Apparel | Saturday, July 01, 2006

0 Comments

BRITISH VOGUE: The search for the perfect T-shirt . . . ends with Supima

By Greg Wang

LONDON — In this month’s issue of British Vogue, reporter Sarah Harris went on a hunt for the perfect T-shirt: A search that led her straight to Supima.

Here, in her witty, exhaustively documented first-person shopping story—which abounds with Supima licensees like Michael Stars, Splendid, Goldsign, and James Perse—is some of what she had to say:

In a luxuriously enormous changing room at Harvey Nichols, two friends are looking at me curiously as I try on one T-shirt after another. As both of them are quick to point out, I don’t need any more T-shirts. It’s true: I have 46. I counted them yesterday during the biannual clearout of my wardrobe (with the same two friends, present only in the hope that I’d toss some YSL their way. Dream on).

“But you have T-shirts. Forty-six,” one of them offers up.

“We counted,” says the other.

“But not the the perfect grey one,” I say.

Now, we’re on the hunt for T-shirts in their purest form. We want longer lengths (naturally, due to fashion’s ongoing love affair with low-waisted skinny jeans, an elongated shape is the most forgiving companion), gauzier weaves, feminine necklines, super-soft cotton, “cool” vintage washes and colours that suit our complexions — or better still, plain and simple white and grey-marl (the most sought-after varieties at Harvey Nichols and Matches). We also want loose shapes: Selfridges has noted that customers are seeking a boyfriend-style fit, while at Gap people are just buying in a bigger size — an early indicator perhaps, of the move towards volume for autumn.

“I’m constantly searching for the perfect white tee,” says PR director Kara Goodley, who buys at Gap, Petit Bateau and APC, and reasons that her 40-strong collection is necessary due to her love of layering: she rarely wears fewer than three at any one time. For jewellery designer Tara Agace, the search for a tee knows no barriers. “I was so overcome by the drape of a T-shirt I saw that I chased its wearer down the high street to find out the label,” she says. “It wasn’t the colour that caught my eye, it was the fabric, the scooped neckline and just the way it hung.”

It’s how you wear it, too. A case in point is Jade Jagger, who often pairs a frayed-edged white vest with smart tux trousers; likewise, Christina Ricci favours a ribbed vest and high-waisted pencil-skirt combo. Mischa Barton wears her vest outsized, and belts it to make a dress. Sienna Miller balances a slashed scoop-necked long-sleeved tee with cuffed jeans, while Kate Moss often champions the gauzy-vest-and-braless look. And it works. We also know what we’re not looking for —suction-tight beach-babe styles or, at the other end of the scale, cutesy tees with Hello Kitty-type logos. We’re turning up our noses at “feature” details too, such as drawstrings and suspect ruching.

“There’s something special about your favourite tee, something nostalgic,” Erin Mullaney, womenswear buyer at Selfridges. “I get the same sort of excitement about finding the perfect T-shirt each season as I do about buying the perfect pair of jeans or the perfect handbag. It has become a cult item that people now hunt for.” And there are multiple brands all vying for attention and wardrobe space.

The labyrinth of Los Angeles-based T-shirt labels can be tricky to negotiate (one of the reasons why Selfridges has whittled down its T-shirt range to concentrate on the big hitters — C&C California offers slim fits, elongated shapes and skinny fluted sleeves. Vest tops are what to go for at Vince: its Favourite Ribbed Tank is longer, with feminine U-necklines as opposed to those that can make shoulders look broad. James Perse also has some of the best ribbed vests (they’re ultra-soft and tissue-thin), while Michael Stars offers “boyfriend” vests with a sporty, masculine edge.

As with copper rivets and back-pocket stitching on jeans, T-shirt brands also have their own marks of distinction. For Splendid, it’s a trademark mini pocket and necklines that swoop down to a row of tiny buttons, and for Park Vogel — a new brand, steadily gaining momentum Stateside, that you can be sure to hear more of — it’s a wide rib that is the giveaway. It is subtle characteristics like these that have us cooing over tees today, rather than slogans — like Katherine Hamnett’s T-shirts emblazoned with “Stop Killing Whales” and “Ban Pollution” in 1984, or Dolce & Gabbana’s crystal-embellished shirts that sparkled “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl” (astonishing to think that this was only five years ago).

