I have a tendency to purchase T-shirts in bunches. Anytime I discover a shirt I actually like, I purchase a minimum of per week’s value. Within the period retroactively referred to as “indie sleaze,” I used to be outfitted completely in American Attire 50/25/25 tees. Within the early Instagram period, I noticed an advert for Buck Mason and purchased a bunch of these. Then I made a decision I appreciated V-necks and switched to The Hole’s tagless Jersey shirts, which had a pleasant mushy really feel and simply the proper depth of dip.
Final summer season, I discovered my new fave at a chintzy vacationer store in Maine. It had the identify of the city, Bar Harbor, printed on a butter-hued clean from an organization referred to as Consolation Colours. After a number of wearings, I appreciated it a lot I regarded on the label to see what it was. I purchased a second and have since been slowly changing each T-shirt in my closet with shirts within the model’s numerous comforting colours.
{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar
Consolation Colours is not an rising model—it is owned by Gilden, which is about as fascinating and attractive as being owned by Nation Crock margarine. I’m not the primary particular person from a outstanding evaluate website to note that Consolation Colours is the very best within the biz, although I imagine I’m the primary to take action with out funding Maureen Dowd and Ross Douthat for a web site nonetheless approvingly dubbing new merchandise the “Tesla of …” in 2025.
In any case, the Consolation Colours T-shirt—particularly the standard-issue 100% cotton mannequin no. 1717—checks each field for me.
They’re boxy however not too boxy. I’ve a number of classic Hanes Beefy T’s, and Consolation Colours are much more fitted, with sleeves that cease an inch or so above the elbow as a substitute of drooping down the forearm. They give the impression of being a little bit boxier than they’re due to the triple-stitched shoulders and double-stiched hemline and sleeves, which give the shirt an overbuilt appear and feel. For a middle-aged particular person, this can be a minimize that claims you realize three Billie Eilish songs, however you are not attempting to decorate like her.
Consolation Colours tees are made with cotton from American farms, although it is spun up in Honduras. It is ring-spun, which provides it each softness and energy. These shirts are much more breathable than any mix, despite the fact that they’re produced from comparatively hefty 6.1-ounce cloth. That signifies that one sq. yard of that cloth weighs 6.1 ounces, making it only a tad beefier (0.1 ounces per sq. yard) than both a Hanes Beefy T or a Uniqlo Supima cotton tee. Better of all, the American cotton ages superbly. None of my half-dozen Consolation Colours shirts have shrunk, and so they’ve all softened and light only a contact with every whirl across the washer.