How to judge a blank online

In a shop, judging a blank takes ten seconds. You pick it up and feel the weight. You hold it to the light to see how much comes through. You pull the collar and watch whether it snaps back. Online, you get a color and a price, and too many brands leave it there.

You can make most of the same checks from a product page, as long as the page gives you the numbers. Here is what to look for, on our site or anyone's.

Five things to read before you buy

The weight in gsm. It stands in for picking it up. 140 to 160 is a light summer weight; 220 and above hangs straight. If a site will not tell you the weight, ask why.
The composition. "Cotton" is not enough. Look for combed, and for the percentage of anything else. Our Fitted Tee is 95% organic cotton and 5% elastane, and it says so.
The fit notes. Good ones tell you which way to size. Ours say size down one on the Oversized Boxy, and size up on the Fitted Tee for a classic fit.
A height and a size. Worth more than any adjective. On the Classic Tee page, the model is 6'1" and wears M.
The care label. It tells you what the maker expects the garment to survive. Machine wash cold and tumble dry low is a tee built for ordinary life.

Then measure something you own

Lay your best-fitting tee flat, measure across the chest and down the back, and compare it with the size guide, which gives chest and length in inches, measured flat. That one comparison tells you more than the letters S to XL ever will.

An Oversized Boxy laid flat on a cutting table with a tape measure pulled across the chest

And check the way out

A returns window tells you how sure a brand is of what it sells. Ours is sixty days, worn or washed, because a blank should prove itself in the wash, not in the box.

Or skip the screen. The shop is on Rye Lane in Peckham, open Monday to Saturday, with the blanks on the rail to pick up. Online, every garment carries all five of these on its page.

Read a blank the way you would feel it.