From the outside, you could say it’s been a rough couple of years for the graphic tee. Online Ceramics—the label responsible for much of the late 2010s graphic tee boom—broke up the band, and “quiet luxury,” a category notably devoid of graphics, ate up more and more of fashion’s cultural atmosphere. Couple that with the death of merch, and you’d be forgiven for assuming that long-sleeve graphic tees had taken a hit, too.
Except the opposite has happened. Recently, the long-sleeved graphic tee has been adopted wholeheartedly by the industry’s leading designers—from Our Legacy to Magliano and Willy Chavarria—all of whom made sure to include a graphic long-sleeved tee in their recent collections, even when it was often the sole use of graphics in their entire line.
When you think about it, is it any wonder? The long-sleeved T-shirt has always endured, primarily because it’s incredibly pleasant to wear. As easy to throw on as a regular T-shirt, but with added warmth and often snug ribbing around the wrist, there’s nothing quite like it on days where it’s too warm for a jacket but too nippy for a tee. Add a sick graphic to that equation—one that can also run all the way up and down those extended sleeves—and the question becomes why we don’t all have one in our weekly rotation.
Lucky you, I’m here to help with that. Below, 20 favorites from the current crop.
