What is the best grammage for a t-shirt?

There is no single answer to this seemingly simple question. It is like asking “what is the best car?”. I’ll come closest to the truth by saying that the best T-shirt weight is the one that meets your expectations.

What is this grammar anyway?

As reported Wikipedia:

Grammage – the mass (colloquially “weight”) of one square meter of an article expressed in grams. Used for paper, textiles, other plastics produced in sheets.

Well, and everything is clear. So surely the bigger the weight, the better, right? WRONG! The notion that a higher t-shirt weight = better quality is a MYTH! The grammage is only one of several characteristics to look at when choosing a T-shirt for printing, and not at all the most important. The final quality of the T-shirt is mainly influenced by:

kind of cotton, yarn
cut
welt construction
type of stitching
method of dyeing (black is not equal to black!).
individual taste, target group, current fashion

This last point is as important as any other. Some prefer to wear t-shirts that are more fitted to the body (slim), while others prefer looser cuts. Someone is more comfortable with a lower, “airy” weight of 150 gram/m2, while someone else wants to feel the weight of fleshy cotton of 210 g/m2 or even more. Fortunately, the market for T-shirts and promotional apparel is so well stocked that it will satisfy even the most sophisticated expectations. So the most important question you should answer is.

What do I need t-shirts for?

With T-shirt weights it’s like with wine – you need to match it to the context and use, just as you match wine to a meal or occasion 🙂 Is it a one-time promotional event, a casual advertising gadget? Are you creating your own clothing brand? Or maybe you need workwear for your company or a T-shirt with your own print to amaze your friends? Usually, a promotional T-shirt for a hostess for a one-time event does not need to meet the exorbitant requirements, because it will not be worn again. On the other hand, a promotional gadget conveys the image of your company, so it can’t be tacky; customer demands are increasing year by year. The more clearly you specify the need, the easier it will be to tailor a specific solution.

A tale of the best quality at the lowest price

I hope you don’t believe in fairy tales. You have to pay for quality. This is obvious. Fortunately, competition in the apparel market is huge, so it is possible to buy great quality shirts at a (very) good price. You just need to know where and what to look for. There are several hundred larger and smaller players operating in the promotional apparel market. The most popular t-shirt brands in Poland are:

Sol’s
B&C
Malfini
Russell
Stedman
Tee Jays
Promostars
Fruit of the Loom
JHK
Gildan

Saying that “T-shirts made by company X are good/bad” is fundamentally inaccurate and unprofessional for the reasons already outlined and for the fact that different types of T-shirts are produced within each company – from the most basic to the premium class. The best quality T-shirts are made of combed or semi combed cotton. Not all promotional clothing manufacturers have them in their offerings.

An inconvenient truth

A popular sin of T-shirt manufacturers is overstating the grammage in official information materials. Besides, as you already know, grammage is the least important factor in determining the quality of a T-shirt. Therefore, do not rely on dry information alone, but check the subject on your own. Order samples, wear, support.

Since you are reading this, you are just on your way to enlightenment 😉 I understand that all this may sound complicated for a, seemingly, such a trivial thing as shirt weights. When I started this post, I warned that you won’t find clear-cut, black-and-white answers here, because there simply aren’t any. It all depends on your needs and budget.

Taste and wash

I will now reveal to you the backstory of our company. For potential customers who want to make a super-considerate choice, we suggest ordering a sample of 2-4 types of T-shirts. We choose them knowing the target use of the T-shirt. This way, you can easily and inexpensively find out “organoleptically” what suits you best before you place the right order and spend your budget. The behavior of the T-shirt after the first wash is also important, as the type of material will determine whether you buy a mossy “rag” or a decent T-shirt that will last a long time and look good after many washings.