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Comment by ScotterC | Hacker News Reader

But are the shirts any good? No mention of material or examples of how one might look.

Raymond from Shirts.io here.

For anyone interested in seeing our print quality, we can give out $100 in free account credits for you to print some samples. Just send me an email: raymond at shirts dot io.

Here's a shirt we just printed: http://i.imgur.com/PHa4hBL.jpg Here's me wearing a shirts.io shirt: http://i.imgur.com/Jcsq2uf.jpg

Hey Raymond,

I have a fairly specific question. My interest in T-shirts has become refined in recent years. I only like T-shirts that are super soft. Have you guys tested a niche of super soft T's at all? I might be interested in using the API if I could brand a custom T-shirt site focused first of all on the softness of the T, and if you could guarantee the softness.

You'd be looking for a ringspun cotton or a triblend t-shirt from a high-end brand like American Apparel or Canvas. It all depends on how much you want to pay.

American Apparel and Canvas are on the high end of the market. They each offer both ringspun and triblend styles. You're looking at $3 to $4 per shirt over the cost of a basic cotton tee.

If you want a "value" soft tee, you should consider the Gildan Softstyle or Hanes Nano T. You can get these for only $1 to $2 over the cost of a basic tee, and you'll still feel a noticeable difference.

The AA tri-blends are my go-to shirt. A service like this would be well worth it if they offered either this or the Summer shirt over the normal 2001 / 2102.

Canvas triblend is another option, usually cheaper than the AA tri-blend and has a more "solid" feel, while still being soft.

Three things that frequently disappoint with T-shirts bought online:

* Thick neck ribbing. In theory this would reinforce the neck, but it looks awful, and is a sure sign of a badly designed T-shirt, in my book.

* "Wing" sleeves. T-shirt sleeves should follow the contour of your arm, not stand out at 45 degrees. It looks nerdy.

* Bad fits. Most T-shirts are just too loose. A "fitted" design that is less loose around the chest works better in my opinion.

Where do you think your shirts stand in terms of the above issues?

I pulled their products API and put it all into a page:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22293/shirt.rendered.htm...

They do offer various specific brands on the quote page. Looks like you can get American Apparel which is what Threadless and many other use.

Ahhh in the dropdown. Thanks

I see a lot of reference to Gildan shirts in their APIs. Might as well be dyed burlap.

In pricing (https://www.shirts.io/pricing/) under garment, they do have a wide variety of other quality alternatives to burlap.

Funny--I love Gildan t-shirts since they actually last for a good while and don't shrink.

There are a few different styles of Gildan shirts. The SoftStyle shirts are passable quality, the others I would stay away from.

I actually don't mind Gildan's quality, but "dyed burlap" gave me a nice chuckle.

"Are our shirts any good? No. Our shirts are fking great."

"Are our shirts any good? Not really. Why are you even on our site?"

Raymond from Shirts.io here.

You were saying? http://i.imgur.com/vSySViF.jpg

They're missing AA 50/50 and Tri-blend, the only two types of tshirt I'll wear (maybe standard AA in a pinch). Once you've worn AA's blend shirts you'll never want to wear another type again, assuming athletic fit works well for you.

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