GEAR LOVE: GETTEES FOR A CAUSE

Image of GETTEES purchase Taken by PKSenagore April 8, 2017. All rights reserved.

BEAUTIFUL AND SOFT FOR LAYERING ON RUNS OR AFTERWARD. GREAT FIT!
Do you appreciate a well-made t-shirt? One constructed with heavier weight cotton? I do. Especially white, long sleeve tees.
 
Are you delighted to be the first to “get” a novel concept product? To support a company with a social mission?
 
I found the perfect garment online. It’s made by GETTEES™, which is headquartered in the Metro-Detroit area, in southeast Michigan. The company’s website creation story says that a hometown entrepreneur, Matthew Hunt, decided to locate a factory and produce classic t-shirts in a city that had seen a loss in manufacturing jobs over the decades. The workforce would be former auto workers and novice sewers, who would be trained to make, with “detail and craftsmanship”, garments of high quality.  The company was “founded on the principle of putting people back to work”.
 
Hunt was turned on to this project while researching a case-study on the garment industry as a Michigan State University student, the website relates. It says the company hopes to disprove the notion that clothing can only be made overseas where impoverished populations accept sweatshop workplace conditions.
 
Products are advertised as 100% made in America. California as the origin of the 100% Supima cotton, North Carolina as the location where fibers are knitted into fabric, and Michigan as the place where design takes place and the fabric is cut and sewn.
 
My one purchase was a men's, small size, tailored-fit, Model T LS (long sleeve) from the Pinstripe Collection. In Dove (white). It’s substantial, soft, and wrinkle-free. A thing of beauty if you love crewneck t-shirts. The sleeves are "trimmed", the seams are “reinforced”. The fitted neckline has a pinstripe fabric backing.  I bought it to run in this spring, TO LAYER over a sleeveless shell and under a windbreaker. 

To my surprise this t-shirt looked terrific ON me. Most men's small shirts are too boxy through the torso to be worn anywhere but on a road or trail run. It's disappointing when unisex/mens race t-shirts with totally awesome graphics can't also be stylishly worn outside of a training session. 

There are other long sleeve colors: Cherry (deep red), Hale (deep blue), Plymouth (medium gray), Silver (light gray), Lincoln (black), Pennwood (deep green). Short sleeve tees additionally come in colors of Cardinal (deep red), Hudson (medium blue), Kelly (green), Peach, Indigo, and Atlantic (blue).
 
As plain t-shirts go these are somewhat expensive ($39 for long sleeve, $29 for short sleeve styles)  but they seem to have extended wear possibilities, as they are a bit dressier, especially for men who like to wear crew neck tops with casual slacks and jeans.
 
I can’t wait to see what other apparel items this November 2016 start-up company will offer in the future. Women's tees are in the works, it seems. I hope the mens sizing is not changed; the men in my family like fitted tees as well.

If you love t-shirts AND wish to join in a quest to bring garment manufacturing back to the U.S., give GETTEES a good look. 
 
RUN HAPPY!

​Earned Runs may pilot a promotional t-shirt from this company!

https://gettees.us/pages/story