Undershirt or no?

[GFlanagan3]

Then I must need a T-shirt that goes past my chin, as my pelt and stubble shred my shirts after 15 to 20 wearings. Seriously. I've given up wearing nice clothes because my body hair destroys them so quickly.

My wife bought a spool of Kevlar fiber a number of years ago and knitted a liner into the throat area of a nice cotton sweater that was quickly being chewed up. But my stubble even shredded the Kevlar, though it did slow down the rate of destruction.

I don't wear T-shirts under other shirts because I roast in them, but I do wear them by themselves frequently.

YIKES

 

[The Knize]

I get very confused with the term Wife Beater, as here in Britain, Wife Beater is the nickname of the Belgian Stella Artois lager because of its propensity for causing violence in the British male! (I drink proper Real Ale!)

The undershirt you call the YB we call a vest, as opposed to a tee shirt.

Gareth

I had heard of Stella being called that in Britain. Amazing. Stella is being marketed in the States as an upscale imported lager. I assume it cheap in Britain?? All in perception, I guess.

What I remember, at least in Scotland, were cheap Russian lagers on tap. I do not remember seeing Stella anywhere.

 

[The Knize]

Wife beater under a white t-shirt, followed by a collared Oxford.

Always.

Just curious, why the three layers? What does the beater (sorry Echo it is just too much fun to write "beater," I will try not to use both words) for you that the T is not doing?

 

[The Knize]

Then I must need a T-shirt that goes past my chin, as my pelt and stubble shred my shirts after 15 to 20 wearings. Seriously. I've given up wearing nice clothes because my body hair destroys them so quickly.

My wife bought a spool of Kevlar fiber a number of years ago and knitted a liner into the throat area of a nice cotton sweater that was quickly being chewed up. But my stubble even shredded the Kevlar, though it did slow down the rate of destruction.

I don't wear T-shirts under other shirts because I roast in them, but I do wear them by themselves frequently.

Wow, and I thought I was hairy! I take it "manscaping" makes things all the worse by making for more stubble.

Man that is somehow frigging impressive!

 

[jlanger]

V-neck pretty often. Keeps me warm and cuts down on drycleaning..

Rant -
ANNOUNCEMENT - for the love of god and all that is good and pure in this world, please stop wearing crew neck t-shirts under your button ups (with the collars open)... it's soooo faux pas
-end rant

lol honestly I'm doing everyone a favor when I wear a T shirt underneath my button ups! Don't want all the non hairy guys out there to get jealous now would I?

Actually I usually prefer sleeveless T shirts, especially in the summer. I get a little warm and the sleeveless T is nice to wear under polos. Now if the Nike Dri-fit shirts I like only came with a white swoosh!

 

[Dandaman]

Calvin Klein wifebeaters are extra long and do not shrink.

Thanks, I've taken note.

 

[Master-Classter]

PS - I hope I didn't come off as a complete *** earlier. I'm just pretty zealous about the whole crewneck t under a button up shirt thing... drives me crazy.
Essentially, it's your underwear sticking out. It's like seen a visible pantyline on a girl...

I think the A Shirt thing might just be cultural. With no disrespect to anyone's mentors wink, I've always thought of it as a rather "low class" sort of thing.

 

[icon]

PS - I hope I didn't come off as a complete *** earlier. I'm just pretty zealous about the whole crewneck t under a button up shirt thing... drives me crazy.
Essentially, it's your underwear sticking out. It's like seen a visible pantyline on a girl...

I think the A Shirt thing might just be cultural. With no disrespect to anyone's mentors wink, I've always thought of it as a rather "low class" sort of thing.

I totally agree,
Fist time I heard "wife beater", I was surprised and I hesitate laughing, because it's a very sad association.
This A shirt was first created in 18XX for warehousemens, it keeps arms frees and lower back warm. It's association with working class is logical.
It also became the regular military underwear on first war on "Poilus" French soldiers.

Here we call this shirt "Marcel", like the brandname of it's creator.

My favourite wearer :

 

[galopede]

I had heard of Stella being called that in Britain. Amazing. Stella is being marketed in the States as an upscale imported lager. I assume it cheap in Britain?? All in perception, I guess.

What I remember, at least in Scotland, were cheap Russian lagers on tap. I do not remember seeing Stella anywhere.

Stella is marketed as expensive but seems to be mostly drunk by the local yobs! I would think that it's common on tap all over England and Wales, don't know about Scotland as I've not been there for a few years.

Never seen Russian lagers around my part of the world. Plenty of bottled and occasionally draught Polish and Czech lagers though.

I probably drink about one pint of lager a year. I'm a Real Ale fan. Proper beer for proper blokes!

 

[Monkeydad]

I never used to wear an undershirt but now I always do if I'm wearing a dress shirt. If I don't you can see the 'darkness' that is my chest hair...not too cool at work. A good undershirt actually keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Same here, but I only wear them with white dress shirts.

 

[LordTyranus]

my 2 cents,

wearing something under a "shirt and tie" is a heresy

 

[razorrookie]

So, I'm really trying to figure this out:

What is the difference between an "a-shirt" and a "wife beater"... I know what I've grown up thinking a wife beater is but from what I can tell online, it may be the same thing as an a-shirt....

Side by side image comparison anyone?

 

[The Knize]

"a-shirt" = "wife beater," as far as I know

happy to have someone straighten me out if I am wrong

<I think the A Shirt thing might just be cultural. With no disrespect to anyone's mentors (), I've always thought of it as a rather "low class" sort of thing.>

No disrespect taken, of course, and I did not mean that any great credibility should be given because he was my "mentor." That actually take away from his credibility!

