Best Men's Heavyweight T-Shirts 2024, According to GQ Style Editors


We yap a lot about T-shirts. They’re the foundation of any well-balanced fashion diet, after all. And if you like your tees with a bit more protein, the best heavyweight T-shirts are more like ribeye steaks than a salad bowl—they’re beefy, luxurious, and the kind of meal that could make seriously consider going fully carnivore.

Heavyweight T-shirts aren’t just, well, heavier. That extra meat means the fabric has more structure, so it hangs more rigidly and less billowy. They’re also less of a year-round affair since they retain heat more than their midweight counterparts—so if you can’t take the heat, you might want to avoid these heifers in the summertime. You also may have to pay a tad extra for a heavier tee, but you’ll also get more mileage with it since there’s more material.

For something so foundational, the wrong tee, heavy or otherwise, can really mess with your entire wardrobe, let alone a single fit. But the good news is that the right tee can make everything go oh so right. So to lead you toward the path of infinite drip, we put together only the best heavyweight T-shirts on the market right now.


The Best Men’s Heayweight T-Shirts, According to GQ


Best Heavyweight Tee Overall: Buck Mason Field Spec Heavy-Cotton Tee

Buck Mason

Field-Spec Cotton Heavy Tee

Pros

  • Soft, brushed fabric
  • Looks great untucked

Cons

Remember James and the Giant Peach? Buck Mason’s Field-Spec tee is a lot like the titular stone fruit—thick, airy, and ludicrously soft. But unlike that cinematic peach, the shirt is perfectly sized and not cartoonishly large; the silhouette leans just a touch relaxed and slightly shorter than others on this list, which makes it perfect for wearing untucked (and ideal for all you short kings).

Best Budget Heavyweight Tee: Kirkland Signature Crew Neck Tee

Kirkland Signature

Crew Neck T-Shirts (6-pack)

Pros

  • Affordable and frequently on sale
  • No side seams
  • Good for wearing tucked in

Cons

  • Not as heavy as other tees
  • Length may be too long for some

If this were the Grammys, Kirkland Signature would be Beyoncé. No, really. While its signature crewneck is our pick for the best budget heavyweight tee, we could’ve anointed it our best value option. We could’ve even given it the crown for best heavyweight T-shirt overall, if not a Lifetime Achievement Award for its ongoing contributions to the genre.

For a tee that costs less than $10 per unit, it has some surprisingly stellar specs. It’s made from 205GSM combed cotton (a notch lighter than the beloved 3sixteen option further down the list), comes with taped neck seams and a classic cut, and is best bought exactly as it’s sold: A six-pack you can scoop with express shipping any time you need to re-up.

Best Upgrade Heavyweight Tee: Lady White Co. Rugby Tee

Lady White Co.

Rugby T-Shirt

Pros

  • Ultra beefy, almost like a light sweater
  • Cut and sewn in Los Angeles
  • Relaxed fit, not too long

Cons

  • Pricier than most
  • Might be too heavy for some

Lady White Co. has served certified T-shirt obsessives since its inception, and its Rugby crewneck is the heaviest in its arsenal, clocking in at a whopping 10 ounces of premium jersey. It’s cut, sewn, and knit entirely in Los Angeles—an anomaly in the T-shirt world—and the boxy fit and tight neckline reference Hanes’ legendary Beefy T, taken to a sublime extreme. There are plenty of artisanal tees on this list that aficionados will love, but like your homie who insists on bantering with the sommelier, some people just get excited seeing a California label.

Best Heavyweight Pocket Tee: Flint and Tinder American Heavyweight Pocket T-Shirt

Flint and Tinder

American Heavyweight Pocket T-Shirt

Pros

  • Made in the USA
  • Available in 10 colors

Cons

  • Faded, lived-in look is not for everyone

You didn’t think the heavyweight gods forsake the pocket-tee-devotees among us, did you? Weighing in at a properly hefty 8.5 ounces, Huckberry’s American-made heavyweight tee is built to last a long, long time. We’re fairly sure that chest pocket is specifically built to hold a handful of gold coins to take with you into the afterlife. It’s so heavy that it’ll out-beef your densest T-shirt and even go toe to toe with your most weighty flannel shirts. So if you’re in desperate need of a pocket tee for the long haul, consider your needs met.

