I guess Hugh’s da man when it comes to wearing undershirts in movies. So, who made the iconic Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine tank top in the X-Men Origins sequel?
Tug on Male Movie Fashion: Flyboys & Australia
If you remember, back in November a reader wrote in wondering what undershirt the actors were wearing in the movie Flyboys (2006).
While I was researching that, I also ran across Hugh Jackon wearing a Henley/Shearer’s undershirt in the Epic movie “Australia”.
However, now we’re in search of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine undershirt.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Tank Top Undershirt
Well, Hugh’s back on the big screen again in the X-Men prequel Origins (in theaters on May 1).
In the movie, he is wearing a paper-thin ribbed tank top. Inquiring minds want to know which one he’s wearing.
According to Style Hunter, Costumer Louise Mingenbach chose ”Richelieu” ribbed tanks by Swiss brand Zimmerli in order to show off Wolverine’s buff arms.
Specifically, she liked the top’s ”traditional look.”
Mingenbach had each tank aged to a different level of distress, using about 50 in all.
Zimmerli Variegated Rib Tank Top
For those interested, the special rib design (wide and narrow ribs in the same fabric) in this high-end tank from Zimmerli is known as a Variegated Rib.
The Quest For Movie T-Shirts and Tank Tops Never Stops
Now that we have our answer for this particular movie, who’s next?
Finally, if you like to know more about Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine undershirt (or about any other movie T-shirt, to that matter) let me know in the comments.
Absolutely. I’ve tracked one down for $107 but that’s still outrageous. Just have to brainstorm or get very lucky and find a terrific match or a real one for a much cheaper price. $50-60 is reasonable considering it’s status but not entirerly. Thanks for your help.
Tug, your the man! I see an awesome tank and I think to myself, self, you’ll never find out how to get your hands on that and BAM, you have done all the work already and put it out here for eveyone. Truly, thank you. My only questions are 1. Can you recommend a similar but less expensive tank like this one and 2. Where can I get it? I’m sure It would take me days to find it and I would bet a lot of other guys might be interested too. Best regards!
heya russ, thanks for stopping by and posting your question buddy!
you know, over the years i have not come across another company that makes a tank top with a variable rib design like this one.
that’s not saying that it doesn’t exist — but as of right now, i couldn’t recommend another tank top with that particular rib design.
you may want to consider doing some google searches for variegated rib tank or variable rib tank, and if you ever wind up finding one, be sure to come back here to my site and let me know about it.
Do you know where I can find rolls of fabric like this? They also used the same sleeved version of this top in the Matrix on Tank.
heya aaron, the fabric used in that particular tank top is from zimmerli and called “richelieu rib”.
of course, you can attempt to contact zimmerli directly, but i’d highly doubt they’d sell you a roll of their fabric.
if you scan to the bottom of the article, you’ll see that it is also know as “variegated rib” fabric. i would suspect this might be a little hard to find, but you might want to try looking on sites like ebay, or simply google it.
depending on your location, you might be able to track down a fabric knitting company and see if they have any unused stock, but you’d need to be pretty specific about what color and weight you wanted. the other option could be checking out sourcing sites like alibaba.
i know from my own personal experience with this particular tank top from zimmerli, the fabric is pretty darn lightweight and fairly transparent.
the one thing i am curious about is that the tank that hugh jackman wore doesn’t look transparent at all, so i wonder if zimmerli made special ones for the movie with heavier fabric.
hope that helps (:
Thanks for your help.
Something doesn’t seem right, though, and I think you’ve rightly alluded to it. The Zimmerli top that Wolverine wears is noticeably thicker than the actual Richelieu top. Tank from the Matrix is wearing the full t – shirt with a full post – apocalyptic adjustments but it appears to be plenty thick enough to hold its colour and shape. That was 1999 though. I’m not sure how Wolverine, Tank and even the odd celebrity have ended up with a thicker variegated knit.
I had though the Matrix real world ship crew tops were custom cut but they were mostly sourced and adapted. Apoc has a white version, seen in the dining room scene in the Matrix, along with Tank’s grey variant.
Weird.
Aaron
hey aaron, i got the following email from one of my readers who works in a knitting mill in china:
so, if you do explore this further, you may want to ask for “irregular rib”, in addition to variegated rib or richelieu rib.
Any close matches that can be modified to match it as close as possible?
heya logan — good to hear from you buddy and thanks for your question!
i have not seen any tank tops that are similar (or a copy cat) of the zimmerli tank top hugh jackman was actually wearing in x-men origins.
you may to do some google/bing image searches for some of the “rib” terms i’ve used here in this article to see if something currently exists.
Working on that as we speak. I’d really like to know what top he wore in X1 or X2. Anyone have any ideas or where they the same brand and such? I’ve not had the bit to research this yet. Just started the project earlier today.
i’m only familiar with the zimmerli tank top shown here in this article, as that is the one tank top that got a lot of visual coverage.
but, in looking at photos from x2 on imdb (link), he is wearing this zimmerli richelieu rib tank top too.
sadly, the current price for the zimmerli richelieu rib tank top is a whopping $179 on customshirt1.com — which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.