Label Under Construction Parabolic Zip Seam Tee

A t-shirt is normally four pieces of jersey and as few seams as possible, because every seam is a cost and a potential failure. This one adds a seam on purpose, across the back shoulders, and treats it as the reason the garment exists. That inversion is the house’s whole method: a seam is a line drawn on a body, and a maker who is willing to put one where it is not structurally required is drawing rather than assembling. The neckline is cut deep, which does two things at once. It changes how the shirt sits at the front, and it moves the back neckline with it, so the seam across the shoulders has room to read rather than sitting up under a collar. The hem is raw. Dark Beige is the color, which is the right register for a garment whose interest is entirely in its construction: a color with any drama in it would take the eye off the seam. One hundred percent cotton.

Why we selected it

We wanted the piece from this house that shows what it does at the smallest possible scale, and a tee is it. The seam costs money, adds nothing structurally, and is the entire garment, which is a clearer statement of intent than a jacket could make.

Label Under Construction builds through process and leaves the seam legible, and on a t-shirt there is nowhere for that to hide.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton. Structural seam across the back shoulders, deep neckline, raw hem. Color: Dark Beige. We do not hold a country of origin for this piece. The record does not describe the seam’s shape, and the copy does not describe it either.

Fit notes

We do not hold measurements. A deep neckline sits lower at the front and further back at the neck than a standard crew, so it will show more at the collarbone and will not sit under a shirt collar the way a crew does. A shoulder seam placed across the back changes how the shirt hangs from the shoulder rather than how it fits at the chest. Cotton jersey relaxes with wearing and recovers with washing.

Styling

Under the Over Shirt in Sage, which is the pairing where the two houses’ worth of detailing sit quietly together. With the Yoke Pockets Wide Jean, where the trouser’s structural pockets and the shirt’s structural seam are the same idea at two scales. On its own, with the back to the room, which is where it is most itself.

Care

Wash cool and inside out and dry away from direct heat. Do not press the seam flat. A structural seam is meant to stand slightly proud of the surface and an iron will take that away. The raw hem will soften with washing and is supposed to; do not trim it. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Crew Neck Arched Tee is cotton too, plain where this one is seamed, and the Over Shirt is linen cut to go over it. Everything we carry from Label Under Construction is listed together.