This was a rather unexpected purchase for me — I just so happened to be chatting with the owner of STS, and he was wearing his HD Work Shirt. It looked great on him, and is a rather niche shirt — I needed it, so I ordered one. Once the shirt arrived, I had to hold back ordering another, until I wore the one I bought at least one time — I am slightly practical at times.
After that first wear, I hit order on a second. I’d own more, but they are out of stock in my size in the other colors. And since picking these up, they’ve become a staple shirt for me on the weekends. They are more akin to a really light (but durable) sweatshirt, than they are to a very heavy t-shirt.
That is to say: durable and supremely comfortable. Lounge and work ready.
Specs & Materials
This is not only cut and sewn in Los Angeles, but it’s made from 100% US Grown and Knitted Cotton. In this case the shirt is 8oz Jersey Cotton, with 10oz Huston Textile Car Canvas for the elbow patches and chest pocket.
The look is very remeniscent of a crewneck sweatshirt, but the collar is an ever so slight mock neck. The sleeves are a raglan cut. And, the rubbed cuffs are oversized — effectively designed to be folded back on themselves one full fold — even with my gangly-ass-long arms the sleeves are still long enough.
I was told that this was designed and crafted to be a serious work shirt which only gets better the more you wear it. That’s been the case for me, with the material proving very durable and the overall construction being exceptional.
I have both the Classic Blue and the Moody Indigo — both are garment dyed. For those not sure what that really means, the most simple explainer: it’s going to fade and have slightly uneven colors in spots. In the images with this article, the Moody Indigo shows some of that fade here and there. All of that adds to the workshirt feel and vibe — a shirt that only looks better with age.
Wearing It
I absolutely love wearing this shirt. It feels like a mix between a sweatshirt, rugby shirt, and long sleeve t-shirt. Typically, when I get dressed for the day, I also fully change into lounge clothes once I know I am done working or leaving the house for the day. With the HD Workshirt, I rarely take it off until I jump into bed — it is one of those shirts which works so well and is so comfortable, you simply don’t want to stop wearing it.
It’s also really impressively heavy, but not super warm. You get the confidence of knowing that you’re unlikely to damage the shirt, while also being able to wear it even when you are working up a bit of a sweat.
The pocket and elbow patches are made out of a canvas, which is a lot sturdier feeling than the rest of the shirt. It’s a neat touch, and they are dyed to match — thus they go slightly unnoticed that they are anything different, except to the person wearing the shirt. A great little extra on the shirts.
There’s only two things to note about this shirt which you might not expect:
- As mentioned above, the cuffs are extra long, and look best worn completely doubled back on themselves. That’s how I wear these shirts, and it looks good and clean this way. However the longer cuffs are pretty nice when wearing gloves, or with a work jacket over the top, as they keep the cuffs and sleeves from binding up. For some though, this might be something they have trouble with, so know going into it that these cuffs are long.
- I only hang dry these shirts, and because of how heavy the jersey is, they do take quite a bit longer than my other shirts to dry — and I live in a fairly low-humidity climate. They dry about as fast as any 100% cotton sweatshirt I own dries.
Outside of those two notes, this is simply a fantastic shirt.
Overall
There’s not a lot to say about this shirt other than it is great. I wrote about it to say just that, but also in hopes to drum up enough encouragement for Stock Tank Supply to create another run of these shirts so I can get more.
It’s fantastic.