, a $30 “loop wheel” t-shirt, though Michael notes it’s technically not true loop wheel by definition. He awards the best overall title to Front General Store for combining Japanese quality at a sub-$40 price point. The video includes detailed shrink test data, softness ratings, and Michael’s personal pick - the Loop and Weft slubby t-shirt that he describes as feeling “like right now I am shirtless.”

Highlights

”This Shirt Feels Like I Am Shirtless”

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“This shirt it feels like right now I am shirtless. This is the most amazing shirt on this list by far.” — Michael, 8:56

”Queen Victoria Mistook Sea Island Cotton for Silk”

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“Sea Island cotton you may not know is the longest staple cotton in existence… you can make Sea Island cotton virtually feel like silk to the point where Queen Victoria mistook Sea Island cotton for silk.” — Michael, 10:10

”Bronson Says It’s Loop Wheel, But By Definition It’s Not”

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“Bronson says it is a loop wheel t-shirt but by definition it is not a loop wheel t-shirt. The problem is we don’t have a solid definition of what loop wheel is.” — Michael, 13:38

”The Winner Smoked the Competition But Kind of Deceives You”

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“The one brand that tallied the most votes and smoked the competition is a very different brand than these three and to be honest uh they kind of deceive you a little bit.” — Michael, 0:19

”Samurai Goes Even More Extreme - Half Meter Per Hour”

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“The big thing in loop wheel culture is to say these machines are so slow they can only knit 1 meter of fabric per hour. Samurai comes in and says ‘1 meter? Oh my gosh, slow down! We can only do a half meter of fabric per hour.’” — Michael, 7:10

Key Points

• Front General Store Winner (1:02) - Made in Japan for $38, 3.5% of comments voted for it as best t-shirt, excellent value
• Pro Club Discovery (1:59) - Old school American shirt with open-ended yarns, high neck hole with lycra that keeps shape forever
• Hanes as Original (2:33) - Voted best t-shirt by Esquire, the originator that all modern t-shirts are based on
• Reigning Champ Lightweight (3:06) - First nipple alert, uses compact yarn for smooth silky feel, 8/10 softness
• Merino Explanation (3:53) - Animal fibers are better than cotton in some ways but have different drape and feel more athletic
• Paca Alpaca Blend (6:01) - 85% supima, 15% royal baby alpaca, more odor resistant and temperature regulating than cotton
• Wool and Prince Merino (6:19) - Modern merino wrapped with nylon is much stronger, but drape feels more workout than casual
• Samurai Loop Wheel (7:10) - Japanese brand that goes even more extreme than competitors, only produces half meter of fabric per hour
• Loop and Weft Personal Pick (8:38) - Most amazing shirt on the list, incredibly slubby with inconsistent yarns, tiny collar trend
• Sunspel Sea Island Cotton (9:55) - $200 shirt got 13.6% of votes, longest staple cotton that feels like silk, worn by James Bond
• Warehouse 4061 (11:21) - 20.68% of votes, has “the it factor,” bound collar with outside reinforcement
• Bronson Controversy (12:02) - 25.8% of votes but claims to be loop wheel when technically it’s not by definition
• Bronson/Older Beast Connection (12:22) - Same company using same descriptions, uses Tomkins knitting machines which are also not loop wheel
• Loop Wheel Definition Issue (13:41) - No solid definition exists, Bronson exploits this ambiguity

Mentions

Companies

• Front General Store (1:02) - Japanese made t-shirts for $38, awarded best overall
• Pro Club (1:59) - Old school American t-shirt brand Michael hadn’t heard of before
• Hanes (2:33) - The originator of modern t-shirts, voted best by Esquire
• Fruit of the Loom (2:40) - Mentioned alongside Hanes as original underwear t-shirt brand
• Reigning Champ (3:06) - Lightweight t-shirt with compact yarn
• Trainwell (4:05) - Sponsor of the video, personal trainer app
• Paca (6:01) - Alpaca blend t-shirts
• Wool and Prince (6:19) - Merino wool t-shirt brand
• Samurai (7:10) - Japanese denim brand making extreme loop wheel t-shirts
• Loop and Weft (8:38) - Japanese brand with slubby knits, available from Redcast Heritage
• Sunspel (9:55) - British brand making $200 Sea Island cotton t-shirts
• Warehouse (11:21) - Japanese brand with model 4061 t-shirt
• Bronson (12:02) - Budget “loop wheel” t-shirt brand, winner by votes
• Older Beast (12:22) - Same company as Bronson, uses Tomkins knitting machines

