"This has got a really horrible neckline," said Simon Ungless, head of San Francisco's American Academy of Art's graduate fashion program, pitching a Hanes shirt onto the floor.
"Look at that shiny piping!" he said, pointing at a Calida, a Swiss underwear brand. "It's absolutely revolting."
Over the next hour, the judges tore apart one T-shirt's "wimpy neck" and collectively gasped at another shirt's ill-made, puckered sleeve.
One of the priciest T-shirts in the contest was the fashionable C&C, touted on Oprah Winfrey's TV show and evangelized by trend titans Vogue and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Meant to resemble an old, worn-out T-shirt, it has fashion followers raving about the thinness of its fabric, which makes it easy to layer with other tees.
C&C shirts are also cut unusually long, helping cover the midriff gap created by the trendy low-rise pant.
The judges raved about C&C's classic cut and its vintage look.
C&C made the final cut, as did the "Classic Girl" model from American Apparel, a Los Angeles-based T-shirt manufacturer that has recently branched into the retail business, opening stores in New York and L.A. as well as an online shop.
Banana Republic was in the running, and successful boutique brand Juicy Couture made a distant fourth, despite a little fabric loop in the back that attracted some jeers.
We sent the finalists off to the textile lab, and, one week and $800 worth of tests later, we got a report.
The champ: Banana Republic, which at $16.50 was one of the least expensive shirts in the competition.
Ann Brooks, manager of Hamby's physical testing laboratory, noted that the shirt retained a good appearance after being washed and shrank just 2.8% lengthwise and 1.4% crosswise.
Juicy Couture came in a close second, while American Apparel was knocked for shrinking 8.6% crosswise.
The worst performer: C&C, which shrank 7% crosswise and was the only shirt to win an "Unattractive" rating after being washed.
Ms. Brooks said the shirt was too loosely knit and that if she had bought the shirt, she'd probably return it.
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