Two tees can both read “100% cotton, 180 GSM” on the spec sheet.

Put them side by side and they feel like different products.

One drapes soft and thin. One sits dense and structured.

One prints razor-sharp. One eats your ink into a fuzzy edge.

The difference isn’t the fabric. It’s the knit structure that loops the yarn into cloth.

That’s the part most brands skip when they brief a factory.

They say “cotton” and leave the most important decision to chance.

This guide fixes that. We’ll walk every knit we actually run on our floor, what each one does, and where it earns its place in a range.

By the end you’ll be able to spec fabric like a manufacturer, not a shopper.

Who this is for: founders and brands specing a tee for real production. Not a “best blank tees to buy” listicle. If you’re building a range and choosing a base cloth, this is the map.

FAB-01 The default knit

Single jersey: the standard tee

  • Knit: single-face
  • Weight: light–heavy
  • Print: excellent
  • Cost: lowest

If you picture a t-shirt, you’re picturing a single jersey. It’s the baseline.

Almost every blank tee on the market is knit this way.

A single jersey is a one-sided knit.

The front face is smooth with flat vertical columns.

The back is loopy and slightly bumpy.

Flip any plain tee inside out; that texture is single jersey.

How does it behave?

It’s light and breathable. It drapes softly.

It moves with the body. That’s why it’s the go-to for everyday wear.

It also has one quirk you have to design around: the edges curl.

Cut a raw edge of a single jersey, and it rolls in on itself.

That matters at the hem, the neckline, and any raw-edge detail.

Your factory handles it with binding, ribbing, or a coverstitch, but it’s a construction cost to plan for.

Where does it win?

  • Everyday tees and high-volume core styles.
  • Big print runs the flat face and takes ink beautifully.
  • Tight budgets: it’s the most economical knit, with less yarn than any double-knit.
  • Soft, relaxed drape rather than a structured body.

Single jersey is where most of our tee programs start.

Get the weight and the yarn right, and it covers 80% of what a streetwear brand needs.

FAB-02 Texture & character

Slub jersey: vintage texture

  • Knit: single-face, slub yarn
  • Surface: irregular
  • Print: good, softer edges
  • Cost: low-mid

Slub is a single jersey with attitude.

Same knit structure, but the yarn is spun on purpose with thick and thin spots along its length.

Those irregular lumps are “slubs.”

The result is a surface that’s textured and uneven, in a good way.

It reads worn-in, organic, and vintage.

Even a plain black slub tee looks like it has a story.

Why do brands reach for it?

It adds character to a basic without any decoration.

A blank slub tee already looks elevated.

That’s a cheap way to make a core style feel considered.

It pairs perfectly with a washed, heather, or garment-dyed look.

The texture catches dye and light unevenly, which is exactly the point.

The trade-off:

That texture isn’t a flat print surface.

Fine detail and small text can look slightly broken up over the slubs.

It’s not a problem for most streetwear graphics; big, bold, distressed art actually loves it but keep it in mind for crisp, technical logos.

Use slub when you want texture without stepping up to a heavier, pricier double-knit.

It’s the easiest way to make a plain tee feel premium on a mid-budget.

FAB-03 The premium body

Interlock: dense, smooth, structured

  • Knit: double-face
  • Weight: mid–heavy
  • Print: excellent
  • Cost: higher

Interlock is where a tee starts to feel expensive.

It’s a double-knit, two-layer of jersey interlocked into one fabric.

Both faces are smooth. There’s no “wrong side.”

That construction changes everything about how the cloth behaves.

What do you get?

  • Both sides smooth, with no loopy back face.
  • No edge curl: it lies flat, which makes for cleaner construction and crisper necklines.
  • Denser and more opaque light doesn’t pass through, so colors read fuller.
  • More structure: it holds a shape instead of clinging. Ideal for boxy, heavyweight silhouettes.

The cost side:

Interlock uses more yarn than a single jersey; that’s the whole point of a double knit.

So it costs more, and it’s heavier.

For a light summer tee, that’s the wrong direction. For a premium heavyweight, it’s exactly right.

Reach for interlock when the tee is the product a structured, premium, heavyweight piece where the hand-feel and the clean body justify the extra cost.

FAB-04 Elevated & textured

Pique: the polo texture on a tee

  • Knit: textured (waffle/mesh)
  • Surface: raised, geometric
  • Print: fair texture shows
  • Cost: mid-higher

Pique is the fabric you know from polo shirts.

A raised, geometric texture of small waffle or diamond cells across the surface.

Once you feel it, you recognize it everywhere.

On a tee, pique reads sporty and elevated at the same time.

It has body and breathability, and the texture gives a plain garment visual interest without any print.

Where does it fit streetwear?

Pique is a texture play, like slub but more structured and more “put-together.”

It suits premium drops, elevated basics, and anything leaning into a clean, sportswear-adjacent look.

The open texture also breathes well, so it’s a smart pick for warmer-climate ranges where you still want a substantial hand.

The catch:

The raised cells are not a flat print base. Screen and DTG detail sit on the high points and skip the valleys.

Embroidery and clean single-color marks work far better on pique than fine, full-color art.