All I meant by "mentor" was that I knew him very well. (Thinking about it, I do not know that I really know what kind of underwear shirt, if any, most of the men around me wear!)

I hear what you are saying about culture and class, and I might have something like that myself at one time, and who knows, maybe things have evolved that way to today. But I really think the culture I am talking about is high-end business executive/government official from say the 50s and 60s, and the "class" distinctly long estabished upper middle. I just do not think someone that consistently wore Oxxford suits, McAffee shoes, Hermes ties, and some brand or other of bespoke Brit shirts with double-cuffs, would choose to consistently wear a WB underneath just for the irony of the reference to an entirely different kind of dress!

 

[SRock]

YIKES

+1

I think the A Shirt thing might just be cultural. With no disrespect to anyone's mentors wink, I've always thought of it as a rather "low class" sort of thing.

I'd agree that it is very low rent when worn as an outer garment (perhaps outside of a manual labor job site). That said, when it is worn as intended (as an undershirt) I don't think it says anything about the gentlemen wearing it.

I totally agree,
Fist time I heard "wife beater", I was surprised and I hesitate laughing, because it's a very sad association.
This A shirt was first created in 18XX for warehousemens, it keeps arms frees and lower back warm. It's association with working class is logical.
It also became the regular military underwear on first war on "Poilus" French soldiers.

Here we call this shirt "Marcel", like the brandname of it's creator.

My favourite wearer :

Way to work Bruce Lee into the thread!

So, I'm really trying to figure this out:

What is the difference between an "a-shirt" and a "wife beater"... I know what I've grown up thinking a wife beater is but from what I can tell online, it may be the same thing as an a-shirt....

Side by side image comparison anyone?

Same thing although I'd add this. A man who wears one properly as an undershirt probably knows it as an A-shirt while the thug who wears it as an outer garment probably refers to it as a wife beater.

"a-shirt" = "wife beater," as far as I know

happy to have someone straighten me out if I am wrong

<I think the A Shirt thing might just be cultural. With no disrespect to anyone's mentors (), I've always thought of it as a rather "low class" sort of thing.>

No disrespect taken, of course, and I did not mean that any great credibility should be given because he was my "mentor." That actually take away from his credibility!

All I meant by "mentor" was that I knew him very well. (Thinking about it, I do not know that I really know what kind of underwear shirt, if any, most of the men around me wear!)

I hear what you are saying about culture and class, and I might have something like that myself at one time, and who knows, maybe things have evolved that way to today. But I really think the culture I am talking about is high-end business executive/government official from say the 50s and 60s, and the "class" distinctly long estabished upper middle. I just do not think someone that consistently wore Oxxford suits, McAffee shoes, Hermes ties, and some brand or other of bespoke Brit shirts with double-cuffs, would choose to consistently wear a WB underneath just for the irony of the reference to an entirely different kind of dress!

I couldn't disagree more. I know countless professionals who wear them under the finest clothes. Like I said before its the individual who wears it as an outer garment that got this one all wrong.

 

[The Knize]

+1


I couldn't disagree more. I know countless professionals who wear them under the finest clothes. Like I said before its the individual who wears it as an outer garment that got this one all wrong.

Sorry, I could have written what I wrote a lot more clearly than I did. SlagleRock/Rob/Mr. Moderator: you and I are on exactly the same page.

What I meant was that it was a perfectly acceptable--if not de riguer-- undergarment because the guy I was thinking of would not have been wearing if it were not. Actually, as I think about it, I knew where he bought his clothes, including underwear shirts, and those places would not have been selling that style of underwear shirt if it were at all a questionable for the "well-established gentleman" to be wearing.

Does anyone else remember expensive men's clothing stores where the sales people would be extremely snooty, opinionated, formal, and dismissive, and kind of treated you with disdain if you asked the wrong question or disagreed with them in anyway, much less if you suggested that they were way overpriced, etc.? Do they still have such stores? I can't think of the last time I ran into the that kind of style.

Kind of like the old French resturants, where you got "service without a smile!"

I suppose that J Press is a little that way these days. But with J Press it is really kind of different. The pitich at J Press is not so much "we sell quality stuff at high prices and if you had any taste you would do best to buy what we pick out for you while being very happy to pay the price we charge," as "J Press sells a certain style of very traditional clothing of excellent quality for a certain price. We are very comfortable in who we are and what we do. Either you like who we are or you don't."

 

[Kouros]

They say that a sure sign of economic recovery is when men's underwear sales increase.

 

[Wendy]

I always send my hubby back for an undershirt to cover his tattoo on his back in case jacket is off.

 

[SRock]

Sorry, I could have written what I wrote a lot more clearly than I did. SlagleRock/Rob/Mr. Moderator: you and I are on exactly the same page...

Ah, I see.

 

[D.Irving79]

They are indeed quite proper, and will extend the life of the shirt I'm sure.

that was their original purpose, but thats going back over 150 years to when all that was available was the long union suit, as men tended to wear the same shirt for DAYS in a row (this was also the reasoning for detachable collars and/or cuffs). by the turn of the century shorter sleeve union suits were popular from brands like musingwear, seegull, eagle, etc, and/or boxer shorts and the 3 button under shirt by the time WWI was over. the wifebeater if i recall is tecnhically called an A shirt, or in england a singlet or vest, and started taking off in the 1920s when things unstiffened for the most part. IMO WW2 was the death of union suits and REAL undershirts. the things they sell now are crap

 

[Monkeydad]

Same here, but I only wear them with white dress shirts.

Sweaters also, but that's typically a t-shirt with a collar that won't look bad.

Wearing a sweater today for the first time since last winter...forgot about those.

Snow in the forecast for tomorrow.