With a saturated market, we’re not spoilt for choice. Only recently we made do with thick cotton tees that skimmed waistlines and shrank up to bellybutton height after one wash. Shapes looked almost 2D, as if they were fitted to a piece of cardboard rather than a real-life woman’s torso. Vests were especially problematic, with their unflattering necklines and uncomfortable chunky wide-set straps that always came up too short.

It is hard to pinpoint when the current T-shirt obsession started. Some put it down to Helmut Lang’s erotically slit black tees in the mid-Nineties, but every designer claims to have pioneered something different. “When we launched in 1986 there was no such thing as women’s tees,” says Michael Stars, who is certainly one of the oldest T-shirt outfitters on the scene, with plans to reissue his Eighties designs in celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary. “Back then, women were wearing men’s T-shirts in smaller sizes. We created tees to flatter a woman’s body.”

According to Mullaney, it happened a little later: “I personally think the first ‘luxury’ T-shirt brand to get it right was James Perse from LA,” she says. “I bought my first scoop-necked ribbed vest from James Perse at Bloomingdale’s about six years ago. Every time I went to the US, I would stock up in the new season’s colours in addition to classic white, black and grey. I could never have enough.” At least now she won’t have to stock up on every American trip: due to customer demand, Selfridges will open an in-store James Perse boutique in the autumn.

Until recently, availability in Britain was half the problem, which is why the savviest bulk-bought on trips to the USA. “I travel to New York and LA at least twice a year,” says Goat designer Jane Lewis. “On every trip, I make a beeline for C&C’s washed-out tees. I buy 15 at a time — the small classic tee with a slightly pulled-out neck is my favourite.”

It was the arrival on British turf of C&C (we quickly dropped the “California”) that really started the current buzz. It’s unanimously agreed that the firm is the leader of the T-shirt pack. “It was C&C that really brought attention to luxury jersey, with their multiple colours and layering aesthetic,” says Mark Baverstock, senior buyer at Matches.

“What we were doing didn’t exist in the marketplace at that time,” says Cheyann Benedict, who launched the label with partner Claire Stansfield in spring 2003. Their aim was to create their idea of the “perfect tee”, namely Seventies-inspired, longer, softer, love-worn and slim-fitting. The designs soon caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who featured Cheyann and Claire on her show the year they launched. In 2004 C&C sold to Liz Claiborne for $25 million — an exceptional return for a company that started the year before with an investment of just $10,000. “We hoped they would be well received, but we never expected such a phenomenon,” says Claire.

T-shirt success stories are across the board. “After obsessing about it over 10 years, I was just happy to have come up with the right product,” says Splendid founder Moise Emquies, who sent back 27 samples before perfecting the crew-neck tee. “I thought I’d be satisfied with sales of a couple of thousand per month; I was shocked at how quickly those projections were surpassed. My patternmaker thought I was crazy ‘wasting’ so much time on an easy item.”

Nowadays T-shirt connoisseurs are only too happy to add to bulging sales figures (at Harvey Nichols, sales have increased to make up 40 per cent of all leisurewear), forking out £45 and even upwards for the perfect wisp of cotton. But it’s all relative; with the increase in premium denim labels, it was only natural that T-shirts would follow. When jeans cost around £200, a cheap tee just doesn’t quite cut it. This season’s runways also adopted the basic in a variety of guises —worn under shirts (Luella), layered under and over other tees (Marc by Marc Jacobs) and under cocktail dresses (Miu Miu). Oscar de la Renta even sent one out teamed with a tulle prom skirt. The attitude is, when you’ve gone to so much trouble with every other element of your look, why let it down with a badly cut T-shirt?

A higher price doesn’t just pay for a better look, but comfort too. If you haven’t already, I urge you to try Goldsign, a whole different league of T-shirting. Goldsign tees are made with Supima, the world’s finest cotton. Its technical attributes include a fibre that is 35 per cent longer than conventional cotton, allowing for a much finer fabric, elegant drape and softness. It’s also 45 per cent stronger, so it’s less prone to pilling, more durable and absorbs dye more evenly. Preferring a dry, hot climate, it’s grown only in the southwestern and western United States. Of the 120 million bales of cotton produced every year, less than one per cent is judged to be good enough to carry the Supima name. “It’s all about shape, the right washes and wearability — you just don’t find the fit and quality of fabric on the high street,” says Baverstock.