FAB-05 The fabric decision

Cotton vs. cotton-poly vs. tri-blend:

Knit structure is one axis. Fabric content is the other. You choose both.

Here’s how the three main compositions actually behave: feel, shrinkage, print, and cost.

100% cotton:

The classic. Soft, breathable, natural hand.

It takes print better than anything else; the fabric grabs ink and holds color.

It’s the safe default for graphic-led streetwear.

The trade-offs: it shrinks (unless pre-shrunk or enzyme-washed), it wrinkles, and it holds water, so it feels heavier when damp.

None of that is a dealbreaker; it’s just the tax you pay for a pure natural fabric.

Cotton-poly blend (50/50, 60/40, 65/35):

Add polyester and you trade a little natural feel for a lot of practicality.

  • Less shrinkage: poly doesn’t shrink, so the garment stays truer to size.
  • More durable: blends resist wear and hold up to more washes.
  • Wrinkle-resistant and faster-drying.
  • Cheaper: poly costs less than cotton, so the blend lands lower.
  • Heather colors: those flecked, marled tones come from blending fabrics.

The cost: slightly less breathable, and a touch less of that pure-cotton hand.

For core basics and print-heavy ranges, most brands don’t miss it.

Tri-blend (cotton / polyester / rayon):

Add rayon and you get the softest, most vintage feel of the three.

Tri-blend drapes are light and clingy, with a lived-in hand straight off the machine.

It’s the “fashion tee” composition.

Two things to plan for. The fit is clingier and more body-hugging, great for a fitted look, and wrong for boxy.

And it’s harder and pricier to print: the rayon and poly content means dye migration and a softer, more faded print result.

That fade can be the aesthetic or a problem depending on your art.

Quick call:

Graphic-led, best print, safe → 100% cotton.

Durable, low-shrink, budget heathers → cotton-poly.

Soft vintage drape, fitted, fashion → tri-blend.

Composition drives both your cost and your decoration options, so lock it early.

FAB-06 Organic & recycled

Organic and recycled jersey:

Sustainability isn’t a separate fabric; it’s a sourcing choice layered on top of the knits above.

You can knit a single jersey or interlock from organic or recycled yarn.

Here’s what each option actually means and what it costs you.

Organic cotton:

Grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

The hand-feel is essentially the same as conventional cotton; the difference is upstream, in how the fabric was farmed.

The credible signal here is certification. GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is the one buyers recognize.

If you’re claiming organic, back it with a cert, and an unbacked “organic” claim is a trust liability, not a selling point.

Recycled cotton:

Made from cotton scraps and offcuts, reprocessed into new yarn.

It diverts textile waste, but the mechanical recycling shortens the fabrics, so recycled cotton is usually blended with virgin cotton or poly for strength.

Pure 100% recycled cotton jersey is rare and weaker.

Recycled polyester (rPET):

Polyester is spun from recycled plastic, typically PET bottles.

It performs like virgin poly in a blend, with a lower footprint story.

The recognized standard is GRS (Global Recycled Standard).

Same rule as organic: claim it, certify it.

The honest version: sustainable yarn usually costs more and can carry MOQ or lead-time constraints. 

If sustainability is central to your brand, plan it into the spec and the MOQ from day one. Full detail lives in our sustainable streetwear manufacturing guide.

FAB-07 Weight × Knit

Matching fabric to GSM and style:

The knit type tells you the character.

GSM tells you the weight.

You need both and they have to agree with the silhouette you’re building.

GSM means grams per square meter.

Higher GSM = heavier, denser, more substantial cloth.

Here’s the rough map for tees:

130-160 GSM lightweight. Drapey, breathable, summer-weight.

Fashion-forward, layering tees, warm climates.

Can feel thin or slightly see-through in light colors

170-200 GSM midweight. The standard tee. Substantial but not heavy.

The safe default for most streetwear cores.

210-250+ GSM heavyweight. Dense, structured, premium.

The boxy, elevated tee that stands away from the body.

Higher cost, higher perceived value.

Now pair them:

Weight and knit aren’t independent choices. They stack:

Boxy heavyweight premium tee → interlock or heavy single jersey, 230-250 GSM.
Everyday relaxed core tee → single jersey, 180-200 GSM.
Drapey fashion tee → tri-blend or light single jersey, 130-160 GSM.
Textured elevated basic → slub or pique, mid weight.

If you’re not sure how heavy your tee should feel, start with GSM. Our full t-shirt GSM and weight guide walks through every band with real swatch references.

FAB-08 Fabric × decoration

How fabric changes your print:

Here’s the mistake that costs brands the most: they pick the fabric and the print method separately.

They don’t talk. Then the sample comes back wrong.

Fabric and decoration are one decision.

Two things drive it: surface (flat or textured) and fabric (cotton or poly content).

Screen printing:

Loves a flat, tight, smooth surface. Single jersey and interlock are ideal.

Slub and pique fight you; the ink sits unevenly across the texture.

And on any poly content, you need low-cure inks and a poly-safe process to stop dye migration (the shirt’s color bleeding up into your print, usually turning white ink pink over a red garment).

