The TowelTee Origin Story

It all started with a “lightbulb” moment during a ToughMudder training with my brother and best friends, Tom and Joe. During the run I saw Tom, a larger-than-life character with a heart to match his size, wiping the sweat from his face with his shirt. Watching him try to dry off in such an unhygienic way was both amusing and disgusting. I went home and looked for a shirt with towels attached, to my surprise, there was nothing functional and good looking out there.

The idea of TowelTee was born as I set out to create a shirt that looked good and tackled sweaty situations head-on. We’ve all been there, using your own shirt to wipe yourself when you're sweating and a towel isn’t handy. During this first phase, I focused on functionality while trying not to be a creep (even though I probably was). While running outside, walking, working out at the gym, playing pickleball, mowing the lawn, and working construction I noticed how people wiped off their excessive sweat. It’s one of those things you don’t pay attention to, but now that you're thinking about it, you can probably recall some of those sweaty wiping moments yourself. If you are one of those people who lift their shirts to wipe their face, we can relate, I am one of them. Thus the first prototype was created, and is almost laughable now, a bathroom towel slapped on the belly of a long sleeved shirt. From there I added sleeve patches for those of you who use your forearms to catch those sweat beads. Finally, shoulder towels for when you lean down and wipe your cheek with the collar area. Just like the red car theory, you're going to notice those sweaty wipes EVERYWHERE!!! 

Once it passed functionality testing, I moved onto the design process. Let’s be honest, no one is going to wear a shirt that looks like towels were thrown at it. The original prototypes looked exactly like that, not something I wanted to wear, much less sell. It had to be better. I wanted people to look at the shirt and say “Damn that's a good looking shirt” and then have the WOW moment of realizing that there is a functional towel integrated. You wouldn’t believe how much goes into making a towel look good on a shirt, everything from basic products used to the details involved in layout measurements and stitching. I learned a ton about the different materials involved in towels and shirts. Ultimately choosing a dri-fit material because it is lightweight, feels good, and moisture wicking. While I prefer to tackle sweaty activities in short sleeves, I knew I wanted to produce a line that incorporated long sleeves as well, so there were some minor modifications to patch positions in the process.

As for the towel, it was a much more difficult process. While I had some basic towel materials I liked for similar reasons as the shirt product, I quickly discovered a huge gap in the market. Towel manufacturers and shirt designers simply hadn’t worked together. This realization sparked a creative fusion that I like to think of as a “chocolate and peanut butter” moment—two great ideas coming together to create something exceptional. Many samples and prototypes later, I partnered with some amazing manufacturers who helped me merge quality products into a functional, great looking design.

What started as a simple idea, has evolved into a passion project that I hope will revolutionize the shirt industry and what we use in those sweaty moments, While I’m still the guy who uses his shirt to wipe his own sweat (and so are you), the difference is TowelTee ( towel tee) helps me do it in a better way!