Eric: Today, we're talking about the most important clothing item that has separated
mankind from caveman for hundreds of years.
The undershirt.
Hey guys, welcome back to Style Tips for the Everyday Guy from Cladwell, where you can
get your personal roadmap to dress better.
I'm Eric.
Chris: I'm Chris.
Eric: Today we're talking about undershirts.
Chris: Yeah.
Eric: Maybe not the fanciest of topics, but some important questions to answer nonetheless.
Chris: Yeah.
Eric: Let's jump right in.
First of all, I want to know how do we define an undershirt?
Specifically separating an undershirt from a T-shirt.
Chris: Yeah, that's a good question.
Usually they're thinner, lighter weight.
They're meant to be layered under other things.
That's one of the ways you can tell.
Also, you buy them in a bag.
Most guys don't buy their T-shirts in a bag.
Eric: That's true.
Chris: That's another good way to tell if you're at the store and you're wondering if
it's appropriate for that.
They're usually a little less expensive than a T-shirt because they're thinner material,
lighter weight.
Eric: What about color?
Chris: Yeah, they're white.
Almost always.
You can buy grey undershirts, black undershirts even, but almost always they're white.
Eric: Okay.
What are the main reasons I'm wearing an undershirt?
Chris: Sure.
I think the two best reasons to wear an undershirt are that it actually will keep you a little
warmer, like I said, meant for layering.
That's nice.
You get the close layer nice and tight to the body.
Also, it actually will prevent you from getting stains on your outer layer.
If you have nicer things that you don't want to wash as much, like a dress shirt or a sweater
something like that, you can wear that close to the body.
That'll absorb all your sweat.
Eric: In order to do a little bit less laundry and help your nicer items last a bit longer.
Chris: Yeah.
Eric: If you're wearing an undershirt, throw those in the laundry.
That's not as big of a deal.
Chris: Yeah, easier to replace, inexpensive.
Like I said, you don't have to worry about those.
You can keep your nicer things nice.
Eric: Okay.
Maybe the most important question centering around an undershirt is is it a fashion mistake
to let my undershirt show?
To have it seen?
Chris: Yeah, we've had some good debates about this in the office.
As a general rule, don't show your undershirt.
Eric: Okay.
Chris: That's a general rule.
Eric: General rule.
Chris: I will say for some guys, that's probably less of a fashion faux pas than for other
guys.
If you're a more formal guy or a trendier guy, you're probably going to want to pay
more attention to whether your undershirt shows when you're putting together your outfit.
If you're a casual guy, you got other things to worry about.
Eric: Yes.
Chris: You don't have to consider it as much.
Eric: You guys don't know who you are, go check out your style analytics at Cladwell.
If you're in that lower left quadrant ... Chris: Yes, that's the casual [crosstalk 00:02:23].
Eric: That's the casual guy.
For you, it might not be as big of a deal to let your undershirt show.
Chris: Yeah.
Eric: I think that's kind of cool about Cladwell itself.
We know that different guys have different style personalities.
Chris: Yeah, you're going to want to pay attention to different things in order to complete your
looks.
Eric: We did talk about there are some hard lines, where you never want ... Even if you're
a casual guy.
Chris: Yeah, for everybody.
Yeah, including casual guy.
If you're wearing a dress shirt, that's the best example.
Never let your undershirt show, whether you're wearing it with a tie or without.
Eric: Okay.
On Cladwell, while we don't make personal recommendations for undershirts, you guys
are on your own for that, we do make recommendations for T-shirts.
Chris: Yeah.
Eric: Just to clarify this a little bit further, when is it okay ... We said it's not okay
to let your undershirt show.
It is okay, obviously if we're recommending T-shirts as part of your wardrobe, to let
your T-shirt show.
Chris: Definitely.
Eric: When is that okay?
Chris: Of course you can wear a T-shirt by itself, with jeans, [inaudible 00:03:17],
whatever.
That's fine.
You can wear it under a blazer.
That's a great, great look.
You could wear it under a sweatshirt or a sweater as part of a layered look.
Eric: Yes.
Chris: You can even wear it like you've got on right now.
He's got this light blue v-neck T-shirt and the shirt on top of it ... The reason this
works so well, I think, is that you've got three buttons it look ... Yeah, three buttons
undone.
You're showing the T-shirt.
If you were buttoned up all the way to the top and your T-shirt was just peeking out,
that might look a little weird, but because you're really showing it off ...
Eric: If I'm half way unbuttoned or all the way unbuttoned, it's okay because that's a
look ... Chris: Exactly.
Eric: If you're buttoning up, trying not to let it show essentially.
Chris: Right.
Eric: Okay.
If you're going for the look to not let your undershirt show, what are the options we have
to actually get that done, to execute that?
Chris: Of course, you could not wear one, but then you lose benefits that we already
talked about.
Of course, the second option is to wear a v-neck undershirt.
There are varying lengths of these, so you might have to try a couple on to find one
that doesn't actually show.
Eric: Yeah.
You could go with the [inaudible 00:04:20].
Chris: The [inaudible 00:04:19].
You could do that.
Eric: Some of you guys might know that.
We'll link below.
One last question I have is the length of the undershirt.
Sometimes because they're a little less expensive, they shrink up.
Chris: Yeah.
Eric: If you're wearing it under a shirt, it can ... There's a line you can ...
Chris: Oh yeah, it bunches up around the waist line.
Eric: It bunches up.
Yeah, what do I do about the length or is there something I can do to fix that problem?
Chris: Thanks to my eighth grade teacher, Ms. Han, I have a solution for you.
I still do this, you'll be happy to know Ms. Han.
You can actually tuck your undershirt into your underwear.
Use that elastic band around your underwear, around your waist, keep it nice, in place.
It gives you a slim profile.
Eric: That's creative.
I've done that once or twice.
It feels a little weird at first, but you get over that really quickly because you do
have that nice slim look and it stays in place.
Chris: Yeah, it actually ... A lot less fussing during the day.
Eric: Cool.
All right guys, hopefully this was helpful for your.
If it was, give it a thumbs up.
Hopefully we've answered everything you've ever wanted to know about undershirts or need
to know.
If you guys have other style questions, be sure to leave them in the comment below.
We'll be sure to answer them for you and hopefully put them on a video like this one.
If you haven't, go check out Cladwell.
Get your free, personal roadmap to dress better.
Thanks guys so much for listening.
Chris: We'll see you next time.