Hacker News Reader

Comment by jdelman | Hacker News Reader

I disagree with nearly this entire post, which is fun. I find that the poly blend shirts that the author loves (especially like the MongoDB shirt) are clingy and sweaty. Softness is low on my list of shirt priorities - comfort and fit are high. I don't know how you could see "mongoDB" and not think it is tech, but maybe I'm too mired in tech to have an outsider's perspective. Also, that dark heathered grey color is everywhere in tech shirts right now and it just screams tech. The only one of these with a good design is the Altibase shirt, but it suffers from having the ugliest color.

Give me black, 100% cotton, heavyweight Hanes Beefy-Ts with retro-looking logos.

View on HN

Somewhat off-topic but for those who want a black, 100% cotton and lighterweight t-shirt, IMHO nothing compares to Intimissimi[0]

They run a bit small so I recommend one size larger than your regular size. They're currently on sale from Black Friday so only $14.30 each. (Large Black is now out-of-stock, sorry!)

They also make many other varieties like v necks, long sleeve, modal/cashmere/ etc.

(Claimer: I'm not affiliated or getting a referral from this... I just think they're a lesser known brand in the US)

__________

0. https://www.intimissimi.com/us/product/short_sleeve_crew_nec...

Also worth noting that the only review on the website is very accurate despite being a 1-star review: "The quality of material is great. Neck is too low. Too lenghty".

These are exactly the reasons why I like this shirt. Great material, neck is not too tight, probably an inch longer than many other fitted t-shirts, so your underwear isn't showing all the time.

Very good to know, now I won't waste $15. ;-)

This whole comment thread is teaching me that apparently there isn't /any/ objective truth when it comes to t shirt comfort.

Before today I figured that was an objective fact that the cheap Hanes ones were unloved -- neck always stretched out, too short and stout.

I'm a fan of LA apparel (aka american apparel) as well as some bella+canvas ones. That stretched out neck just gives me flashbacks to middle school, ugh.

> This whole comment thread is teaching me that apparently there isn't any objective truth when it comes to t shirt comfort.

That's true of many things and has been for a long time. "De gustibus non disputandum est," as the Romans said. "It's useless to argue about taste."

> "It's useless to argue about taste... or T-shirt comfort."

I updated your statement for the remainder of modern history. ^_^

FWIW I don't think Intimissimi shirts have a quote-unquote "stretched out neck", just a tiny bit of extra room... I hadn't even noticed it until I read the review

The author calls a hoodie a shirt. I’m not sure I trust their opinion on the fit and comfort of database-branded apparel.

I strongly disagree with the claim that it's a hoodie simply because it has a hood. Many hooded garments are not hoodies. To be a hoodie, it must be made out of thicker sweatshirt material.

A long-sleeve T-shirt with a hood is just a long-sleeve T-shirt with a hood.

Indeed. Anyone who lives near a beach in a warm climate is likely familiar with these long sleeve hooded “tees”.

As someone who lives near a beach in a warm climate... I've never seen anyone wear one of these nor have I seen them for sale in stores.

I can't imagine when I'd wear one either - if I want protection from the sun I'll wear a hat or sunscreen - not a hood.

My whole climbing crew has made the switch from hats and sunscreen to sunshirts. They fit under a helmet, and they feel less cancery than repeatedly slathering on some goo and crossing your fingers. It's one thing if you're free to roam about to a more comfortable area, but if you're stuck on belay duty on the sunny part of the face, you'll be happier with a sunshirt.

And then you're used to it, and you start wearing them elsewhere too, because why bother with lesser protection?

They may be more popular at higher altitudes than at the beach though. Beach folk have a bit more atmosphere protecting them.

I wear poly ones that are spf50 all the time when I’m fishing so I don’t need to worry about applying sunscreen to large parts of my body multiple times a day.

I typically have really short hair, so I wear one with the hood on when it's chilly inside, but not so chilly that I want the heater on or want to wear a sweater.

Almost every serious fisherman that I know or watch on YouTube wears long sleeve SPF shirts with hoods.

To be fair, it's not really a hoodie either as I feel that implies it's a sweater or has the thickness of one. It really is just a long sleeve shirt with a hood attached.

What is the distinction in your mind?

The distinction being a hoddie is a sweatshirt with a hood. As opposed to a long sleeve shirt with a hood. Sweatshirts are thicker. Calling it a hoodie would be like calling a long sleeve shirt a swetashirt because they have the same silhouette.

The same distinction between a long sleeve t-shirt and a crewneck sweater. I don't know how they're made, but my layman distinction would be "thickness".

