The endless struggle of too many bad fitting t-shirts
In my opinion, clothes can be one of the toughest object categories to manage while practicing minimalism. They seem to have a natural ability to accumulate and stack up over time (literally). For me, t-shirts were the worst offender.
I am very particular about how my t-shirts fit, and over time I started to realize that I gravitated to the same 2 or 3 shirts constantly that I thought fit best. I never even wore 80% of my shirts that I thought fell short in terms of fit and therefore comfort.
The process of digging through my shirts and wasting energy deciding which one to wear felt extra ridiculous when I always ended up going to the same handful of shirts time and time again.
I made the conscious decision to do some research to find a shirt that would fit me perfectly, and dramatically minimize my wardrobe. The search was on, and after reading through a few subreddits I stumbled across True Classic.
The discovery
I ordered the Classic Crew Neck 6 pack (one black, white, carbon grey, navy blue, army green, and light grey) and I haven’t bought another t-shirt since (in about two years). In all of my research, I wasn’t able to find another shirt with such high reviews at the price point of $15-20 USD per shirt.
After ordering these shirts and wearing them for a month or so– it was the easiest decision of my life to donate all of my remaining t-shirts to goodwill.
True Classic also has a paid membership, which I believe was about $12 USD per year which enables you to earn dollar credits with each purchase, and offers discounts and perks. With all of the discounts and promotions– the shirts realistically come in at about $10 a piece.
I like that all of my t-shirts are now solid earthy colors– it’s dramatically simplified the process of getting dressed each day.
The best active wear t-shirt
But perhaps my favorite part of True Classic are their Active Crew Necks. These are legitimately the most comfortable active wear shirts I have ever worn. I wear them during CrossFit, or when I’m walking around town or running errands.
The quality is great and they have the same great fit around the neck and arms– but provide more room in the torso area which is great when you’re working out. I bought 4 of the Active Crew necks, and have not needed to buy another shirt for working out since.
All in all, these 10 shirts allow me to dress for pretty much every situation. Shopping is not my thing, and it feels great to not have to spend any more time searching for the perfect fit.
Things I don’t love
As with anything, there are some very minor critiques I have of the true classic line up.
I have noticed that the carbon grey shirt runs slightly smaller than the others in length, so I have avoided purchasing more even though I like the color.
I’ve noticed that the countries in which the shirts are manufactured do vary. There are very very minimal differences in fit between each. Other than the carbon grey, it’s negligible, but I’d love to see True Classic tighten up the quality control.
Just like any material, it does wear slightly over time. With the cotton blend, I have noticed minor pilling at about the 1 year mark (shirt is being worn and washed once per week). For a $10 t-shirt, this feels reasonable. So I would say that you’ll likely want to purchase a new pack about once a year.
In addition to their classic crew necks, True Classic has quite a few other products. I have tried their polos, button downs, and pants but have not been blown away like I have been with the crew necks. They all feel a bit on the tight side– whereas the crew necks ride the balance of form fitting and comfortability perfectly.
