Process · Fabric · 5 min read
Why we obsess over 240 GSM
The weight of a tee changes everything. Here's how we choose, and what the number actually means.
GSM means grams per square metre. It's the weight of one square metre of the fabric, and it's the single most honest number on a spec sheet — unlike 'premium' or 'luxury', it can't be argued with. A fast-fashion tee is typically 140–160 GSM. Ours is 280.
What the number actually changes
Three things, in order of how much you'll notice them. First: opacity. Below about 180 GSM a white tee is translucent, and no amount of styling fixes that. Second: drape. A light tee follows your body; a heavy one holds its own shape, which is the entire point of a boxed oversized cut. At 150 GSM an 'oversized' tee just looks like a tee that's too big. Third: how it ages. Heavy knits resist the neckline stretch and the shoulder sag that kill a cheap tee inside six washes.
Why not heavier still?
You can buy 320 and 340 GSM tees, and for a Delhi winter they're excellent. For most of India, most of the year, they're a mistake. Past roughly 300 GSM a cotton jersey stops breathing usefully, and in Mumbai in September that's the difference between a garment you wear and one you regret. 280 is the heaviest we could go while still being wearable in humidity.
Combed, and why it's not marketing
Combing is a mechanical step before spinning that pulls out the short fibres and any remaining husk. It costs yield — you throw away maybe 15% of the cotton — which is exactly why cheap tees skip it. What you get for that loss is a yarn with fewer loose ends, which means less pilling, a smoother hand, and a print surface that doesn't go fuzzy.
Combined with garment dyeing — dyeing the finished tee rather than the fabric — you get a piece that has already done its shrinking and its colour-settling before it reaches you. It will not surprise you in the wash. That is the whole promise.
