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This week, two Racked editors — unbeknownst to each other — went on the hunt for the perfect summer T-shirt. Spoiler alert: They found them! Read on for where.
Elana: The shopping bug bit me hard last week — as in, I suddenly found myself bored with every item currently in my closet. So I set aside my Sunday and headed straight for Soho (crowds be damned!) in search of some new summer clothes.
My first stop? Brandy Melville, where I elbowed my way through the throngs of tween girls to grab a few new tees, including the most perfect black scoopneck and a boxy-cut white one embroidered with cute lil’ cherries.
Pro tip: As someone morally opposed to spending more than $25 on a basic T-shirt, I highly recommend Brandy’s famously soft selection.
Julia: All I ever want to wear during New York’s truly miserable summers are jean shorts (not too short, not too tight, not too hole-y) and roomy black T-shirts. Finding good black T-shirts, or good T-shirts in general, is so much harder than it should be!
I’m not sure how I settled on Reformation as my current black tee go-to, but I can tell you that I had no clue what Reformation was until I started working here two years ago and my colleagues were very into the ~Ref babe~ aesthetic.
While most of Reformation’s designs are too naked and materials too thin for me, they do make a good, well-priced ($28!) tee.
My favorite are made of tencel, which is a sustainable cotton alternative that I don’t like as much as actual cotton, but oh well. This year there’s a relaxed and an oversized version (also a slim, but no thanks), so I bought both.
Two tips here: size up for the relaxed and down for the oversized, and always (always!!!) go to Ref’s Lower East Side location, not Soho.