Here’s the short version.
Tubular tees are cheaper to make and fit like a straight box.
Side-seamed tees cost more, fit better, and read premium. That’s it.
The rest of this page explains why, so you can spec the right one instead of guessing.
I run the cutting and sewing floor here in Sialkot. We build both.
I’ll tell you what actually happens at the machine, not what a spec sheet claims.
“Tubular” means the body is knit in the round.
A circular knitting machine spins yarn into a continuous tube of jersey. No side seams.
The tube is the body of the shirt.
You slide it onto the table, cut the shoulders and neck, sew on sleeves and a collar, hem it, and you’re done.
Fewer pieces. Fewer operations. Lower cost.
The catch is the machine.
The tube diameter is fixed by the cylinder on the knitting machine.
So the body width of a tubular tee is dictated by whatever tube sizes the mill runs; you don’t get to pick any width you want.
Grading across sizes gets steppy, and the fit lands boxy and straight by default.
Tubular is the standard build for promotional tees, budget basics, giveaway shirts, and a lot of kids’ wear.
When fit isn’t the selling point, tubular is the sensible, cheap answer.
“Side seam” means the body is cut and sewn.
Instead of using the whole tube, we take open-width fabric flat panels and cut a separate front and back.
Then we sew them together down each side. Two real seams, left and right, running from underarm to hem.
That extra step is the whole point. Once the sides are cut-and-sewn, you control the shape.
You can taper the waist, contour the body, nip it in, or let it drape. You’re no longer stuck with the machine’s tube.
This is why premium blanks are almost always side-seamed.
The seam is the lever that lets us build a fitted or intentionally shaped silhouette instead of a straight cylinder.
Put the two side by side, and the difference is obvious before anyone reads a label.
A tubular tee hangs straight down. Boxy.
The width at the chest and the width at the hem are basically the same, because the tube is the same all the way down.
On some bodies that’s fine. On most it reads cheap.
A side-seamed tee can be shaped.
We can bring the waist in, keep the shoulders clean, and give the whole thing a tailored line.
Even an oversized premium tee is usually side-seamed; the seams let us control the drape and grain so “boxy” looks deliberate instead of accidental.
Short version: tubular gives you one shape. The side seam gives you whatever shape you draw.
This is the failure mode nobody warns you about, and it’s the fastest way a cheap tee outs itself.
A single jersey has torque built into it.
The yarn is twisted, and the knit loops lean because of that twist.
Left alone, the vertical columns of stitches (the wales) don’t sit perfectly straight; they angle.
Textile people call it spirality.
In a tubular tee, there’s nothing to hold that torque in check.
So after a wash or two, the whole body rotates.
The side “fold” of the tube spirals around toward the front. If there’s a print, the print tilts.
The side seam that should sit at 3 and 9 o’clock ends up creeping toward the belly.
It looks like the shirt was sewn crooked. It wasn’t the fabric twisted.
Side seams fight this.
The cut-and-sewn edges anchor the panels to a fixed line, so the twist can’t march all the way around the body.
On top of that, open-width fabric can be relaxed and finished properly before cutting, which controls the torque at the source.
A closed tube is harder to de-torque.
So you get it from two directions: the fabric is better behaved, and the seams pin it in place.
If you’ve ever pulled a fresh tee out of the dryer and the side seam had wandered to the front, that’s tubular spirality, and that’s the tell.
Everything above the price tag comes down to operations at the machine.
Tubular skips work:
The side seam adds work:
That’s the trade. On a high-volume basis, cutting the side-seam operation saves real money at scale, which is exactly why the cheapest blanks are tubular.
On a premium run, the added labor is small next to what it buys you: fit, shape, and a garment that doesn’t twist.
| Tubular | Side seam | |
|---|---|---|
| Build | Knit in the round, no side seams | Cut-and-sewn front & back panels |
| Fit | Boxy, straight, fixed tube widths | Shapeable tapered or intentional drape |
| Twisting | Prone to spirality after washing | Seams anchor the body; far more stable |
| Cost | Lower fewer operations | Higher extra cutting & sewing |
| Best for | Promo, budget basics, high volume | Premium, fashion, hero products |
Match the build to what you’re selling.
If you’re advertising “premium” and speculating tubular to save a few cents, the fit and the twist will contradict your own marketing.
Customers don’t know the word “tubular.” They just feel that the shirt sits wrong.
Construction isn’t a solo decision. It stacks with fabric and fits.
The premium stack looks like this: side-seam + heavier, combed ring-spun jersey + a clean, graded fit, sometimes garment-dyed.
Each choice reinforces the others. The seams let the heavier fabric drape and hold shape.
The value stack is the opposite: tubular + lighter open-end or carded jersey + standard tube widths.
Everything is chosen to keep costs down, and it all agrees with itself too.
The mistake is mixing signals. Heavyweight premium fabric on a tubular body still twists and still fits boxy; you paid for good fabric and let the construction undercut it.
And a fitted silhouette is simply not possible on a tube; if your fit goal is contoured, side seams aren’t optional.
So decide the fit first. The fit goal usually makes the construction choice for you.
Don’t assume. Tell the factory exactly what you want, in writing, on the tech pack.
Speaking this on purpose is what separates a brand that understands its product from one repeating a supplier’s words back at them.
No. It’s better for fit and premium positioning, and it resists twisting.
For cheap, high-volume, print-forward basics, tubular is the right, cheaper call.
They dramatically reduce it, especially combined with properly finished open-width fabric.
No construction fully removes jersey torque, but side-seamed tees hide and resist it far better than tubular.
Look for side seams from underarm to hem. If there are none the body is a smooth tube with no seam on either side it’s tubular.
That’s spirality. The fabric’s built-in torque rotates the body. It’s most severe on untreated tubular single jersey.
At high volume, yes it removes a full sewing operation and simplifies cutting. On a premium tee, the saving is small next to the fit and quality you give up.
From the T-shirt manual
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.
On the floor · Sialkot