Tommy John Second Skin Undershirt Review

Back in the middle of May, the founder of Tommy John contacted me to let me know about their new Second Skin luxury undershirt collection,

Since I’ve been a long-time fan of their original undershirt, I wanted to be sure to try out their latest product and write up a review on it.

It’s been a little over a year since my first review of their original undershirt which was made out of a 90% cotton (supima cotton if I recall correctly) and 10% lycra.

I found a few minor nuances with their original design, but I’ve always liked that Tommy John makes it a point to focus on the main problems with today’s undershirts and work toward creating a design that solves those problems.

If you’re a frequent reader here, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I refer to the “problems” with today’s undershirts.

The main undershirt problems include:

• improper fit (too loose or too tight)
• bunching/gathering around the waist
• coming untucked
• lack of breathability

Well, I’m happy to report that improved on their original product. Plus, they’ve come up with an overall design that addresses every one of the problem areas listed above.

I’ll dig into some more detail in the review below, but Tommy John has definitely solidified it’s position in myFaves top 5 favorite undershirt list.

Tommy John has their complete Second Skin line of undershirts available for purchase online.

They offer their long sleeve and tank top undershirts in white, and their v-neck and crew neck short sleeve undershirts in white and black.

Tommy John Undershirt Review

Now, on to the review.

Fit

Let’s start off with providing the overall dimensions for this medium sized undershirt (after washing).

• Length: 29.5″ (top of shoulder to bottom)
• Width: 19″ (underarm to underarm)
• Bottom Width: 15.5″
• Shoulder Strap length: 5″
• Sleeve length: 8″

Overall, a close comfortable fit throughout sleeves, torso, midsection and bottom. The new MicroModal / Lycra light weight blend fabric that provides an ever so slight slimming effect.

The shoulder and sleeve length work pretty well for my build as the end of the sleeves come to just before mid bicep and are short enough to keep from peaking out of my other short sleeve shirts.

In fact, as I sit here writing this review, I’m wearing my TJ undershirt underneath a regular t-shirt and the sleeves of the TJ are about 1.5″ shorter than my short sleeve t-shirt.

Because of the stretchy material, the bottom of the undershirt can be pulled down below my butt and just north of my upper thighs.

While this is considerably longer than most other undershirts, it’s length is one of the characteristics that keeps this undershirt tucked in.

It also has a nice fitting collar – not too loose or too tight.

The only other thing that is worth mentioning is that this medium-sized undershirt fits me well and considering I usually wear undershirts that are either large-sized mediums or smaller-sized larges, I’d say these undershirts run slightly big.

Feel

There’s a lot to love about how this undershirt feels on the skin.

As mentioned above, the new Second Skin collection undershirts are made from a 93% MicroModal / 7% Lycra blend and the best way I know how to describe how this undershirt feels is by calling it “silky smooth”.

It’s super soft, light-weight, and breathable. 

The thing about I like about MicroModal is that it not only is 50% more absorbent than cotton, because it’s made out of an extra fine fabric, it’s actually lighter and more breathable than many other fabrics such as synthetics or some other heavier cottons.

This specific combination of MicroModal and Lycra is a near perfect blend as it feels luxurious on the skin, keeps you cool, and also should perform well in keeping your outer clothing sweat free.

Function

I like to compare how an undershirt functions to how a company markets their product.

In looking at Tommy John’s “Problems We Solve” page, they list the following areas that their undershirt is designed to address: untucking, fake love handles (bunching around the waist), shrinkage, and keeping you cool.

I wore my TJs two days in a row last week to work and I’ll have to report they get top marks in all the above areas.

Each day I exposed myself to varying temperature conditions while going about my regular activities at home, at work, and in between.

When I drove to and from work (and running errands at lunch) I purposely kept the air conditioning off in my car off with my windows rolled up so I could get the temperature in my car into the high 80’s / low 90’s.

I was pleased to find out that even under those warmer conditions, I still felt very comfortable from a temperature perspective when wearing this undershirt and I never broke a sweat.

Also, at the conclusion of each day, I pulled up my outer shirt and confirmed that the undershirt was still tucked in fairly nicely and I saw no excess gathering around my waistline that would normally create those unsightly fake love handles.

Lastly, Mrs. Tug washed both undershirts in warm water and dried them on warm (garment label says wash on cold, hang dry or tumble dry in low heat) and the shirts did not shrink.

Affordability

The new TJ Second Skin line ranges in price from $31 to $38 per undershirt.

I wouldn’t necessarily categorize that as an affordable undershirt, but considering it’s being marketed in the luxury category, it’s much less expensive than some of the other higher priced undershirts like Hanro or Zimmerli and only about $9 more per undershirt than the Jockey Echelon undershirt I reviewed not too long ago. 

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced luxury undershirt, the TJ Second Skin fits the bill perfectly.

This is probably the only area where I can’t truly give this undershirt high marks because I still find it a little tough to pay over $15-$20 for an undershirt.

Photos

Final Thoughts

Overall, A job well done TJ!

Congratulations on the release of the new undershirt line and the launch of your new website – it looks great.