Are Hanes Undershirts Taking the “Comfort” Messaging Too Far?

I’ve been meaning to mention this issue about Hanes undershirts before, and was reminded of it on a recent trip to Target.

While I was perusing the aisles to see what undershirts Target had in stock, I saw two older women who spent no less than 20 minutes in the undershirt section.

Namely, they were pulling down the packs of undershirts, feeling them, and then quietly discussing in another language.

My best guess is that they were looking for some undershirts for their men, simultaneously trying to figure out which ones might be the softest.

Considering the amount of time they spent there, it’s obvious they were a little confused. Furthermore, they had a tough time figuring out which Hanes undershirt to purchase.

On a closer look, I took an inventory of the different Hanes undershirt offerings available, as well as the messaging on the packaging.

V-neck hanes comfortblend undershirts
Hanes – “Comfort” Messaging. Can you tell the difference?

Various Hanes Undershirt Offerings

Here’s what I found:

Premium “Perfect T” Hanes Undershirt

  • $11.99 2-pack
  • White, black, grey heather
  • V-Neck, Crew Neck
  • “Our Most Comfortable” messaging

Premium T-Shirt

  • ComfortSoft
  • “Our Most Comfortable” messaging
  • 3-Pack for $12.49

Value Pack Hanes Undershirts

  • ComfortSoft
  • Comfort Guarantee
  • $13.49 for 5-pack

Comfort Flex

  • 95/5 blend
  • $13.99 for 2 pack

ComfortBlend

  • Our Softest T-Shirt Ever
  • More durable and shrinks less than 100% cotton
  • 50/50 Cotton/Polyester blend
  • Around $14 for 2-pack
  • Actually very soft, and a very nice product for the price
  • Note: Hanes ComfortBlend undershirts come in different blends, not just 50/50 cotton/polyester. You can find them here on Amazon

I will be reviewing the ComfortBlend 50/50 Hanes undershirts before the end of the year.

See all the different “comfort”- type messaging? If all the packages say they are the most comfortable, which one is actually the most comfortable?

Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a “Comfort” Undershirt

Are the undershirts in the Premium T-shirt 3-pack the same as the 5-Pack value pack?

Why would I pick the “Perfect T” 100% cotton undershirts over the “Premium” 100% cotton undershirts?

I appreciate the value Hanes undershirts offer, but if I’m confused about their product line, wouldn’t other people be too?

27 thoughts on “Are Hanes Undershirts Taking the “Comfort” Messaging Too Far?”

  1. Since Hanes no longer produces Power Slim Fit. Is there something comparable?

    It’s extremely tight fitting as one commenter stated. It’s like a compression shirt.

    Very soft and stretchy.
    Not thin like most Hanes t-shirts out there currently.

    Reply
  2. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️
    I just want to get my hubby another pack of his favorite shirt.

    It’s YEARS old. THIN material, Full of holes (he says “air conditioning”), he will wear this as long as there is a thread on it.

    Perfect outdoor working man’s summer t-shirt

    It is z grey, tangles t-shirt, says HANES ComfortSoft 75% poly 25% cotton
    Rn 15763

    Reply
    • heya steph — the “rn” number is just a brand identifier — it’s not related to a specific model/style of t-shirt or undershirt.

      do you know if the hanes comfortsoft 75/25 poly/cotton t-shirt was thin when your husband first got it?

      if you’re looking for super thin t-shirts / undershirts, you should check out this article:
      https://undershirtguy.com/thin-undershirts/

      Reply
    • This is my favorite shirt as well! I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent hunting for a replacement. Hope we can solve this mystery soon…

      Reply
      • heya eric — if you’re looking for a cotton/poly blend undershirt from hanes, you should check out their comfortblend ecosmart undershirts (they still call the t-shirts though).

        they are 50/50 cotton/polyester, and 5% of the polyester is recycled polyester from recycled bottle (whoop dee do).

        jump on over to their website, and search for “comfortblend” (without quotes) and you should be able to find them pretty easily.

        uniqlo also makes some pretty nice undershirts, and most of them are pretty thin & lightweight, so you may want to check them out.

        outside of that, if you want something thin and super-soft, you may have to open up your wallet a bit more and spend a bit more. for example, jockey has an undershirt called “supersoft modal crew” which is made from tencel/spandex (tencel & modal are similar) which is $24.

        once you get into the $15+ price range, there are tons of options available.

