Ask Tug: Looking for a thin, cotton, muscle-style undershirt? Not a wife-beater

Although I don’t cover muscle-undershirts all too often, I thought it would be good to share this reader’s question who is looking for a particular kind.

I guess one of the reasons I don’t make it a point to review or research muscle undershirts is because they seem of limited utility as an undershirt. I guess I can see that they could be a good solution for guys looking to get the chest/back coverage (cover hair, absorb sweat) but don’t like the sleeves of the undershirt to show through their light colored outer shirts.

The obvious problem is that they don’t offer any underarm sweat protection. If you’re not one who sweats much, then these muscle shirts might be a good solution for you, however, if you’re looking for an undershirt whose sleeves won’t show under light colored dress shirts, try out wearing a grey or heather grey undershirt in place of your white undershirt (or muscle tee). Grey undershirts will reflect less light then white undershirts and will be more inconspicuous under those lighter shirts!

Regardless, here’s the reader’s email for your reading enjoyment:

Hi Tug,

I’ve looked through your site, and was interested by what I read.  But I  didn’t find the answer to my question.

My question is: Does anyone make a thin, all-or-mostly-cotton, muscle-style undershirt?

By “muscle-style”, I mean a crew-style shirt without the sleeves.  In my mind, a “muscle style” undershirt covers the upper chest,  whereas a “wife-beater” has narrow straps that reveal some of the upper chest. I’m looking for the thinnest muscle-style undershirt that I can find with a high cotton content.

I’d be very interested to hear from you!

Thanks,
J

My Response:

hey j!

thanks for stopping by and sending in your question.

I don’t have any personal experience with muscle shirts, however, I know that several manufacturers offer them including Jockey, Hanes, FoTL. If I were to make any recommendation, I’d suggest you try out the Jockey Echelon muscle tee since it looks like it has the same fabric as the Echelon undershirt I reviewed not too long ago and also happens to be one of my top 5 favorite undershirts. I would assume the overall fit and feel will be the same, plus it will most certainly be even a little lighter and cooler than the full undershirt because the muscle t does not have sleeves.

if you wind up buying one and find out you like it, please email me back and  let me know your thoughts!

best,
tug

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