Men's Long Sleeve Tee (Polos & T-Shirts)

Same jersey body as a short sleeve tee, with sleeves running to the wrist. Obvious enough, except that the sleeve changes what the shirt is for. It becomes a layer rather than a base, and the fabric weight has to move with it.

Weight decides whether it stands alone or only works underneath. Below 4.5 ounces per square yard the cloth is a base layer, sheer enough to show whatever sits beneath it. Between 5 and 6.5 ounces it holds up as an outer shirt. Sleeves should be set in with their own seam at the shoulder. The wrist should finish in a rib cuff rather than a plain hem, because plain jersey at the wrist stretches out and stops staying where you push it.

Crew tees are this exact garment stopped at the bicep. The two are worn in different months rather than for different reasons. A waffle knit henley delivers more warmth than any smooth jersey of the same weight, since the texture traps air. Set against a thin sweater, this shirt is warmer than nothing and colder than wool, but it packs flat and washes at home, which merino tolerates less happily.

Roughly 50 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit is the band where it works on its own; below that it becomes a layer under a jacket. Kitchen and workshop work that asks for covered forearms makes good use of it too. Real summer heat is the limit, and a thin one should never be a standalone shirt, since sheer jersey over the arms reads like underwear.

Buy the sleeve half an inch longer than feels right, because sleeves shrink lengthwise before the body does and a cuff riding above the wrist bone looks like the wrong size entirely. Inspect the cuff rib for the same one-by-one texture you would want at a neckband. Turn it inside out to wash, so the forearms, which take the most abrasion against desks and counters, keep their surface longer.