There are shirts you wear to dinner.
There are shirts you wear because somebody told you there would be pictures.
And then there’s the shirt you grab when you’re about to spend four hours leaning over a fender doing something that was supposed to take forty-five minutes.
Those are not the same shirt.
When we started Nine Sixteen Supply Co., we knew pretty quickly what we didn’t want:
Cheap, thin shirts that feel great in a product photo and terrible after three washes.
That’s why our Premium Graphic Tees are printed on the Comfort Colors 1717.
Not because the name sounds fancy.
Because it feels like a shirt that belongs in a garage.
First: It’s Actually a Substantial Shirt
The Comfort Colors 1717 is a 6.1 oz garment-dyed tee made from 100% ring-spun U.S. cotton.
Translation:
It doesn’t feel like one of those paper-thin promotional shirts you get for free at an insurance convention.
There’s some actual material there.
When you’re leaning over a radiator support, crawling under a dash, or carrying a greasy alternator against your stomach because apparently setting it down was too much trouble, that matters.
GARAGE TRUTH:
A shirt advertised as “featherweight” has probably never met the corner of a rusty fender.
Garment-Dyed Means It Already Feels Broken In
This is probably the biggest reason we like the 1717.
The shirts are garment dyed, which gives them that worn-in, slightly faded look before you ever turn a wrench in one.
They don’t have that shiny, brand-new T-shirt look that feels like it needs six months of washing before it becomes your favorite shirt.
They show up already looking like they belong next to an old truck, a beat-up toolbox, and a workbench nobody has seen the surface of since 2009.
That matters for Nine Sixteen because our designs aren’t supposed to look like they came from a corporate merchandise catalog.
They’re supposed to look like garage shirts.
The Fit Actually Makes Sense for Working in One
The 1717 has a relaxed fit.
That doesn’t mean oversized for the sake of being trendy.
It means you can actually move in the thing.
Reach across an engine bay.
Crawl underneath something.
Stretch for the bolt that somehow ended up exactly three inches farther away than your arm can reach.
A shirt shouldn’t become a compression garment every time you lift your arms.
Fit note: The 1717 is a relaxed, unisex cut and runs true-to-size with a roomy, relaxed drape. If you like a classic relaxed fit, order your usual size. If you prefer a closer fit, some people size down one. Check the measurements in the size chart — bodies vary and we'd rather you get it right the first time.
It’s Pre-Shrunk, Because Nobody Has Time for Surprises
The 1717 is pre-shrunk.
That doesn’t mean cotton suddenly stopped being cotton or that washing instructions no longer matter.
It does mean the shirt is designed to give you a much more predictable fit than a cheap blank that goes into the dryer as an XL and comes out looking like it belongs to your twelve-year-old nephew.
There are enough unexpected developments in a project vehicle.
Your shirt size doesn’t need to be one of them.
Why We Don’t Use the Cheapest Blank Available
Because we could.
There are cheaper shirts.
A lot of them.
If the only goal was to put ink on cotton and get the lowest possible fulfillment cost, this would be pretty easy.
But then we’d be asking you to spend real money on a shirt we wouldn’t want to wear ourselves.
That didn’t make much sense.
So we landed on a pretty simple rule:
We don’t print on cheap crap.
For the premium line, that means the Comfort Colors 1717. As Nine Sixteen grows, other graphic tees may use different blanks, but the product page will always tell you exactly what you’re getting.
GARAGE TRUTH:
If the shirt becomes a shop rag after two washes, it probably started life too close to being one.
A Garage Shirt Should Get Better With Age
There’s something wrong with a garage shirt that looks too perfect.
The good ones pick up some history.
A little fading.
Maybe a stain you swear came from somebody else’s truck.
A spot of paint.
A tiny hole from something you definitely should have unplugged first.
Eventually, it becomes the shirt you automatically reach for when there’s work to do.
That’s the idea.
Not disposable merchandise.
Not something you’re scared to get dirty.
Just a damn good T-shirt with artwork that makes sense to the kind of people who spend their weekends fixing things.
So Is Comfort Colors 1717 Really the Only Shirt Worth Wearing Under a Hood?
Obviously there are other good shirts in the world.
We’re not starting a cotton-based religion here.
But for our Premium Graphic Tees?
6.1 oz cotton. Garment dyed. Relaxed fit. Pre-shrunk. Already feels broken in.
It checks the boxes that matter to us.
And more importantly, it feels right.
Because if you’re going to spend Saturday covered in grease while questioning every decision that led you to owning this vehicle...
You might as well wear a decent shirt while you do it.
From the Garage
Nine Sixteen Premium Graphic Tees
Garage-culture graphics printed on Comfort Colors 1717 for builders, fixers, gearheads, and people whose “quick Saturday project” has entered Sunday afternoon.
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