Bunching Undershirt Sleeves. 6 Ways To Keep Them In Place

Great question from a reader about whether or not there’s a solution to keep undershirts sleeves in place.

undershirt with bunching sleeve

Hey man,

So I’m having trouble with t-shirt undershirts that ride up to my armpit while wearing them under sweaters.

Would you suggest I just cut off the sleeves?

Have you done this before? If so, Does it work properly?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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Thanks

Garrett

Undershirt Sleeves That Bunch Up

Heya Garrett,

Good to hear from you buddy and thanks for your question!

You know, I’ve never found an undershirt that would not bunch up, at least a little, in the armpit area.

Generally speaking though, if you buy a fitted undershirt (one with stretch), the armholes will be higher and the sleeves will usually be more fitted. 

As such, they will generally bunch up less than a loose or relaxed fit undershirt.

There’s more info below about wearing fitted undershirts to prevent sleeve bunching.

If you really want to prevent sleeve bunching, you may want to use some adhesive fashion tape, or other temporary clothing adhesives like I wrote about in this article about how to keep socks up (keep socks from falling down).

Outside of that, you may want to consider wearing an undershirt without sleeves, such as an a-shirt, tank top undershirt , or muscle shirt. Then, use a 7-day antiperspirant in your underarm area to prevent/minimize the amount of underarm sweat.

Hope the information helps (:

Let me know if you have any other questions!

What About Wearing Undershirts With Elbow-Length Sleeves?

I wrote about wearing undershirts with elbow length sleeves a good while back, and figured I’d mention it here for good measure.

While wearing undershirts with longer (short sleeves) would also help minimize the occurrence of bunching, it would not fully eliminate the issue.

Plus, you could only wear these longer-sleeve undershirts under long sleeve shirts.

Best Ways To Keep Sleeves In Place

So, since short sleeve undershirts are a bit more versatile, I think the most practical options are:

  • Switch to a fitted undershirt with spandex, that has closer fitting sleeves
  • Adhesive fashion tape
  • Body adhesive
  • Have a band of elastic sewn into the hem of your sleeves – this will hold better then the stretch fabric alone
  • Have a band of non-skin silicone elastic (a piece of elastic with a silicone bead, like this) sewn around the inside perimeter of sleeve end. The silicone bead + elastic should allow the sleeves to stay in place better
  • Try using an armband garter (amazon) – check the related products too

Do you have a tried-and-true trick to keep your undershirts sleeves in place and prevent them from bunching?

If so, tell me about in the comment section below.

Undershirts With No-Bunch Sleeves

Looking for undershirts with sleeves that don’t bunch or ride-up?

Here you go.

Hey Tug:

Here’s what I’m looking for.

I love wearing undershirts – the problem I have is the sleeves when you wear tight polo shirts.

The sleeves on most undershirts tend to ride up and wrinkle around the cuffs of the polo shirts – so was looking for tight undershirts without the sleeves (more like muscle shirts I imagine) – or do you have some you recommend that are form fitting around the arms that don’t ride up?

Thanks brother!

Mario

Undershirts With Sleeves That Don’t Bunch Up

tug-in-jeans-8a.png

Yo, yo! Hey there mario (:

Good to hear from you buddy and thanks for your question!

Here’s the real-deal my good fellow — pretty much any undershirt with sleeves, even those that are fitted, will ride up some during the day.

But, if the undershirt isn’t a baggy mess, the bunching up should be mostly unnoticeable.

Because you’re experiencing some amount of sleeve bunching that is troubling you, it’s very likely you’re just wearing an undershirt that is:

  1. Too big/baggy
  2. Made with armholes that are too big

Either way, you’re wearing the wrong undershirt. So, it’s time for you to try something new.

Nearly all of the undershirts in my top 5 favorite undershirts list has a fitted undershirt option.

Most of those fitted undershirts are designed with smaller arm holes too.

fitted undershirt example, with raglan sleeve.
fitted undershirt example, with raglan sleeve.

So you’ll not only get a fitted sleeve that will be less prone to ride up, if they do (which they will), the riding up effect won’t be as pronounced as with undershirts that have baggy sleeves and/or big armholes.

In fact, nearly any fitted undershirt will be designed with smaller armholes and fitted sleeves.

So, if something on my favorites page doesn’t float your boat, there are many other fitted undershirts available that you could choose from.

If the sleeve ride-up issue is really bugging you, you could try this little trick i used to keep up my slouching socks.

hope it helps (:


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