Products & Technologies

• Loop Wheel (8:38) - Slow knitting method without tension creating softer fabric
• Tomkins Knitting Machine (12:41) - Rare machine more exclusive than loop wheel, but still uses tension
• Sea Island Cotton (9:55) - Longest staple cotton that feels like silk
• Open-Ended Yarn (1:30) - Rougher yarn type used in Pro Club and Front General Store
• Compact Yarn (3:26) - Less strand sticking out for smooth silky feel
• Supima Cotton (6:05) - Extra long staple American cotton
• Royal Baby Alpaca (6:05) - Premium alpaca fiber for odor resistance
• Slub Yarns (8:55) - Inconsistent yarns creating texture variation

People

• Queen Victoria (10:30) - Mistook Sea Island cotton for silk
• Daniel Craig (10:49) - Wore Sunspel as James Bond in movies
• Taylor (5:19) - Michael’s girlfriend, offered to pay for Trainwell subscription

Surprising Quotes

“This shirt it feels like right now I am shirtless. This is the most amazing shirt on this list by far.” — 8:56

“Sea Island cotton you may not know is the longest staple cotton in existence… you can make Sea Island cotton virtually feel like silk to the point where Queen Victoria mistook Sea Island cotton for silk.” — 10:10

“Bronson says it is a loop wheel t-shirt but by definition it is not a loop wheel t-shirt. The problem is we don’t have a solid definition of what loop wheel is.” — 13:38

“The one brand that tallied the most votes and smoked the competition is a very different brand than these three and to be honest uh they kind of deceive you a little bit.” — 0:19

Transcript

0:00 These are three of the most expensive t-shirts that I’ve ever bought because you the internet voted and told me that these were the best possible t-shirts you could buy with your money, except one. I downloaded all of your comments on my last t-shirt video and tallied the most mentioned brands that I didn’t include. These are three of them, but the one brand that tallied the most votes and smoked the competition is a very different brand than these three, and to be honest, they kind of deceive you a little bit so we do have to get into that.

0:30 First off at the time of recording I am 5’9”, 147.5 pounds, blue eyes. Number two, the most popular comment I’ve ever received on this YouTube channel is some guy requesting that I do a nipple test on my t-shirt videos. We have three nipple concerns in this video and luckily only two nipples, so one of them is automatically not bad. I could do nipple test, no problem, do that all the time.

1:02 I was very excited to see that this shirt made the list because I never would expect it to have enough recognition to make the list, but I guess I’m wrong. 3.5% of the comments said Front General Store is the best t-shirt. I might agree - this may knock the most voted shirt off of the list. This is made in Japan, I’m assuming the fabric isn’t from Japan or something like that because for $38 that’s typically not what you see for that price.

1:23 You can kind of see it in the cotton - I think this is an open-ended yarn so a little rougher, but they sanded it so it has some softness to it. If you’re looking for a Japanese made shirt or just an upgrade to your shirts and don’t want to spend over 40 bucks, Front General Store - one of the best shirts that you could possibly get. Front General Store shrink percentage: width 1.2%, length 0%. Softness: 10 out of 10.

1:59 Everybody was like “why does no one on YouTube review Pro Club t-shirts?” Frankly I never reviewed them because I never heard of them, but I bought one and I can see why people are so passionate about this brand. This is an old school American shirt, at least that’s what it feels like. I’m 1000% sure this shirt uses open-ended yarns because it’s the roughest shirt on this list. But all in all I like everything about it and it has a high neck hole with lycra in it that supposedly keeps its shape forever. So I really like Pro Club, thank you for suggesting it. Pro Club shrink percentage: width 2.78%, length 6.86%. Softness: 4 out of 10.

2:33 Big daddy Hanes, voted the best t-shirt on planet Earth by Esquire magazine. Hanes is the originator of it all - could also say Fruit of the Loom is as well, but Hanes is the center that all of the other t-shirts in the world are based off of. All of the t-shirts that we’re talking about today probably have the shape of this shirt in their bloodline. Much, much softer than the Pro Club, lighter weight as well. Fit is similar but the arm holes are a little bit lower. This is your classic $10 great shirt. Hanes shrink percentage: width 1.45%, length 6.73%. Softness: 7 out of 10.

3:06 We have our first nipple alert, which this is - Reigning Champ’s lightweight t-shirt. So you can expect a little nipple action, although I can’t see - I mean I could see the shape of them - how much detail do you want? You probably won’t be able to see your nipples with this lightweight t-shirt because I believe, I’m not positive, that this is a compact yarn, which I didn’t know was a term until I did some further research.

3:26 So there’s open-ended yarns, ring spun, compact - which is there’s even less strand sticking out so you get a very, very smooth silky feel to it. I went with lightweight just because a lot of people say they prefer lightweight so I wanted to try it out. Reigning Champ shrink percentage: width 1.27%, length 1.92%. Softness: 8 out of 10.

