What Is a Single Stitch T-Shirt?

Posted by jonathan kemp on April 29, 2026

If you’ve ever picked up a vintage T-shirt and noticed a single clean line of stitching on the sleeves or hem, you’ve found what collectors call a single stitch tee.

It’s one of those small details that instantly signals a piece is older, usually dating from the 1970s through the early 1990s.

Before mass production standardised everything, T-shirts were often made with a single row of stitching. Today, most modern tees use double stitching for durability.

Single stitch vs. double stitch

Single stitch doesn’t just look different it feels different. It has one visible seam line and is found on older vintage garments (pre 2000s). They are usually made of a softer, thinner cotton which creates a more natural drape, and shows the natural ageing more easily.

Double stitch tees, on the other hand, are built for strength and modern production lines with two parallel seam lines. They last, but they rarely carry that worn-in vintage character people chase.

Why it matters?

For collectors, single stitch has become less about construction and more about era authenticity. It’s one of the quickest ways to identify whether a piece genuinely belongs to the vintage timeline.

But not every single stitch tee is rare, what matters more is the print, brand, and wear.

Best Single Stitch Brands:

Screen Stars/Screen Stars Best - Probably the MOST iconic vintage blank. Heavy in band tees + tour merch. Tons of 80s graphics
Hanes (80s/90s USA blanks) - Common in promo tees, corporate graphics
Fruit of the Loom - Common for 80s/90s graphics. Look for older “Made in USA” tags
Jerzees - Underrated but everywhere in vintage sports / event tees, Especially late 80s–early 90s
Oneita - VERY sought-after for graphic tees. Known for bold prints + heavy cotton
Anvil - Common in band merch + souvenir tees. Nice slightly boxier vintage fit.

Best Single Stitch Graphics:

Music / Band tees - look for: Nirvana, Metallica, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd. Old tour merch printed on Screen Stars / Brockum blanks. Especially “tour dates” back prints = $$$. Old festival tees.
Racing / motorsport - look for: NASCAR (old Winston Cup era), Harley-Davidson dealership tees, Indy 500 / vintage F1 prints.
Sports / NFL / NBA / MLB - look for: Super Bowl tees (80s–early 90s especially), Championship finals shirts, Old team championship graphics.
Corporate / advertising tees - These are sleeper grails, look for: McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Disney (80s park merch goes crazy)
TV / cartoons - look for: Looney Tunes (older prints hit hardest), Marvel 80s/90s character tees, Simpsons early era merch