Question from a reader who loves the Kirkland Signature brand undershirts from Costco, but wonders if they are available in black.
Greetings.
I currently wear the costco Kirkland select undershirts and think they are the best. Recently I’ve been trying to find them in black. I read on the net that they exist. However, I’ve called multiple stores in the LA area and nobody has heard of the tee shirt in black.
Can you recommend a way to find these shirts in black? Summer is approaching and I’d like to buy a few packs for casual summer wear.
Thanks for your help.
Mark
Sincerely,
My Response:
Hey Mark,
Just heard back from Costco’s main office with a confirmation. Unfortunately, they don’t currently offer the Kirkland undershirts in black.
Just curious, have you ever tried dyeing your white undershirts? I did a little experiment not too long ago and dyed a couple of white undershirts another color and they turned out pretty good.
Best,
Tug
Mark’s Reply
Thanks Tug!
I found a few businesses out here that do custom dyeing. I plan on dropping off a few packages of white Kirkland select tees next week and have them dyed black.
I really appreciate your time and effort.
best,
Mark
Update June 21, 2009 – I recently got an email update from Mark.
It turns out, the cheapest price I’ve found is $45 per pound. I was going to have a six pack of shirts dyed which turned out to be a few pounds. I can’t rationalize spending more than 130 dollars for a handful of black tee shirts from Costco.
I’ve continued to call around, but custom dying is expensive.
I thought of doing it myself, but I live in an apartment complex with a shared washer. I don’t want to risk ruining other people’s clothing.
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I called 5 businesses and continue to look for places that will help me out but at a more reasonable price.
Well I asked around about custom shirt dyeing and found someone who can get cotton undershirts/t-shirts professionally dyed pretty inexpensively (about $9.75 per pound), but requires some minimums since he doesn’t do it regularly right now. So, I emailed Mark back and offered to make an introduction. We’ll see how that goes.
If you’re looking to get some of your white cotton undershirts dyed another color, drop me a line and I’ll make an introduction to the same guy.
They’re back! I just scored two four-packs of the black and one four-pack of the grey at a Costco here in Phoenix. $15.99 per four-pack.
that’s awesome geo! thanks for letting us all know (:
Hey there,
I’d really like to get my hands on two packs of the black t-shirts in size Large. We don’t have them out here in Chicago anymore. Any chance you’d consider buying two packs for me and shipping them my way? I’d be happy to pay you for your time. There’s simply no other black T-shirt that I like as much as these.
If you’re interested, shoot me an e-mail: Nathan (at) nmbeauchamp (dot) com.
Thanks!
Nathan
heya nathan, i just called a costco not too far from where i’m doing a little work-project and they are currently stocking the 4-pack (black and grey). they said they have over 500 in stock.
instead of any payment for the favor, is there any room for a character-likeness of me in your sci-fi book? (:
drop me a line and let’s see if we can put something together.
I bought a 4-pack of the black about a year ago for about $16. They had black and gray at the time, but they only had them for about a month. I’ve been checking back every week since and no luck.
I sent Costco an email today asking them to carry them again. Maybe if they get enough requests they’ll offer them again.
heya geo — you never know. though, my suspicion is that the item is either seasonal, or they just test the response rate from time to time.
gildan is the one that makes those tees/undershirts for costco, so there is a small possibility that there is a specific black gildan-branded t-shirt/undershirt that is the same or similar as the ones they make for costco. maybe i can find out from someone at gildan — i’ll shoot a back channel email to a guy i know who might have a contact at gildan.
stay tuned (:
I noticed that Costco is offering the shirts on their website, but only in limited sizes. The black ones are only available in small. And they cost about three times what I paid in my local store.
After I posted that I saw that they were made by Gildan, so I ordered a Gildan G200 6.1 oz Ultra Cotton T-Shirt from Amazon, hoping it would be the same. Unfortunately it isn’t. The size is about the same, but it’s lighter in weight than my Kirkland ones, which are apparently 7.1 oz fabric, and its not tagless. It’s different in a lot of details.
Hopefully you can get more info from Gildan. Thanks for pursuing that.
I got a response back from my email to Costco, but it just said thanks for contacting us, we’ll forward this to our buyers for their consideration. Doesn’t sound too promising.
They did Have Premium Tshirts In Store For More Money, But I Didn’t Like The Way They Fit Anyways
I think this is a seasonal item..? I bought mine in Salinas, Ca
that’s a possibility diane. though, i don’t think i’ve ever come across the black kirkland undershirts personally — but then again, i don’t always visit the undershirt aisle there because their offering doesn’t change that often.
sign my petition to get them to sell them online. http://www.change.org/petitions/costco-make-black-kirkland-crew-necks-available-all-the-time-in-store-or-online
I too can vouch that they do, indeed, exist. I found a 4-pack for around $14 at Costco in Denver. They also make them in grey.
I wish I’d bought more. When I went back, all medium sized blacks were no longer there. Hopefully they continue to make them… I love Costco but you’re never sure to find the same thing twice.
thanks for the confirmation matt! i think mrs. tug and i are going to get a costco membership today, so i’ll take a look when we go there. will post information here if i find anything out.
I saw black and grey Kirkland t’s at Costco in Livermore, ca about a month ago, but I didn’t buy them at the time. I went to two stores today, Fremont and Santa Clara with no luck. Called Livermore, but they are sold out. Also called Danville store and they don’t have them. Was looking online and ran across your question. They do make them for sure. I saw them. Don’t know why they don’t have them at this time. I checked amazon with no luck, but I think eBay may have some. Good luck
hey ken,
this is really interesting/good news! when i originally wrote that post, i heard back from costco customer service and they said they didn’t offer them. of course, that was some time ago, so they may have released them since (considering you saw them).
let me try to reach out to costco again to see if we can get an more intel. maybe i’ll call a few of them down here in socal to see if they are carrying them down here.
did you try the costco in san jose?