  3. Obviously more than a few years after you posted, but it’s all more confusing than ever.
    I see *four* different “best” Hanes TShirt levels, and can’t find the fabric weight for any of these.

    All of them claim: “Our best in comfort and fit”, “100% ring spun cotton”, “tagless v-neck.”

    – Best
    – Premium
    – Ultimate
    – Ultimate with “Heavyweight” on a green bar

    Sigh.

    Reply
    • yeah, their marketing team(s) need to be fired or at least retrained.

      it’s not hard to get brand awareness when you have millions of dollars to spend on marketing & advertising.

      but, what’s the point if you’re going to confuse the shit out of consumers, and leave them in a situation where they can’t distinguish one product from the other.

      i can just hear the conversation within the walls of hanes…

      while there is a progression “best”, “premium”, “ultimate”, “ultimate + heavyweight”, if you don’t know the differences, how do you make a buying decision?

      maybe the folks at hanes just think (and say internally) — consumers will gravitate to our premium & ultimate lines, even if they don’t know what they are — just because it sounds better.

      while i know that’s marketing, i think that kinda shit isn’t going to work long-term.

      consumers are demanding more information nowadays, not less.

      they want to be informed, and make smart buying decisions. if hanes continues to confuse consumers, it’ll drive people to other brands that actually are much more transparent and clear about the product differences.

      thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts mr.pete!

      Reply
    • hey valeria, who knows why hanes does the things they do or don’t do (:

      while the hanes comfortsoft (50/50 cotton/poly) is soft, i’ve definitely worn much softer undershirts/t-shirts than that one!

      Reply
  4. Soft, comfortable t-shirts are important to me as I wear one almost 365 days a year. I’ve tried the Jockey line, JC Penny’s Stafford line, and now the Hane’s ‘Our Most comfortable’ premium 100% cotton. Have washed them and find they seem to shrink very little. Their comfort is very good and the price was decent at Target.

    Reply
  5. I think the Perfect T branding also originally just said on the back it was their best quality cotton, or something. Heavyweight and dense. I seem to remembers something about them searching for the best quality cotton and delivering it to us. I don’t recall it going on and on about comfort or softness. I suspect those are marketing lines to cover up the fact they are using cheaper material.

    Reply
  6. Too much estrogen in their water supply, I guess. Turning men into a bunch of wussies. I saw someone complaining on Amazon that the new junk isn’t soft enough. Good lord.

    Reply
  7. Hi, I’ve been trying the new Hanes selection and want to address something I’ve noticed. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

    -The premium is much softer than the regular Hanes shirts.
    -“soft” is also considered the premium because they’re changing the packaging as well as the product names.
    -The “blend” consists of polyester and cotton that provides moisture wicking.

    They’ve also introduced a “modern fit” that includes stretch, slim, and power slim.
    -“flex” is the stretch fit that has cotton and spandex which includes moisture wicking.
    -“slim” is the slim fit that has cotton and polyester.
    -“power slim” is the power slim fit that has cotton and spandex and is a compression type fit. Hanes website reviews show the shirt is extremely tight so ordering a size up should be considered.

    Reply
      • I am having THE HARDEST TIME finding this one kind of T-shirt from Hanes. The tag says, “Hanes our most comfortable” it’s 90% cotton and 10% polyester. I cannot find it ANYWHERE. It literally is the softest tee shirt I’ve felt of theirs. I wonder if it’s discontinued? Someone help! It’s not for me. My father had a stroke and now he sits in his chair all day and the one thing that he loves is that soft shirt. :(

      • heya heather, thanks for your question! so sorry to hear about your father :(

        i don’t recall ever having or seeing a 90/10 cotton/polyester hanes undershirt, but i’m sure they offered it at one time.

