155 cc stands for 155 grams per square meter, clean cotton.
155 gm is a standard weight for men's t-shirts. Clean cotton references our top-priority with t-shirts: a super clean fabric surface (no fuzz). Using refined yarns, 155 cc achieves a smooth, matte finish, that’s cool to the touch.
Our first product was a t-shirt, and for the first two years, t-shirts were all we sold. Since then and over the last decade, we’ve tested every t-shirt fabric imaginable; poly blends, pima, modal, slub, merino, and a range of weights…from mills all over the world.
We continually tested to develop knowledge, but also because we were searching for something specific. In 2019, we found the fabric we’d been searching for.
From the beginning, what was important to us was a fabric that started with, and maintained, a super clean surface over years of wear. We’d learned that a super clean surface was the indicator that a t-shirt would age in a vintage way, not in a worn out way.
T-shirts age for better or worse depending on yarn quality. Yarns are made by twisting tiny fibers together, and like with everything, there’s high-quality and low-quality fibers. Long fibers are considered high-quality because they can be twisted more and tighter. Short fibers cannot be twisted as tight and will unravel from the yarn over time. When short fibers unravel due to abrasion or washing, the yarn becomes fuzzy, causing the fabric to look worn out.
Understanding how to use fibers and yarns to achieve a goal, along with a process of elimination (testing every t-shirt fabric imaginable), led us to the fibers and yarns we use for 155 cc.
Most men’s t-shirt fabrics are knitted using a single 30-gauge yarn, which produces a standard weight for men’s t-shirt fabrics. 155 cc uses two 60-gauge yarns twisted together to create the equivalent yarn size of a single 30-gauge yarn.
The purpose of 60-gauge twisted yarns is two-fold. 60-gauge yarns are refined, commonly used in dress shirt fabrics, and create a smooth surface. Twisted yarns keeps the fibers inside the yarns bound tight, minimizing the ability of fibers to unravel.
T-shirts made from twisted 60-gauge yarns are rare because of the expense and only used by brands obsessed with quality. But what makes 155 cc even more unique is an additional process the yarns go through before knitting. 155 cc yarns are sent through a cylinder that emits a flame which burns off tiny excess fibers from the yarn surface, resulting in an super clean surface that lasts the lifetime of the garment.
At 155 grams per square meter, 155 cc is a standard weight for men’s t-shirts, but it’s not heavyweight. 245 cc, a heavyweight version is currently being tested (no release date has been set).
- 155 gm all-cotton
- Naturally wrinkle resistant
- Binded neck
- Pre-washed to stabilize shrinkage
- Machine wash cold, tumble dry or hang dry
- Fabric from Portugal
- T-shirts made in USA
