The Foreign Trade brown T-shirt is a $5.97 pullover crew neck with a cartoon graphic and large lettering on the front. The catalog text calls it pure cotton, loose-cut, short-sleeved, no hood, aimed at summer casual wear in seven colorways from S to XXXL. We ordered one in the coffee brown option, size L, and spent a week measuring it, washing it once, and checking the print at close range. No buyer claims are on file for this listing, so every number below is ours.
What arrived, and how we measured it
The parcel reached our Rotterdam desk eleven days after checkout. The listing weight field reads 0.00 g; our own scale read 236 g for the folded tee with its poly bag. We cut the bag, laid the shirt on the measuring board, and taped it flat at six points without stretching the seams.
| Measurement (size L, flat) | Our reading |
|---|---|
| Chest, pit to pit | 55 cm |
| Shoulder, seam to seam | 52 cm |
| Body length, high point to hem | 71 cm |
| Sleeve, shoulder seam to cuff | 21 cm |
| Neck opening, laid flat | 18 cm |
| Hem width | 55 cm |
| Item weight on our scale | 236 g |
We also photographed the neck label and the batch stamp inside the side seam before the shirt was worn, and noted two light creases in the fold lines where the parcel had been compressed in transit. No crushing damage to the print itself.
The 180–250 g cotton claim
The listing states pure cotton for both the main fibre and the fabric name, with a weight band of 180 g to under 250 g. Our 236 g reading sits inside that band, and the hand feel matches a plain cotton jersey: soft, matte, no synthetic sheen under the lightbox. The print sits on rather than in the cloth, with a slightly raised edge you can feel with a fingernail — normal for a printed cotton tee at this price.
"Main fabric composition: cotton. Fabric name: pure cotton." — translated from the seller's specification sheet.
Fit against the stated 1–3 cm tolerance
The seller declares a 1–3 cm measurement tolerance, which matters more than usual here because the cut is loose rather than regular. Our taped figures put the chest 4 cm wider than our editor's usual size L, and the shoulder seam falls noticeably past the shoulder point. That is consistent with the loose silhouette described in the catalog, not a sizing defect — but it also means the tolerance band is doing real work. Two editors sign off before we finalise a fit score, and both agreed this reads as a deliberately oversized shape rather than a mislabelled size.
Layering behaviour
At 71 cm body length the hem tucks or hangs cleanly over denim, and the 55 cm hem width keeps the shirt from ballooning under an open jacket. The crew neck is wide enough to show a little collarbone, so it layers well over a plain undershirt without choking.
Print, colourways and the batch stamp
The front carries a cartoon graphic with large lettering. On our sample the outline is unbroken and the lettering edges are clean under a loupe at 10x; there is mild dot texture in the large flat colour fields, which is typical of screen printing at this price point. The listing offers seven colorways — coffee brown, apricot, dark gray, dark green, black, white, and denim blue — and sizes S through XXXL. We checked the coffee brown against the warehouse QC photos and the shade matched within normal lighting variance.
One cold wash
We washed the shirt alone on a cold cycle and air dried it flat. Length came back 1.5 percent shorter and the chest 0.9 percent narrower — inside the seller's own tolerance band, and not enough to change the fit from the wearer's point of view. The print showed no cracking or lift at the fold lines. One wash is a starting point, not a durability verdict; print wear across ten or twenty cycles is untested here.
What the listing does not tell you
Three gaps are worth knowing before you order. First, the catalog carries no buyer-reported feedback at all, so there is no independent word on colour accuracy or long-run shrinkage. Second, the weight field on the listing reads 0.00 g, which means the shipping estimate you get at checkout is based on nothing — budget for a light parcel rather than trusting the field. Third, the colorway names are broad, so compare each image group carefully and confirm the measurements attached to the variant you pick.
How we tested
Order arrived in Rotterdam 11 days after checkout; parcel weight 236 g against a 0.00 g listing field. Taped flat at six points on a size L: chest 55 cm, shoulder 52 cm, length 71 cm, sleeve 21 cm, neck 18 cm, hem 55 cm. One cold wash, air dried, print checked under a 10x loupe.
Sources and notes
- Catalog product page
- Product listing verified on 2026-10-12.
What did the shirt weigh when it arrived?
Our scale read 236 g for the folded size L tee with its poly bag, inside the listing's stated 180 g to under-250 g band. The seller's own weight field shows 0.00 g, so treat checkout shipping estimates as unverified.
Did it shrink in the wash?
After one cold wash and flat air drying, length came back 1.5 percent shorter and the chest 0.9 percent narrower. That sits inside the seller's declared 1–3 cm tolerance and did not change how the shirt fitted.
Does the listing include any buyer feedback?
No. There are no buyer claims or reviews on record for this listing, so colour accuracy, long-run shrinkage and print wear across repeated washes remain unverified by anyone other than our own single cold-wash test.