Best Multipack Heavyweight Tee: 3sixteen Heavyweight T-Shirt

3sixteen

Heavyweight T-Shirt (2-Pack)

Pros

Cons

  • Limited color availability

If you’re the kind of guy who knows a good tee is hard to come by, you’ll want to stock up when you find the right one. Most multipack tees are where you’d expect them to be—in a big box store full of low-quality goods. But 3sixteen’s heavyweight T-shirt is not messing around. The fabric (knit in Canada exclusively for the brand) weighs in at a chunky 260GSM, and it has a silky hand and a dense, structured feel. On top of that, it’s built with a sturdy triple-needle coverstitched collar, so while the fabric will get softer with age, the collar will retain its shape over time. Oh, and it’s entirely resistant to shrinkage, too.

Best Cropped Heavyweight Tee: Abercrombie & Fitch Premium Heavyweight Cropped Tee

Abercrombie & Fitch

Premium Heavyweight Cropped Tee

Pros

  • Trendy cropped cut
  • Wide range of colors available
  • Vintage-inspired washes

Cons

These days, fashion‘s most stylish men operate on the golden ratio, whereby your top equals about one third of the total length of your outfit and your pants take up the remaining two thirds. It’s a simple and nearly infallible rule, but finding the right T-shirt to pull it off is easier said than done, especially when you narrow down your parameters to heavyweight tees. This Abercrombie tee is the answer. It’s boxy and cropped to sit right at the hips, and the hefty all-cotton fabric weighs in at 275gsm (out-beefing many options on this list). It comes in a ton of colors, each with a lived-in vintage-inspired wash that’s begging for some thrashed baggy jeans and beat-up sneakers.

Best Oversized Heavyweight Tee: Uniqlo U Crew Neck T-Shirt

Uniqlo U

Crew Neck Short-Sleeve T-Shirt

Pros

  • Available in 13 colors
  • Solid construction
  • Relaxed but not too boxy

Cons

  • Fabric is a bit rough
  • Requires a little break in period

If you wandered into the GQ office on any given day of the week, there’s a good chance you’d spot a handful of folks wearing this exact tee. The Christophe Lemaire-designed sub-label is a reliable source of thoughtful menswear at prices that belie the quality involved, and its tee consistently tops our list. It’s made from a substantial all-cotton jersey with a dry hand and a boxy fit, along with a thick, vintage-inspired bound collar. At just $20, it ain’t the cheapest option out there, but it’s probably one of the best values. If our word isn’t enough to convince you, maybe the fact that Tyler, the Creator swears by ’em will.

Best Streetwear-Favorite Heavyweight Tee: AIStyle Apparel AAA Plain Blank Short Sleeve T-Shirt

AlStyle Apparel

AAA Plain Blank Men’s Short Sleeve T-Shirt

Graphic tees are the backbone of every budding streetwear brand, and the biggest names in the game have built their lore on AIStyle Apparel’s AAA blanks. They’re as beefy as the old-school Hanes Beefy Tees, clocking in at a respectable 6 ounces—and like many sought-after vintage labels, they’re built with seamless, tubular knit construction. Ask any streetwear obsessive and they’ll tell you that, way back when, streetwear royalty used the AAA blanks to churn out countless box logos. So whether you’re looking to start up your own empire or just need a solid tee for a low price, these are some of the most reputable on the market.

Best Under-the-Radar Heavyweight Tee: Pro Club Heavyweight Cotton Long Sleeve Crew Neck T-Shirt

Pro Club

Heavyweight Cotton Long Sleeve Crew Neck T-Shirt

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Snug collar keeps shape

Cons

You might not be familiar with Pro Club’s tees, but their chunky 6-ounce fabric—in tandem with their old-school, no-frills design—says you care about your style, but not in an obsessive kind of way. Think of of its long-sleeve T-shirt as a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that doesn’t bother catering to the cool kids, but inevitably ends up attracting them anyway.


