How to Tell Whether a Shirt Is Worth the Money

There is a particular kind of disappointment reserved for a shirt that cost real money and looked, on the rail, identical to one that cost a third as much. Six washes later the difference is obvious, but by then it's too late to return either of them.

The good news is that most of the difference is visible before you buy, if you know where to look. None of it requires expertise. It requires about forty seconds and a willingness to turn the shirt inside out in the shop, which is less embarrassing than it sounds.

Cheap shirting is made from single-ply yarn — one strand, spun once. It feels fine new because it's been finished to feel fine new. Two-ply yarn is two strands twisted together, and the difference isn't softness, it's what happens over time. Single-ply softens for a month and then starts to pill and thin at the collar and cuffs. Two-ply starts soft and stays roughly where it started.

Held against light, single-ply fabric looks slightly uneven, with a faint fuzz at the surface. Two-ply looks flat and dense, almost like paper. You won't see a number on the label for this, but "two-fold" or "2-ply" printed anywhere on the swing tag is a very good sign, and a thread count with "s" after it — 100s, 120s — is a hint the maker cared enough to mention it.

The seam that runs from the armpit to the hem is where a maker either spends money or doesn't. A good shirt uses a flat-felled seam — the raw edge folded under and stitched twice, so there's no loose fabric inside and nothing to fray. It looks like two parallel lines of stitching, and it feels flat under your thumb.

A cheap shirt uses a single overlocked seam, which is that zigzag stitch you see on t-shirts. It's faster to make, it works, and it's the first thing to go. If the side seam is overlocked, everything else about the shirt was probably built to the same budget.

If the side seam is overlocked, everything else about the shirt was probably built to the same budget.

Pinch the collar point between your thumb and finger and press. On a well-made shirt it feels like a single firm layer — the interlining is sewn in, not glued. On a cheap one it feels slightly spongy, and if you look closely you can sometimes see tiny bubbles where the glue has already started to separate. That separation is what turns into the rippled, curling collar you've seen on shirts that are two years old.

Sewn interlining survives the wash. Fused interlining survives most of them, and then one day doesn't.

None of these checks correlate reliably with price. Some expensive shirts fail all three, and some mid-priced ones pass. What they correlate with is whether anyone at the company making the shirt was paying attention to the fabric and the seams rather than the campaign. That's the only thing worth paying for.