A shirt must stand out.
Yes, the criteria are both subjective and objective (#quantlife)
Looking good while hiding sweat is a heavy sweaters dream. You don’t want all eyes on you because your shirt shows lots of sweat. Everything else is gravy.
Sweat Stays Hidden
The #1 rule of the Heavy Sweater Club - don’t stand out from the crowd because your shirt is soaked with sweat. When you feel confident that the shirt will hide sweat, you are more likely to wear it and feel confident - like Moses parting that ocean.
Body Clinging
A bead of sweat across your brow turns into the raging Euphrates. When your shirt is drenched, how does it cling to your body and does it become see through? Body clinging is subjective depending on your body type, but the general fit is still important. Being see through is objective.
Dry Quickly
If its hot and humid you’re doomed. Your shirt will be toast but once you are face-to-face with a cool A/C breeze what matters is how quickly the shirt gets dry. This is where the scientific method comes in. Each shirt is put in water and we see how quickly each shirt drys. Stopwatch. Data.
A Color Mirage
It’s well known that some colors are more effective at hiding sweat than others. We recognize this optical illusion and try to evaluate the shirt taking into consideration the color it was worn in.
Light & Breathable
How much does your shirt weigh (asked no one ever)? How does the material feel? Can air flow freely through the shirt? Feel of a shirt is crucial for peak performance and taking on a humid day. Subjective, but you will frequently find general consensus if a shirt feels “loose” or “tight” or “breathable.” Just ask your friends.
A heavy sweaters evaluation
All criteria above is important for the perfect shirt, but there is a ranking in importance. Our ranking goes,
Sweat stays hidden
Body clinging
Dry quickly
A color mirage
Light & breathable
You may be surprised that light and breathable is last. Why? A) All shirt companies claim light and breathable, and B) If no one notices the sweat and you like how the shirt looks and fits, why would I worry about a company’s marketing tactic of “light & breathable'?“
Your evaluation criteria may be different and that’s totally fine. We just want you to make sure you consider these five factors when selecting the right shirt.