        their 50/50 comfortblend undershirt is pretty soft. you can see a photo of the one i had here:
        https://undershirtguy.com/thin-undershirts/

        it looks like they now have a few different undershirts labeled as comfortblend, as follows:
        1. comfortblend – 60% rayon, 40% polyester (amazon)
        2. comfortblend – 50% cotton, 50% polyester (amazon)
        3. comfortblend – 60% Cotton, 28% Polyester, 12% Rayon (amazon)
        4. comfortblend colors – 50% cotton, 50% polyester (amazon)

        i’ve linked to the crew neck versions of the undershirts, but i see that they also have v-neck versions of each too.

        i’d recommend checking out #1 (rayon/poly) as that one is likely going to be the softest. second, i’d recommend #3 (cotton/poly/rayon).

        let me know if you decide to buy any of these for your father and what you think of them!

  8. Hey Tug, I agree that the Hanes advertising is confusing. I too have been disappointed by some of their products in the past. Having said that, on my last trip to Target I noticed some new Hanes products and I decided to give them a shot.

    I purchased the Hanes ComfortBlend V-Neck 3 pack ($11.99) and the Hanes ComfortBlend Premium (Softest T-Shirt Ever) V-Neck 3 pack ($15.99), both 50% Cotton/50%Polyester. Seems redundant, but I wanted to have a closer look at both sets of shirts and see what the deal is with the different messaging.

    On the packaging, the ComfortBlend (non-premium) shows a higher V-Neck, while the packaging on the ComfortBlend Premium shows a deeper V-Neck. This was the opposite once I got the shirts out of the packaging at home. The non-premium shirts had more of a relaxed fit while the premium shirts were more form fitting. The material of the premium was significantly softer when compared to the non-premium.

    I wore one of the premium shirts for an entire day and I found it to be very comfortable. I then washed this shirt to put the shape retention claim to the test and was pleasantly surprised when it actually retained its shape! I was expecting it to shrink based previous experience with Hanes products but this was not the case.

    These shirts fit better than the last set of 2(X)ist undershirts which cost about twice as much. I would definitely recommend them. I can’t say I’ve had yellowing issues with Hanes undershirts specifically as the previous post stated, in my experience this has been due to the type and amount of deodorant I was using at the time. Let’s hope this is the beginning of an upward trend in design/quality for Hanes undershirts.

    Reply
    • hey byron, i totally agree with you here and i’m glad you stopped by to comment.

      as you likely saw in the article above, i picked up a package of the premium comfortblend undershirts. although i have not had time to write up a review, this 50/50 product from hanes is a real winner in my book. it’s super soft, breathes well, fits nice, and has a very reasonable price point.

      i definitely plan to do a review on this product, because i have a feeling it’s going to find it’s way into my top 5 list. i just hope hanes does not discontinue these prematurely.

      thanks again for sharing your thoughts and the information!

      Reply
      • Hey Tug, correction to my original comment, the premium shirts I purchased were the ones you have pictured; Hanes Premium Comfortblend: “Our Most Comfortable”. Wouldn’t want to confuse or mislead anyone reading this thread :)

      • michael, last time i went to target which was about a week ago, they were available. they aren’t in the main hanes display area, they are on an aisle end-cap.

        couldn’t say whether or not they were ever available on target.com though. it’s likely it’s an in-store product only.

      • Today at Target, I had the same issue…I thought Perfect-T was discontinued, I do like:

        Premium T-shirt
        ComfortSoft
        “Our Most Comfortable” messaging
        3-Pack for $12.49

        They are much thicker than just basic comfort soft and felt much softer as well. My only dilemma is the white and black come in 100% cotton, the grey seems to be 75/25 and i don’t like the way they feel, I found one pack (worng size of course) that was grey and 100% cotton so there is still hope. I will hit up a few more places in search of the elusive 100% cotton Grey Premium T, I didn’t see any of the 95/5 I would try that as well.

  9. Hanes is the only brand I will not buy! They turn yellow very quickly, two,three washings. Nothing like having a white T shirt with a yellow tinge. They don’t even make good car wash rags!

    Reply

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