DTG (direct-to-garment):

DTG wants high cotton content, ideally 100% cotton.

It sprays water-based ink that the cotton absorbs.

On poly and tri-blend, DTG struggles: weaker absorption, duller color, and migration risk.

If DTG is your method, bias hard toward cotton.

Embroidery:

Embroidery needs a stable base to hold stitches without puckering. Interlock and Pique take it well.

A thin single jersey needs backing to stop the stitches from distorting the cloth.

Heavier, denser fabric = cleaner embroidery.

The rule: decide fabric and decoration together before sampling. Flat + cotton is the most forgiving combination. Textured or poly-heavy fabric narrows your options plan for it; don’t discover it.

We break down each method against each fabric in our streetwear print and decoration guide.

FAB-09 Action step

Specifying fabric in your tech pack:

Everything above is useless if your tech pack just says “cotton.”

That one word leaves every important decision to the factory’s guess, and their guess is the cheapest option that technically matches.

Spec it properly.

A fabric line in a tech pack should pin down all of this:

Fabric content: exact % “100% cotton,” “60/40 cotton-poly,” “50/25/25 tri-blend.” “Never just “cotton.”

Knit-type single jersey, interlock, slub, pique.

GSM the target weight, with a tolerance (e.g., 240 GSM ±5%).

Yarn quality combed vs. carded, and the yarn count (30s, 24s, 20s). Combed is smoother and stronger.

Finish enzyme-washed, singed (for a smoother print face), pre-shrunk, and garment-dyed.

Color & dye method: piece-dyed vs garment-dyed, and the reference/Pantone.
Shrinkage tolerance the max acceptable shrinkage after wash.

Give the factory no room to interpret. A tight spec is how you get the same tee in bulk that you approved in the sample.

FAB-10 At a glance

The full comparison matrix:

Every knit, side by side. Use it to shortlist, then confirm against your silhouette and print method.

Fabric Surface Hand / Feel Best For
Single jersey Flat front, loopy back; edges curl Soft, light, drapey Everyday tees, high volume, print-led cores
Slub jersey Irregular, textured Vintage, organic Elevated basics, washed/heather looks
Interlock Smooth both faces; no curl Dense, structured, premium Boxy heavyweight, premium tees
Pique Raised waffle/mesh cells Structured, breathable, sporty Premium drops, embroidery, polo-adjacent
100% cotton Depends on knit Natural, breathable Graphic-led, DTG, safe default
Cotton-poly Depends on knit Durable, low-shrink Durable cores, heathers, budget
Tri-blend Depends on knit Softest, vintage, clingy Fashion tees, fitted, vintage aesthetic

Fabric FAQ

For most streetwear tees, combed 100% cotton single jersey at a mid-to-heavy weight is the default.

It prints cleanly, feels good, and scales in bulk.

Step up to interlock for a premium, structured heavyweight, or to a tri-blend for a soft, vintage drape.

The right pick depends on the silhouette, the print method, and the price you’re building to.

A single jersey is lighter, cheaper, and drapes softer; it’s the standard tee knit.

Interlock is a double knit that is denser and smooth on both faces, with no edge curl and more structure.

Use a single jersey for everyday and high-volume tees.

Use interlock for premium, boxy, or heavyweight tees where a clean body and neckline matter.

Around 180-200 GSM is the standard tee weight.

Go lighter (130-160 GSM) for a drapey, fashion fit, and heavier (220-250+ GSM) for a boxy, premium, structured look.

GSM and knit type work together to decide both against the silhouette you’re building.

Yes, a lot. Flat knits like single jersey and interlock take screen print cleanly.

Textured knits like slub and pique lay ink unevenly.

DTG needs high cotton content.

Any polyester content needs poly-safe inks and low cure to avoid dye migration.

Choose the fabric and the decoration method together, not separately.

100% cotton is the softest-looking, most breathable, and the best print base, but it shrinks and wrinkles.

Cotton-poly shrinks less, lasts longer, and costs less, with a slightly less natural hand.

Tri-blend adds rayon for the softest, most vintage drape and a clingier fit, but it’s harder and pricier to print.

Often yes, but sustainable yarn usually costs more and can carry higher MOQs or longer lead times.

If you’re claiming organic or recycled, back it with a recognized certification: GOTS for organic and GRS for recycled.

From the T-shirt manual

This is one chapter of The Complete T-Shirt Manufacturing Guides:

These chapters cover taking a T-shirt brand from idea to shipped units, costing, sourcing, tech packs, QC, freight, and launch comparisons. All written from the Sialkot factory floor of Gibben Clothing.

Open The Full T-Shirt Guides

On the floor · Sialkot

Written by

Faizan Ahmad

Chief Apparel Technologist & Head of Manufacturing, Gibben Clothing · Sialkot, Pakistan

Faizan leads production at Gibben Clothing, a cut-and-sew streetwear manufacturer in Sialkot, with 8+ years turning raw yarn into retail-ready hoodies, tees, bottoms, jackets, tracksuits, and headwear. He doesn’t just write about clothing; he works the floor, so every guide here is grounded in real fabric behavior, QC standards, and production data from live runs.