- If you’ve been looking for the best undershirt for managing your sweaty pits, then the search is over.
- We named Tommy John’s undershirts as the best overall because they’re close-fitting, don’t lose shape, and come in several different types of materials.
- The American-made Thompson Tee is another solid pick that features a unique and effective “sweat guard” design, making it the best undershirt for protecting your nice shirts from unsightly perspiration.
If you regularly wear button-up shirts, then good undershirts are a must. Wearing an undershirt is one of the best ways to maintain and protect your nice shirts, particularly your dress shirts, from sweat and deodorant, which can discolor the fabric and wear them out over time. By creating a barrier between your sweat and the under-arms of your button-up, undershirts also help to ward off the dreaded “wet pits” look.
Unfortunately, like many other everyday clothing items, a lot of guys treat undershirts as an after-thought. If you’re looking for a better way to stay comfortable and protect your nice shirts, then you’ve found the right place. Before we get into our picks, however, here are some quick guidelines to follow when selecting an undershirt that’s right for you:
- Keep it fitted. Your dress shirts should be trim, not baggy and blousy, and so it stands to reason that you don’t want big, billowy undershirts, either. Many brands today are offering slimmer modern cuts for their clothing, and undershirts are no exception. Go with something more tailored or even opt for snug-fitting stretch undershirts which hug your torso like a glove.
- Avoid white. White is probably the most common color for undershirts. It’s also probably the worst. We’ve all seen it: The guy wearing a white or blue dress shirt with his white undershirt sleeves shining through like the sun. This is because white is a high contrast color that shows up very easily under other materials. Play it safe and keep it gray. This low-contrast shade will blend in much more easily so you’re not getting those unsightly “undershirt lines” under your dress shirt sleeves.
- Go with a V-neck. People have a lot of opinions about men sporting V-necks for casual wear, but for undershirts, it’s pretty much a requirement – especially if you’re going sans necktie, which you’ll probably do fairly often. Having the top of your undershirt peeking out behind your dress shirt collar screams “my mom made me wear a button-up shirt today,” but a V-neck cut keeps it nicely out of view below the neckline. If you already have a bunch of crew-neck undershirts, relegate them to casual wear or toss ‘em.
Keeping these guidelines in mind, we’ve done the research and smoked out the best undershirts for men that you can buy today. Undershirts are fairly straightforward pieces of clothing, but we’ve made sure that our top picks cover a range of different styles, fabrics, and price points so you can find the right one for your tastes and budget.
Here are the best men’s undershirts you can buy:
- Best undershirt overall: Tommy John
- Best undershirt to avoid sweat stains: Thompson Tee
- Best multipack of undershirts: David Archy
- Best affordable undershirts: Hanes
- Best undershirt for casual wear: J. Crew
Updated on 8/5/20 by Amir Ismael. Updated prices and links.
The best men’s undershirt overall
Tommy John is unlike any other undershirt on the market – in a good way. The collar stays flat, it fits closely to your body, and never comes untucked.
Tommy John started with the mission to bring men’s undergarments into the 21st century and its undershirts are the best example of how it’s doing that.
To be completely honest, I gave up on T-shirt-style undershirts a long time ago because they're almost always ill-fitting at the collar, the sleeves become loose, and they rarely stay tucked in. To put it plainly, they look sloppy.
Tommy John's undershirts are the complete opposite. They're close-fitting, but not tight, long enough to stay comfortably tucked into your pants, and they almost disappear underneath your top layer of clothes.
While browsing, you'll find that Tommy John undershirts are available in three materials - Second Skin, Cool Cotton, and Air. I've tried all three and I can't say one is better than the other; it really depends on what you look for most in an undershirt, whether that's softness, breathability, or a lightweight feel.
I especially like Tommy John's undershirts instead of basic tank tops when I'm wearing dress shirts. They're more comfortable (which is important when you're already wearing not-so-comfortable dress clothes), they help prevent sweat stains on the armpits, and they're a lot less visible if you're wearing a white or light-colored shirt.
Read my full review on Tommy John undershirts.
Pros: Close-fitting, comfortable, different material options, stays tucked in
Cons: Expensive, can't be worn as a regular T-shirt
The best men's undershirt to avoid sweat stains
With soft and breathable natural fabric, a trim cut, an under-arm sweat guard, and all-American construction, the Thompson Tee V-neck is the last undershirt you'll ever need to buy.
Arguably the main reason to wear an undershirt is to prevent your sweaty pits from showing through your nice button-up shirt by putting a layer between your skin and your clothing. Managing sweat while looking nice is an ever-present challenge in the summer (especially in a suit), but even in the cooler months, your body can get pretty warm when you're indoors wearing long-sleeved shirts and suit jackets.
If this is a particularly big problem for you, then even a normal undershirt may not be enough. Enter the sweat guard from Thompson Tee. Its unique design is purpose-built to target the biggest problem area for perspiration, the under-arms, with a second layer that serves as a "sweat pad" to put some more material and distance between your skin and your nice shirt.
The trim cut is form-fitting and long enough to tuck, too, while the V-neck is suitably deep so it won't be peeking out from under your shirt collar.
Another thing we like about the Thompson Tee is that it's woven of soft combed cotton, with the under-arm "sweat pads" made of bamboo-derived rayon with a touch of spandex for stretch and flexibility. This is a plus, as natural fibers like cotton will almost always breathe better than synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon.
