What 250gsm cotton actually means — and why it changes how a shirt feels
If you have ever pulled a new shirt over your head and felt it was somehow both thin and stiff — cheap and uncomfortable at once — the reason is usually a number you never saw. It is called GSM, and once you know what it means, you cannot unsee it.
GSM, in plain terms
GSM stands for grams per square metre. It is exactly what it sounds like: how much a single square metre of the fabric weighs. It is the most honest single measure of a shirt's substance, which is precisely why most fast-fashion labels leave it off entirely.
Most high-street t-shirts land somewhere between 140 and 180gsm. That is light, cheap to ship, and quick to wear out — the fabric thins at the shoulders, the collar loses its shape, and within a few washes it has the translucent, tired look of something on its way to becoming a cleaning rag.
Our shirts are 250gsm. That is a meaningful step up in weight, and you feel it the moment you pick one up.
What the extra weight actually does
Weight is not the same as quality, but at this level it buys three things that are hard to fake.
Structure. A heavier fabric hangs instead of clinging. It skims the body rather than mapping every line of it, which is what gives an oversized cut its clean, deliberate drape instead of a shapeless one.
Opacity. Thin cotton is see-through cotton. At 250gsm, the fabric is dense enough that you are not thinking about what is underneath — which matters more to more people than most brands admit.
Longevity. A denser knit has more fibre in the same space, so it resists thinning, pilling, and stretching at the seams. A good heavyweight shirt does not just survive washing — it softens, breaking in the way good denim does, getting better for a year or two before it even thinks about wearing out.
Why we did not go heavier
You can buy 300gsm and even 400gsm shirts, and for a structured, boxy, stand-away-from-the-body look, they are excellent. We chose 250 on purpose. It is the weight where a shirt feels substantial and holds its shape, but still moves — still breathes, still drapes, still feels like something you would reach for on an ordinary Tuesday rather than a garment you have to commit to.
We also blend in a small amount of spandex — 85% cotton, 10% polyester, 5% spandex — so the fabric has a quiet give and returns to shape instead of bagging at the knees and elbows.
Where it is made matters too
Weight is only half the story. The fibre itself matters, and ours comes from Peru — a cotton long prized for its softness and long staple length, which is the technical way of saying the individual fibres are longer, so the yarn is stronger and smoother and pills less.
Every shirt is then cut and sewn by hand in Medellín, Colombia, in small batches. That is slower and more expensive than the alternative. We think you can feel it, which is the only reason worth doing anything that way.
The short version
Next time you are deciding whether a shirt is worth its price, look for the GSM. If the brand does not tell you, that silence is usually its own answer. If it does, you now know what the number means — and roughly what it will feel like years from now, still in your drawer, softer than the day you bought it.