The Silentist

Review: Mr. Davis Undershirts

If you’re the kind of guy who wears undershirts, then you’ve probably found your T-shirt of choice probably has some kind of problem that you don’t like – but you tolerate anyway. 

I like undershirts as they generally keep pit stains from showing up on my dress shirts, but the standard white V-neck does present a few problems for me from a lot of brands. 

First, a lot of undershirts are cut too short to tuck in and stay tucked in while under a dress shirt. If you have a longer torso like me, this is a constant frustration. And usually the few “tall” sized shirts you find aren’t often slim enough, typically starting in size “medium”. 

Of course, guys who wear white poplin dress shirts know that if you wear a white undershirt underneath, you often have the ghost of the undershirt visible, which looks bad. 

This is where Mr. Davis Undershirts come in and they offered me a free sample undershirt to try. I’m extremely resistant to change, especially when it comes to undershirts, but they definitely knock it out of the park in those first two categories I mentioned. 

For one, their shirts definitely are long enough to stay tucked in. The hem length is sufficient that bending over the shirt won’t ride up past your belt line. 

When it comes to staying invisible under your dress shirt, Mr. Davis shirts also excel at their goal. Here’s what my current white undershirts from Stafford look like under my white dress shirt:

And here’s the same dress shirt with a Mr. Davis Undershirts: 

You’ll note in the first photo you can see the end of the short sleeves of the T-shirt as well as the outline of the V-neck, whereas with the Mr. Davis shirts you can’t see any of this. This is because Mr. Davis uses a weird beige-tan color that blends closer to your natural skin tone. I was pretty impressed at how well this worked. 

It’s definitely also worth mentioning the fit of the undershirts. The fit is very form-fitting and tapers dramatically along the torso. I’m not a very muscular person, but it was essentially a second skin on me with a size medium (I’m a typical 38" chest in jackets). The fabric does have some stretch to it as it’s a bamboo-spandex mix (96-4), 

I’m a bit torn on whether the fabric is for me. For a long time I’ve liked cotton-synthetic blends because it had the softness of cotton but the anti-shrinking properties of the synthetics. Frankly, I’m just not used to wearing something this tight and this stretchy. It took some getting used to when first wearing it, but for those who like this and find it preferable, you’ll like Mr. Davis’ fabric choice. 

As far as details go, I liked how they went with a raglan sleeve rather than a set-in sleeve, which gives you greater movement in the arms. And the V-neck area is deep enough to allow for you to leave your top button undone and not worry about the undershirt showing. 

If you want to give Mr. Davis a try, then visit their Kickstarter page (as of this writing there’s only 9 days to go), where they’ve already met their initial funding goal and are offering shirts for as low as $15 a shirt when you buy 10 of them. Or you can go more modest and try a single shirt for $25. 

Overall, i like the shirt and think Mr. Davis is worth trying if you prefer your undershirts hidden, form fitting and with some stretch.