3:53 None of these t-shirts - these next three on their own got enough votes to make the list, but if you put them all together they do, and they all share something in common. A lot of people said “why did you not put merino as the best t-shirt on planet Earth?” And there is a reason - I’ll tell you why after we go through all three of these.

4:05 This video is sponsored by my huge rippling muscles and Trainwell. Your boy Mikey got really into running this year, then almost immediately he injured himself and couldn’t run simply because he didn’t train well. But then he got sponsored by Trainwell. Trainwell is a real life personal trainer in your pocket. Mine’s name is AJ. AJ and I text three times a week about workouts that he crafted for me. They’re based on my goals, schedule, and equipment, and I tell him if workouts were too hard or too easy.

5:33 Alpaca, merino, whatever it may be - these animal fibers all have a very important factor that makes them in some ways better than cotton. But cotton originally I think was used just because it was an everyday fabric or fiber that could be treated pretty carelessly. You could throw it in the wash, it’s tough, you can sweat in it, it doesn’t matter. Where merino and alpaca, you could do that with all of them, but at the time they didn’t have the technology that they have now.

6:01 But this is a shirt from Paca - they gave it to me for free. Mostly supima, 85% supima, 15% royal baby alpaca fibers. This is a lot more odor resistant than cotton, way more than synthetics in general. It’s temperature regulating, it’s moisture wicking - cotton absorbs moisture like nobody’s business so that’s never a good thing.

6:19 This is a shirt I bought from Wool and Prince and I will say I got the wrong one. I should have got the interlock heavier weight t-shirt from Wool and Prince - that one I think would have drove me nuts, I think I would have went crazy over that one. It’s very light, flowy, and you could see very, very stretchy. So the reason merino wasn’t used when cotton was is because merino is more delicate when it’s this lightweight.

6:42 But nowadays what we can do essentially is wrap merino with nylon and it becomes way, way, way, way stronger. You don’t have to worry about it getting holes or tears or anything like that, and you can make it very, very fine which is great. That being said, the reason that I don’t think it fits in right now is because it’s very clearly - it has a different drape, it feels like something I would wear when I’m working out, not something when I’m being more casual, because of how merino looks, the luster of it, the bounce of it.

7:10 Samurai is one of the most interesting Japanese denim brands or just Japanese brands in the world because it almost seems like they’re making fun of all the other Japanese brands by going even more extreme. This is a Samurai loop wheel t-shirt and the big thing in loop wheel culture is to say these machines are so slow they can only knit 1 meter of fabric per hour. Samurai comes in and says “1 meter? Oh my gosh, slow down! We can only do a half meter of fabric per hour.” It’s even slower.

7:40 And they take all their cotton and they put it in a controlled environment so the cotton, since it’s compacted in bales, can open back up and be fluffy and be moist and be magical. That is what they say about this shirt. It’s a fantastic shirt. I will say I really don’t - they say it feels almost moist to the touch, I didn’t really get that. It is a very light terry knit on the inside so it’s a different knit and I feel that. I don’t feel a sense of moisture.

8:06 That being said, 10.34% of you voted for Samurai as the greatest t-shirt brand. I do agree. I actually have an old Samurai t-shirt that I’ve worn incredibly heavily. This is just a regular t-shirt from Samurai as far as I can tell, I don’t remember the model of it, it was like 90 bucks. But that being said, they are all stunning quality. Also it is like 90 degrees in here so I am covered in sweat - that’s why I may look like I’m about to drop dead. Samurai shrink percentage: width 1.28%, length 10%.

8:38 From the Iron Snail desk, we present to you a shirt that I really like. This shirt officially got none percent of the votes. I went rogue. This is just a shirt that I really liked and I wanted to buy, and I used this video as an excuse. Glad I did. This shirt - it feels like right now I am shirtless. This is the most amazing shirt on this list by far. Not to compliment myself, but I knocked it out of the park.

9:05 Loop and Weft has been a brand that I’ve been creeping on for a very long time. All of their knits look so stunning. I don’t think they have a big presence outside of Japan. I got this from Redcast Heritage but couldn’t find much else on them besides on Okayama Denim. This is an incredibly slubby t-shirt and the slub yarns are so inconsistent that where the slub is not, this is basically like a gauze of a shirt, but where there is slub it’s closed and opaque.

9:30 I’m also very into these tiny collars right now - this is like a quarter inch collar or something like that. I think that’s a great look. Nothing really to say besides go on Loop and Weft’s Instagram and check out all the stuff. Not sponsored by them, never spoke to them, no benefit talking about them this much - just amazing. I was so happy with this shirt that I want to share it with you. Loop and Weft shrink percentage: width 0%, length 1%. Softness: 6.5 out of 10.

