Pristinetee
The finest basic tee. Built with patience, priced without the markup.
01 — Our Philosophy
Find the best material on earth. Then try not to f**k it up.
Designed, owned and shipped from Canada - the material, not so much.
We tried them all
Hundreds of different cottons from exporters around the world - Egypt, Italy, China, Peru, United States and India.
Infinite combinations
Thickness, weave, growing conditions, harvesting practices, equipment types, quality, maintenance and cleanliness, even the water quality when washing - it all affects the final material.
Construction
Many manufacturers could have sewn together the shirt, so we decided to prioritize 3 things - consistency, expertise, and working conditions.
02 — The cotton
Hand-picked Peruvian cotton
We work only with custom-woven, ethically sourced Peruvian organic cotton — long-staple, breathable, built to endure and softens with every wash. The workers are paid well above minimum wage, the farms have been vetted, and our manufacturer is always a text away.
03 — The unusual suspects
Built the patient way
In 2023, three Canadian childhood friends — Josh, Jonathan, and Eric — set out to build a better basic tee. With no fashion, retail, or start-up experience, we did it the patient way: on the side, funded by our own savings and other jobs, reinvesting every penny for three years while we got every last detail right.
Three years of getting it right before going all in. That patience is something you can wear.
04 — Fair pricing
Where every dollar goes
High-end labels mark their shirts up 8–10× over what they cost to make. We sell direct — no chain of middlemen each taking a cut — so the margin stays honest.
Each hand it passes through — maker, distributor, store — marks it up again, roughly doubling the price each time. We sell direct, so you skip all of it.
The honest margin we keep doesn't line anyone's pockets. It goes straight back into three things:
Better, always
New fabrics, new colours, samples from new makers — we never stop testing what could be softer or fit better.
The necessities
The unglamorous stuff that keeps the doors open — marketing, software, and the day-to-day of a real business. Marketing especially: it's how a small brand gets found at all.
Bigger runs
The big one. Larger production runs are how costs come down over time — and that gets passed back to you.
Skin in the game
Since 2023, the three of us haven't taken a single paycheck. Every cent has gone back into the product — that's how much we believe in it.