Golden Rules

1. NEVER wear free or company t-shirts

   Free t-shirts are great, but don’t wear them to work, on dates, or to any bar where you actually hope to talk to girls. Free t-shirts are for home-depot trips, car-washing, working out, or sitting around your home (alone, not when you are receiving visitors.) My best suggestion would be to give this free swag to your parents. They’ll appreciate any new clothes.

2. Do NOT tuck in your shirt (some exceptions apply)

   By and large , do NOT tuck in your shirt.

   Here are the only exceptions to this rule:

   1. A formal event, or a more formal workplace, obviously, you must tuck in
   2. When layering, you may tuck in the bottom shirt
   3. If your shirt is flat all around the bottom, then it must be tucked in

   For all other times, DO NOT tuck in. ESPECIALLY do NOT tuck in a T-SHIRT by itself. Ever. The only time it is acceptable to tuck in a t-shirt is when wearing it under a sweater, blazer, or when layering.

3. Avoid wrinkles

   A wrinkly shirt shows you don’t know how to take care of yourself properly. Invest in an clothes iron and take 5 minutes to get those wrinkles out - it’s not rocket science. TIP: sometimes you can avoid ironing if you tumble-dry your clothes and after hang them up right away (while still hot.) If you’re wearing a dress shirt, you have no choice: you must make sure that thing is ironed!

4. Layer if you can

   It’s such a simple thing to do - wear one shirt over another - and women almost universally prefer it. You can layer almost anything, allowing you to create several outfits from the same clothes. An additional benefit is that layering cuts down on sweat show-through, and protects the shirt above from sweat stains.

5. No Popped Collars
   

   Unless you are a rich suburbanite freshman with frosted tip, orange skin and drives your daddys SUV, you should not have a popped collar on your polo shirt.

Standard “Can’t-Go-Wrong” Suggestions

Please note: the items listed below are girl-approved examples. Although each item is linked to a vendor that sells the item, we’re not advocating any exact make, model, or vendor. We highly recommend vendors which offer free in-store returns or free shipping on certain orders.

Men’s Undershirts & T-Shirts

1. Undershirts, or ‘essential t-shirts’, are a necessary part of every wardrobe. You should probably never wear these on their own, but they provide a clean base for your other shirts. Build up a collection base of neutral colors - white, grey and black.

2. Graphic T’s are a fine casual choice, but a couple of tips here. First, keep the graphic simple - and it shouldn’t stand out too much. Second, you don’t want the shirt to appear too crisp or new - you’re going for a casual comfortable look. Lastly, fit is very important - that is, the shoulder seam should actually be sitting on your shoulder, and the rest of the shirt should not look like it’s hanging off of you . Avoid potential offensive jokes and writing gimmicks. Layering T-shirts is OK - for example a short sleeve T with a long sleeve shirt underneath.

Men’s Polos

Another good casual choice. Again - most of the time, go with a layered look - just make sure your undershirt is not the same color as your overshirt. On the other hand, you don’t want your undershirt to contrast too much with your overshirt - this is pretty easy to do - just avoid wearing white under a black shirt - i.e. go with gray. Both striped (ie rugby style) and solid polo shirts look good, match it with a pair of jeans that fit the color scheme and you have yourself a nice looking combo.

Hoodies

Hoodies are one of the most versatile items you can have in your closet. Everyone needs a good hoodie - throw one of these on, and one of your essential t-shirts, and you’re good to go. Plus it can double as a light jacket on its own. You can even wear a thin hoodie underneath a blazer for that indie rocker look. Sleeve length should come down to your first thumb knuckle. F4N recommends getting both a thin hoodie (for layering in the winter) and a thick hoodie that can double as a jacket for those Autumn days. Take a zip up hoodie over a pullover one. Also, avoid hoodies with big brand names scrawled over the front, you want don’t want to be a walking commercial.