Why You Should NOT Wear An Undershirt

So, I’ve decided to stop wearing undershirts altogether and forget about this whole undershirt-wearing thing….NOT.

Come on, now would I stop wearing undershirts? Not likely.

But after all the years of talking about undershirts, I thought it would be interesting to share some thoughts from someone else who prefers not wearing an undershirt.

Sven from Facebook sent me the following note a little while back:

Dear Tug,

I just wrote an extensive article about whether to wear or not to wear an undershirt, which might be of interest to you.

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You can find it here.

The article goes into a little bit of the history of undershirts, shares some information about the different styles and fits of undershirts, and even provides some instructions on how to create your own body-colored (aka: “invisible”) undershirt using black tea.

That’s a great tip. You could also use Rit Dye to change the color of your white undershirts.

For some reason Sven is not a fan of white-colored undershirts, and even prefers body-colored undershirts over, say, heather grey undershirts.

Not that I have anything against skin-toned undershirts, because I really respect the companies that offer them, but personally speaking my defacto colors are white, then heather grey.

In that order.

I look at it this way, if I have to take off my outer shirt for any reason, what color undershirt would I feel most comfortable wearing?

White and heather grey of course.

Black would be fine too, but it’s summer, hot, and there’s no freaking way I’d be wearing any color undershirt that could absorb more heat.

Reasons Why You Should NOT Wear An Undershirt

At the end of Sven’s article, he provides Pros (4) and Cons (7) on wearing undershirts.  Here are the reason why Sven believes you should not wear undershirts:

1. Historically, we have outlined above that elegant men did not wear an additional undergarment under their shirts.
2. In terms of comfort, not wearing an undershirt should reduce the feeling of constriction that can come with wearing multiple, similarly shaped layers.
3. Furthermore, the extra layer of cloth is usually undesirable in the summer and an undershirt will show clearly through an open-weave shirt regardless of color
4. Cold in the winter? A heavy weight shirt fabric is an excellent alternative to adding an undershirt layer
5. Proponents of undershirts sometimes argue that it is more hygienic to wear undershirts however, if you shower regularly and wash your dress shirts after they are worn, you should have absolutely no problem
6. In my experience, my shirts last for a long time and I have yet to find any evidence that an undershirt will prolong the life of one’s dress shirt
7. Finally, almost all elegant men I know – including Clark Gable, G. Bruce Boyer and Herbert Stricker – do not wear undershirts underneath their dress shirts

I don’t know about you, but it looks as though Sven is saying that if you wear an undershirt, you are NOT an elegant man.

Not that I have burning desire to be elegant, but the fact that I could be considered un-elegant just because I wear an undershirt most of the time is a little off-putting.

I’m not really serious, mind you (:

Tug, Do You Wear Undershirts All The Time?

Hell no, though I do wear them MOST of the time. When don’t I wear an undershirt?

1. Lounging at home, before and after work. My clothing of choice when kicking back at mi casa is cargo shorts and a light/medium weight short sleeve button up collared shirt with no undershirt. I’m not sweating, not worried about my shirt getting dirty, and being sans-undershirt (without one) keeps me a hair bit cooler.
2. Going to the beach or any water activity. Why the hell would I wear an undershirt to the beach? Grab my linen button up, bathing suit, flip flops and I’m good to go.
3. At the gym. While I don’t wear the typical daily-wear undershirt, I do wear multiple layers of shirts at the gym. My base layer is usually some compression shirt.
4. In the shower and having “relations”. Nuff said.

Do You Wear Undershirts?

When do you or don’t you wear undershirts? Tell me about it in the comments section below.