9:55 I’m going to do an entire video on this but this is the Sea Island cotton t-shirt from Sunspel, getting 13.6% of the votes. A $200 shirt got almost 14% of the votes! This is by far the most luxurious shirt that I’ve ever worn. Sea Island cotton you may not know is the longest staple cotton in existence, although now in 2024 we have Pima, supima, Egyptian cotton, Zimbabwe cotton, and cotton bise cotton - a lot of cotton that gets very long.

10:20 And a lot of the softness and feel on t-shirts is how they are processed, so you can get a shirt that might feel close to how soft this is but it’s virtually unmatched. You can make Sea Island cotton virtually feel like silk to the point where Queen Victoria mistook Sea Island cotton for silk. If a regular person did that I feel like it’s more like “well, you probably just haven’t touched a lot of silk” - Queen Victoria was touching some very nice silk.

10:49 Sea Island cotton is supposedly also all of what James Bond wears. Daniel Craig wore a Sunspel in movies. Long story short - yes, it does feel incredibly soft and beautiful. If you’re thinking “is it worth it, is it really that much softer for $200?” - honestly, yeah, kind of. Sunspel shrink percentage: width 9%, length 8.57%. Quick note - the shrink values are so high because you’re not supposed to dry this. I dried it by accident, so you wash it very delicately and treat it like a very fine sweater, not a t-shirt. Softness: 10 out of 10.

11:21 20.68% of you voted for a Warehouse 4061 t-shirt. Frankly, a t-shirt that I never really looked at, but I will say they have probably the most beautiful color loop wheel t-shirts that I’ve seen. They have a very interesting collar which is a bound collar with a reinforcement on the outside. The fabric itself is a very interesting slubby material and I wrote in my notes - this shirt, the Warehouse shirt, has the “it factor” out of all these shirts.

11:50 When you look at it, it might be the tag or the design or how it’s presented, you just think “that’s a great shirt, I want to wear that shirt.” And that is exactly what I think with this Warehouse t-shirt. Warehouse 4061 shrink percentage: width 3.85%, length 4.18%. Softness: 7 out of 10.

12:02 Now with a staggering 25.8% of the votes is the $30 loop wheel t-shirt from Bronson. Anytime I do a t-shirt video and I don’t include Bronson, I get a lot of comments saying “why didn’t you include Bronson, have you heard of Bronson?” I think it was called Older Beast as well. I have reviewed Bronson and I said it was one of the greatest deals in t-shirts, but there’s a catch.

12:22 First thing we need to address is the Older Best, Older Beast company - I don’t know why I’m forgetting it. I think that’s the same company as Bronson and I noticed that because of their description for a loop wheel t-shirt. I was like “that’s the same description as Bronson’s” so I think they’re the same brand.

12:41 There’s actually a bit of a crazy revelation here because there’s two t-shirts on Older Best - one of them I didn’t see, and the one I didn’t see is the special one. They use the Tomkins knitting machine which is supposedly even more rare than a loop wheel machine, to the point where that’s what Loop and Weft used to use, and apparently now they have no one in Japan to operate the one machine they have to do this knit, but Older Best does.

13:09 For $30, the weight of this t-shirt is fantastic. It feels combed, it feels ring spun, the collar is very beefy. This is the shirt that I reviewed almost 2 years ago that I’ve worn very heavily. It fits me really well, I just cleaned it, but it’s going to be my shirt for a very, very long time. I love this shirt.

13:38 However, the only thing that I am not a fan of is that Bronson says it is a loop wheel t-shirt, but by definition it is not a loop wheel t-shirt. The problem is we don’t have a solid definition of what loop wheel is, and Bronson is basically saying “well since we don’t have that definition, this is just like a newer, faster loop wheel” which is just kind of a traditionally knit t-shirt. That’s a bit confusing. I wish they didn’t put “loop wheel” anywhere on the actual website - they don’t put it on the shirt, but I wish they didn’t put that there.

14:11 I just got confirmation that Tomkins knitting machines are cool, but they are not loop wheel by definition. There is no tension on the knit when you’re knitting with loop wheel. The picture that Older Best shows shows the knit under tension, so definitely not loop wheel. And that does kind of call into question if they’re actually using very old machines to make these shirts or if they’re using a new Tomkins knitting machine. Bunch of stuff I don’t have information on, but definitely can confirm not loop wheel - and then you know, use your judgment on the rest with price and stuff like that.

14:35 Bronson shrink percentage: width 2.26%, length 6%. Softness: 5.5 out of 10. Bronson’s rival for this video and a brand I think you should really check out - the Front General Store - they get the title for today. Anyways, actively going to put on the air conditioner as we talk. Thank you for watching, I will see you next week where we will finally be back to our regularly scheduled programming. Thanks again for the sponsor Trainwell, check out the linky pinky down.