Even better, the Thompson Tee is 100 percent made in the United States. You'll pay for it, though. The Thompson Tee undershirt rings in at around $30 on Amazon, but it's worth it. If sweat is a problem and you're looking for the "holy grail" of undershirts, then this is probably the last one you'll ever need to buy.
Pros: Made in America, woven of soft combed cotton with a bamboo-derived rayon sweat guard, the unique design is highly effective at managing under-arm sweat, it's got a great form-fitting cut
Cons: It's fairly expensive
The best men's undershirt multi-pack
If our other picks cause sticker shock, these soft, lightweight, no-nonsense undershirts from David Archy are an excellent and super-affordable alternative.
One of the general rules of menswear is to avoid synthetic fabrics. While this is good advice, it mostly applies to larger, nicer outer garments such as shirts, slacks, business suits, sweaters, and so on. For clothing items like these, synthetics are typically used to cut costs rather than for any particular qualities.
Although synthetic fabrics have a bad rap in the menswear scene, they do confer some advantages for certain pieces of clothing. Synthetics are durable, they dry quickly, and they're useful for garments where you want some stretch such as socks or athletic wear.
Modal, in particular, is a semi-synthetic fabric well-known for its softness and elasticity. Modal is actually a form of rayon, which is made from cellulose in contrast to more common polymer-based synthetics like nylon. It's also more breathable, with these characteristics combining to make it the perfect candidate for undershirts like these ones from David Archy.
David Archy undershirts are made of a soft micro-modal fabric with a touch of elastane. Micro-modal is silkier than plain modal fibers - it's even softer to the touch than cotton - and offers moisture-wicking properties that manage sweat and let it dry quickly instead of soaking up moisture. It's thin and light without being transparent, although it's best to tumble dry these and then hang them up damp to air-dry rather than drying them with heat.
The V-neck is suitably deep and the David Archy shirts are slimmer than most other multi-pack undershirts from popular brands like Hanes, the cuts of which tend to be a bit boxier than most, but these undershirts don't have much of a taper in the body. You may want to consider sizing down if you're between sizes. The sleeves are also nice and slim-fitting so you don't get a bunch of material bunching up around your arms under your dress shirt.
Pros: Made of a breathable and soft micro-modal fabric, the cut is fitted and long enough to stay tucked, and they're a solid value
Cons: The fit is nothing special, and the micro-modal shouldn't be put in a hot dryer cycle
The best affordable men's undershirt
As a brand we all know and have probably worn, Hanes delivers variety and great bang for your buck.
What would a list of undershirts be without Hanes? In short, incomplete. As one of the most popular underwear brands, if not the most popular, Hanes has a huge assortment of all types of undergarments, including undershirts. If you're going for a classic T-shirt style rather than a tank top, the FreshIQ ComfortSoft Crewneck is what you'll want to buy, especially if you're on a budget. Each pack comes with six undershirts, making it the best bang for your buck.
Made from 100% preshrunk cotton, these Hanes shirts are tagless, have lay-flat collars, and feature the brand's odor resistant technology, FreshIQ.
Much like any budget-friendly pack of undershirts, they won't last forever, as they can potentially lose shape after a handful of wears and wash cycles. But at $19 for six, you can't really beat the price.
If you're looking for a basic white T-shirt, this is one you can actually pull off because it's not too form-fitting or too long, like some of the other undershirts on this list.
Pros: Affordable, tagless, multi-pack, odor-resistant technology, preshrunk
Cons: Can't withstand wash and dry cycles without losing its shape
The best men's undershirt that you can wear casually
J. Crew's knack for classic yet modern style, great quality, and nice materials makes this heather gray V-neck T-shirt perfect for doing double-duty as an undershirt and a casual tee.
Undershirts are typically designed to be worn under collared shirts, but they're still essentially just tees. This means that, so long as they're styled right, there's no reason you can't pop on an "undershirt" with a pair of jeans for a simple, basic outfit - and if you're the type that doesn't like to own a mountain of clothes, then a few good tees that can do double-duty as undershirts will be nice to have in your closet.
As one of the premier brands of casual men's style, it should come as no surprise that J. Crew made it into our list. If Brooks Brothers is the king of American prep, then J. Crew might be the king of American casual with its wide lineup of clothes that perfectly thread the needle between modern and classic styling.
This heather gray V-neck tee lives up to J. Crew's simple-yet-stylish design ethos. It features a tailored cut that's not baggy or restricting. It's slim enough to be an undershirt and made of soft combed cotton.
The V-neck is also deep enough that you can safely undo a button on your collared shirt, but it's not so low as to be unsuitable for casual wear. It's a no-nonsense, well-made, nicely-styled staple tee that'll get a lot of play in your rotation whether you're wearing it under a dress shirt or just pairing it with jeans or chinos.
The J. Crew heather grey V-neck T-shirt rings in at around $20, which may seem slightly pricey for a single undershirt. But given that this soft and versatile shirt can serve as one of your everyday casual tees, it's not a bad value. J. Crew regularly runs sales and offers promo codes, too, so wait for a discount and order a couple to score them even cheaper.
Pros: It's made of soft and durable combed cotton, the fit is slim but not restricting, it can be worn as both a T-shirt and an undershirt, the V-neck is sufficiently deep for wearing under a collared shirt without being too low to wear by itself, and it's a good value (especially when on sale)
Cons: It's cut shorter in the body than dedicated undershirts
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