More Heavyweight T-Shirts We Love

Merz B. Schwanen 2-Thread Heavyweight T-Shirt

Merz B. Schwanen

2-Thread Heavyweight T-Shirt

This shirt, made famous by Carmy in The Bear, is just one of the tees Jeremy Allen White wears in the show (unsurprisingly, the other one makes a cameo immediately below). Merz B. Schwanen makes its tees on ultra-rare loopwheel knitting machines that lend the fabric a dreamy drape and an incredibly dense, inexplicably soft feel. (They’re known to shrink a solid amount, so you might want to size up.) It’s one of the best slim-fitting tees out there, but if you’re looking for a version that’s slightly more relaxed, keep scrolling.

Whitesville Crew Neck T-Shirt

Whitesville

Crew Neck T Shirt

Before solidifying Jeremy Allen White’s spot between Marlon Brando and James Dean on the Mt. Rushmore of great T-shirt-wearers, Whitesville was a defunct American brand resuscitated by the Japanese. Naturally, the brand’s tees are made with exacting era-appropriate accuracy and exceedingly good construction: the jersey fabric, cut from long-staple combed cotton, weighs in at 7 ounces, and is made using a tubular knitting construction that does away with any pesky side seams.

Camber 302 Max-weight Pocket T-Shirt

Camber

302 Max-weight Pocket T-Shirt

Gird your torso: Camber’s 302 max-weight tees feel a little like wearing a brick wall. The cult-loved American brand makes T-shirt that are hardy, stiff, and beefy in a way that reassures you you’ll enjoy a long life together. If that sounds intimidating, just imagine the drawn-out journey of actively watching (and feeling) your T-shirt get better and better over time. That’s what we call personal growth, people.

Comfort Colors Adult Short Sleeve Tee Style 1717

Comfort Colors

Adult Short Sleeve Tee, Style 1717

Need a weighty T-shirt in a grip of colors? Comfort Colors has got a library full of beefy tees with a wonderfully worn-in, garment-dyed feel.

Everlane The Premium-Weight Relaxed Crew

Everlane

Premium-Weight Crew Relaxed Crew

What other T-shirt comes with a 365-day guarantee? We doubt that you’ll ever need to take advantage of such a generous offer, especially when you’re dealing with a tee as dense and well-made as this.

Carhartt Loose Fit Heavyweight Short-Sleeve Pocket T-Shirt

Carhartt

Loose Fit Heavyweight Short-Sleeve Pocket T-Shirt

Some advice: You can enjoy a proper heavyweight tee just because—without having to do actual Carhartt things.


What makes a T-shirt “heavyweight”?

So you’re that guy—you want the hard numbers. Well, this is where things get a little hazy. Fabric weight is measured in ounces per square yard. (For reference, the average pair of jeans is made from denim that weighs around 12-13 ounces; a standard T-shirt usually weighs somewhere around 4-5 ounces.) The confusing thing is weight classes are sort of left up to interpretation and vary from brand to brand. Some brands classify 6-ounce tees as heavyweight, while others might bill them as merely midweight.

To make matters worse, other labels measure their fabrics in grams per meter (regardless of their country’s system of measurement). Unfortunately, simply converting metric to imperial won’t quite do the trick. So the not-so-short answer is that most heavyweight T-shirts start at around 6 ounces and can go up to around 9 ounces. (If we’re talking GSM, that’s about 200GSM to 290GSM). Some truly wild options damn near break the scales at 14 ounces, but that’s really more like heavyweight sweatshirt territory.

While numbers are objective (at least in theory), they can still translate to a subjective experience. This is why we handled each and every one of the options below ourselves; what we lack in fancy laboratory-grade measuring equipment we make up for in good ol’ hands-on experience. And besides, who would you rather take your styling cues from—a scientist or a menswear expert? We thought so.



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