Men's Graphic Tees Guide

A men's graphic tee is the same garment its longer name describes - tee is simply the abbreviation of T-shirt, the T-shaped, short-sleeved, crew-necked shirt - judged here as a garment rather than as a print. Graphics are visual images, text or other design work applied to fabric, and printing is only one way they get there: graphics can also be painted, dyed, or embroidered onto the cloth, and embellishment extends further, to applique, embroidery and sequins used to build a design in thread and material rather than ink. This guide covers the tee beneath the artwork - the blank, the cuts, the embellishment methods beyond print - and how a graphic tee is worn well. Its companion page takes the print itself as the subject; the two guides divide the shirt between them. This guide explains what to look for, how the sizing actually works, which fabrics and constructions earn their price, and how to care for the garment so it keeps doing its job season after season.

Styles and Construction

Start with the blank, because every graphic inherits its shirt. Fabric weight sorts the family: lightweight tees drape and print smoothly but show every fault of fit; midweight cotton is the durable classic; heavyweight tees hold a boxy, vintage structure and take embroidery without puckering. Construction tells at the collar - a ribbed crew neck with reinforced stitching survives years of pulling over the head, a thin one bags by summer's end - and at the shoulders, where taped seams keep the T shape the shirt is named for. Then the embellishments beyond ink: embroidery builds the design in thread, slightly raised, the most durable and the most premium-feeling method, best in smaller motifs; applique sews a cut fabric shape onto the shirt, adding texture and a second material; sequins and studs are the family's sequined edge, decorative and delicate. Dyed graphics - tie-dye and pigment washes - put the design in the fabric itself, with nothing on the surface to crack at all.

A top earns its keep in finishing: seams that hang straight and stay even at eight to twelve stitches per inch, collars and plackets that lie flat after washing, buttons sewn with thread shanks so they sit in their holes without pulling. Hold the cloth to the light - a tight, even weave or knit outwears a loose one at the same labeled weight, and pattern pieces cut on grain keep the garment from twisting around your body by the third wash.

Fit and Sizing

Graphic tee fit is a style decision with rules. The classic fit - shoulder seam on the bone, chest skimming, hem at mid-fly - carries any graphic and any decade. The relaxed and boxy fits borrow from workwear and vintage blanks: more room through the body, dropped slightly at the shoulder, worn untucked and best in heavier fabrics that hold the shape. Slim fits serve layered looks under jackets, where the graphic shows as a panel. What no fit forgives is the wrong size at the collar and shoulders, the two places a tee cannot be altered. Choose the cut for the rest of the outfit: a graphic tee is usually the loudest garment in the room, so its fit should be the calmest - neat where the artwork is wild, relaxed only where the fabric's structure keeps relaxation from reading as sloppiness.

Fit tops shoulders and chest first, because tailors cannot cheaply move either: the shoulder seam ends at the shoulder bone, the chest closes without pulling, and both arms raise without the hem escaping the waistband. Tucked lengths must stay tucked sitting; untucked lengths should end mid-fly. Sleeves are the cheap alteration, shoulders the permanent one - reject a wrong shoulder for any reason, forgive a long sleeve for many.

Wearing and Care

Care divides by embellishment. Plain printed tees follow the graphic t-shirt rules - inside out, cool, low heat. Embroidered tees wash inside out to protect the threadwork from abrasion, and a motif that puckers after washing was embroidered on too light a blank - information for the next purchase, not a laundry failure. Applique edges are checked each season and re-stitched while a lift is small. Sequined and studded tees are gentle-cycle or hand-wash garments, stored flat so their weight does not stretch the shoulders on a hanger. All tees store best folded: the hanger is the enemy of every crew neck in this guide. Treat the tee as the garment it is, and the graphic - ink, thread or fabric - gets the long life its maker intended.

Launder tops by the label with three defaults: cool or warm water to protect color and trims, dark and printed pieces inside out, and low or line drying, which is the largest single lever on a shirt's lifespan. Fasten buttons and zips before washing to protect the whole load, treat stains before the dryer can set them, and store knits folded so their shoulders keep the shape they were knitted with.

Graphics Beyond Print

A tee is essentially the same thing as a “T-shirt” — tee is simply an abbreviated way of saying the word. Graphics mean more than print: graphics are visual images, text, or other sorts of design work that is printed, painted, dyed, or embroidered onto fabric, and other methods of embellishment can also be used — for example, applique, embroidery, sequins, etc., can be utilized to create graphic designs onto clothing. This page covers the garment and its embellishments; its companion page covers the printed artwork. Period coverage included “Cool Men’s Graphic Tees For Spring 2009 at Old Navy.”