Tees are made of a tee shirt material like jersey knit while hoodies are made from a sweatshirt material like terry cloth or a cotton fleece.

> don't know how you could see "mongoDB" and not think it is tech

I disagree with the author in that I would be comfortable wearing a mongodb shirt in public. Mongoloid is a slur, and at least in Norway it's often shortened to "mongo".

I wouldn't be comfortable wearing a MongoDB shirt in public either. I mean, it's awful technology.

Is that a racial slur (i.e., Asian), or about Down syndrome? The latter was used in the UK many years ago, I've not heard it for 25 years (?), so "mongo" wouldn't raise an eyebrow here now.

It's kinda both. Mongoloid here used to refer to people with Downs, by comparing them to the (non existent) Asian race of Mongoloids due to both often having eyes with epicanthic fold. Of course I didn't know this when using it as a kid back in the days, and I've luckily not heard it used for ages, but I think all of my peers would remember it if used on a t-shirt.

In France, that would be related to Down syndrome. Technically, in these parts it would be "mongol", with an l, like the people of Mongolia.

AFAICT it's not exactly used against people with actual Down syndrome, but rather as a synonym for "idiot" and the like.

Interesting, in the States, that term is no longer used very much and was never shortened AFAIK.

I’m pretty sure it was shortened, but as a name for a character

In "Blazing Saddles" ...

Follow on, my biggest frustration with these super thin, clingy shirts is how _everyone_ is showing their nipples through them now.

Why does seeing nipples through a tshirt bother you so much?

It's just a weird fleshy body part that I'm not used to seeing and generally don't want to see on other people. Also the feeling of a plasticky "technical" shirt on my own nipples is very unpleasant.

Thelephobia - fear of nipples

Well—T-shirts did start out as underwear.

Nipple covers are a thing

>I don't know how you could see "mongoDB" and not think it is tech

Depends on the age. MongoDB may not have been such a common name back when the tshirt came out. I have a couple of Palantir t-shirts (american apparel, 100% cotton I think) that have held up over a decade and are really comfortable. One of them says, "Save the shire" and Palantir. I don't think people would have known that it's a tech tshirt back then.

Everything about that organization offends me. They took their name from a series of books they apparently never read.

How is Palantir supposed to save the shire? By trampling the rights of the Hobbits in addition to destroying their environment?

The Palantir show a narrow view of events and lead to their users to ruin. It’s like they read the cautionary tale as an instruction manual.

They chose an accurate name for what their product does, but I can’t understand how a person with that clarity of thought would decide to actually make one.

Palantir is a Quenya word meaning far-seeing. The last successful king of Numenor was Tar-Palantir for example.

The palantiri were corrupted by Sauron and limited to only show things that he wanted you to see. This was extremely well known inside Palantir and was deliberately talked about as something we should all consider the risk of.

The origin story of Palantir was the intelligence failures that led to the 9/11 attacks not being caught. The goal was to prevent the total eradication of civil liberties that would necessarily follow another successful attack of that magnitude.

Palantir’s software was rejected by organizations performing dragnet style mass data collection.

This is the most pointless hn comment I’ll ever leave, but you shouldn’t assume other people are ignorant or acting out of malice.

Also the tshirts were comfy as fuck and extremely well designed.

I don’t doubt the good intentions. I do question the outcome.

They signed a contract with the city of New Orleans!

This seems unrelated to the comfort and fit of their shirts, but maybe not?

I have been in the same room as someone wearing a Palantir shirt and I was uncomfortable.

> I don't know how you could see "mongoDB" and not think it is tech

Idk but mongo-anything has clearly insulting connotations hasn't it? I'm not a fan of cancelling language at all but still find it very surprising a product with that name could advance that far in enterprise computing. I guess I had hoped the article would explain the joke I was missing here.

Update: ads on a CMU site?

According to the founders "mongo" came from "humongous" not "mongoloid". Additionally, "Mongo" has never had insulting conotations in America, as far as I know. Also, if you weren't aware, Mongo is an ethnicity and a language, should we force them to change the name?

My holy grail was the Hanes ComfortSoft 100% cotton T. Available in 6-paks at the local Walmart. They start soft and just get better.

But they changed the fabric a while ago and it's not the same.

Still have a few that are getting pretty threadbare.

What you want now is Hanes Premium slim fit, which is a cotton/poly blend similar to the old ComfortSoft.

Watch out because some Hanes Premium are 100% cotton, which is not what you want at least at this price point.

Black 100% cotton tends to collect lint and cat hair, doesn’t it?

That shirt, with long sleeves. My go-to for 20 years.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com