The Best Loopwheel T-Shirts, and the Heavyweight Tees Worth Buying

The best loopwheel T-shirts are knitted slowly on vintage loopwheel machines, most of them in Wakayama, Japan, and come off the machine as a seamless tube, so the body has no side seams. Our short list: The Real McCoy's Joe McCoy tees, Studio D'Artisan's 9913, Iron Heart's loopwheel tees, The Flat Head's heavyweight loopwheel tee and Pherrow's from Japan, and Merz b. Schwanen's 1950s tee from Germany. If you want a tubular heavyweight tee without the loopwheel price, look at Lady White Co., Velva Sheen, Whitesville and 3sixteen.

The difference is in how the fabric feels and ages: loopwheel jersey is soft but dense, keeps its shape wash after wash and has a slightly uneven, vintage surface that modern jersey lacks.

What is loopwheel?

A loopwheel machine, tsuriami-ki in Japanese, is a circular knitting machine that hangs from the ceiling and knits a tube of jersey with almost no tension on the yarn. It turns at about 24 revolutions a minute, slow enough to watch, and makes roughly one metre of fabric an hour. A modern high-speed machine makes many times that.

Low tension leaves air in the knit. The result is fabric that feels soft and slightly springy, recovers its shape after washing rather than twisting or bagging, and gets softer the more you wear it.

Japan replaced most of its loopwheel machines with fast sinker machines during the economic boom of the 1950s and after, and the last ones were built in the 1970s. A handful of factories in Wakayama prefecture kept theirs running, and most of the world's loopwheel jersey still comes from there. Merz b. Schwanen runs a separate set of old loopwheel machines in Albstadt, in Germany's Swabian Jura.

What is a tubular T-shirt?

Any T-shirt knitted as a tube rather than cut from flat fabric is tubular: no side seams, so nothing to twist round to the front or rub. Loopwheel tees are tubular, but most tubular tees are not loopwheel. Modern circular machines knit tubes too, much faster.

One quirk: a loopwheel machine knits one diameter, so a brand covers a size range with a few machines. Studio D'Artisan and Iron Heart both add side seams to their largest sizes, because the tube is not wide enough.

The best loopwheel T-shirts

The Real McCoy's

The Real McCoy's loopwheels its Joe McCoy tees in Wakayama, in a jersey of around 6.8oz with a ribbed neck: a faithful copy of a mid-century American athletic tee. The brand's loopwheel sweatshirts, at 9 and 10oz, are among the best known in the category.

Studio D'Artisan 9913

Studio D'Artisan's 9913 is a heavy loopwheel tee knitted at a Wakayama factory, with a three-needle reinforced collar. It runs slim and small; most people size up. The brand also makes a version mud-dyed on Amami Oshima.

Iron Heart

Iron Heart's 7.5oz loopwheel tees are knitted in Wakayama and cut, sewn and printed in Tokyo. They are pre-washed, so they do not shrink, and sold plain or with the brand's prints. Iron Heart is better known for its 21oz denim, but the tees have the same overbuilt character. See Iron Heart tees.

The Flat Head

The Flat Head makes a heavyweight loopwheel tee much heavier than its own THC tees, with a triple-stitched collar that will not sag. It is about as thick as a T-shirt gets.

Pherrow's and Jelado

Pherrow's makes vintage-style loopwheel tees, pocket tees and sweatshirts in Japan; they run small, so check the chart. Jelado offers plain and pocket loopwheel tees with the same vintage cut.

Merz b. Schwanen

Merz b. Schwanen was founded in 1911 by Balthasar Merz to make loopwheeled work henleys and underwear, and revived in 2011 by Gitta and Peter Plotnicki. Its "Good Originals" tees, the 1950s crew above all, are still knitted on loopwheel machines in Albstadt. They are not pre-shrunk: shops usually advise one size up. See Merz b. Schwanen tees.

Tubular and heavyweight T-shirts

These are not loopwheel, but they are some of the best heavyweight T-shirts made, and usually cost less.

• Lady White Co., founded in Los Angeles in 2015, knits, cuts and sews its "Our T-Shirt" in LA: a six-ounce tubular jersey, pre-washed, with a bound collar. It is a strong candidate for the best white T-shirt.
• Velva Sheen began in Cincinnati in 1932, making tees for colleges and the military. Its tees are still knitted tubular on vintage machines and made in the USA, sold singly or in packs.
• Whitesville is an old American name now made in Japan by Toyo Enterprise, the company behind Sugar Cane and Buzz Rickson's. Its two-pack tubular tees are boxy and slightly cropped; size up. Its loopwheel sweatshirts are the real thing.
• 3sixteen's Heavyweight tee is a tubular 260gsm jersey, sold in two-packs and in a boxier cut.
• Warehouse's plain tees include loopwheeled slub jersey from Wakayama, unwashed, so expect it to shrink about an inch.

Loopwheel sweatshirts

Loopwheel matters even more in a sweatshirt, where the thick fleece-backed jersey stays soft and holds its shape for decades. The Real McCoy's, Pherrow's, Whitesville, Warehouse and UES all make loopwheel sweatshirts, many with the V-insert at the neck and the freedom sleeves of the 1930s and 1940s originals. Browse men's sweats to compare them.

How to choose

• Weight. Around 5 to 6oz is a classic tee that layers under a shirt. 7oz and up is a heavyweight that holds its shape on its own, and a good choice for a boxy fit.
• Shrinkage. Pre-washed tees (Iron Heart, Lady White Co.) fit as bought. Unwashed loopwheel jersey (Merz b. Schwanen, Warehouse) shrinks, so buy a size up and wash it once before you judge the fit.
• Fit. Japanese tees often run small and short; American ones longer. Measure a tee you like and compare it with each shop's chart.
• Care. Wash cool, inside out, and dry flat or on a hanger. A tumble dryer shrinks and wears loopwheel jersey faster than anything else.

Questions people ask

Why are loopwheel T-shirts so expensive?

Because the machines are slow, old and few. One machine makes about a metre of fabric an hour, needs a skilled operator, and spare parts often come from machines kept back for the purpose.

Is loopwheel better than regular cotton?

It is softer, keeps its shape better and lasts longer than most fast-knitted jersey. A good tubular tee from a modern machine comes close for less money.

Do loopwheel T-shirts shrink?

Unwashed ones do, usually a few per cent. Pre-washed ones, such as Iron Heart's, barely move. The listing will say which.

What is the best heavyweight T-shirt?

For loopwheel, The Flat Head's heavyweight tee or Studio D'Artisan's 9913; for a tubular tee that costs less, 3sixteen's Heavyweight or Velva Sheen.

Compare prices and sizes

Loopwheel tees sell out by size quickly and their prices vary between shops. Browse men's tees on HARDSTOC to see every shop's price and who has your size, and read what heritage style is for the jeans and boots that go with them.