Tact & Stone Review: 5-Star Sustainable Men's Clothing

If you’re passionate about sustainable, high-quality men’s clothing, then you were probably out of luck until recently. Tact and Stone is changing the game.

Price: $55

Tact & Stone was founded by Landon Nash in 2019. He had been a high-end real estate agent in Northern California and had been struggling with finding suitable attire to show clients around that was sustainable. Since he was unable to find what he was looking for with regard to quality and sustainability, he decided to create his own line – one done right.

He dug in and learned everything he could about the textile industry, including sourcing and manufacturing. His goal was to create a closed-loop for his line of men’s wear using a circular strategy. This strategy would ensure that not only are all of the raw materials sustainably sourced and fair trade but also that after the end product has lived its life, it can be upcycled back into their system to create a new product.

This mission helps to immensely reduce their carbon footprint and the overall sustainability of their products.

Generally, I do not wear synthetic shirts and I won’t buy them, except for the couple I have for exercise. This is because they shed microplastics into the water supply when you wash them. So when I heard that Tact & Stone makes their fabric so it doesn’t shed these microplastics, I was intrigued. 

My everyday wear is typically a bit more casual, but I want for my clothes to feel great, move with me, and be breathable all at the same time. So, I was interested to see if this highly sustainable line of clothing could rise to the challenge and be my everything.

Heavyweight Upcycled Pocket Tee
When I first put the Heavyweight Upcycled Pocket Tee on I noticed the excellent quality right off the bat. It felt soft and breathable and fit me better than any other tee I’ve tried to date.

This pocket tee is my favorite in my closet now. In fact I’m wearing it while writing this because I love it so much. It has become one of my regular go-to’s and I need to buy some more of these in different colors.

I love that the website tells me exactly how sustainable it is to produce this particular shirt.

• Water Savings – 538 gallons

Sustainable Performance Tee
The Sustainable Performance Tee is a really thin tee that is thinner than anything else in my closet. It’s nearly see-through, in which the white color doesn’t help. It’s actually a little hard for me to figure out how it fits into my wardrobe.

This tee does hold up to the claim that it’s lightweight, but I also feel uncomfortable wearing it alone. After more testing, I feel that it’s best suited as a moisture and smell barrier in an undershirt capacity or used as an exercise shirt. It wicks moisture well and feels cooling to wear. That is probably due to the fabric content of the organic cotton and recycled polyester blend.

If I had to do it over again, I would have chosen the black option instead so it wouldn’t have been as see through. That way I would feel more comfortable wearing it out by itself as opposed to simply an undershirt. Just like the heavyweight pocket tee, this one tells me exactly how sustainable it is directly on their website.

• Water Savings – 43 gallons
• Recycle Water Bottles Used – (3.5) 12 oz water bottles

Lightweight Organic Shirt
Even though I’m usually more of a casual kind of guy, it’s always nice to have something in my closet that’s a bit dressier. And I have to say that the plaid Lightweight Organic Shirt is one of the nicest dressy shirts I own.e

However, I ordered a medium size and I should have gotten a large. The sleeves don’t quite make it all the way to my wrists. 

After measuring the sleeves (24 in instead of 26.5 in) and reaching out to their customer support, it was clear that this was an error on my end. I usually get large collared shirts and medium sizes in tees because I prefer a slightly tighter cut. I didn’t want this collared shirt to swallow me, so I ordered a medium size thinking it would be a more slim cut and fit me better.

Obviously that was not the best way to play it because the sleeves were much too short. This was confirmed after I got a size large instead. That one fit me much better in the sleeves, but I wish they offered a “slim” fit option because it still feels a little too big for me everywhere else. Of course this is just my particular style preference and not a poor reflection on the brand in any way, shape, or form.

To really test all of the shirts well, I wore these shirts while traveling to Hawaii for 2 weeks. I wore them around town, around the house, and through the airport. They performed beautifully everywhere. All of these shirts have overall fantastic quality, style, fit, and sustainability.

I believe everything fit true to how I generally know shirts to fit me. I like a “slim” fit on a lot of my dress shirts, and that’s not offered, so that’s my only complaint.

When it comes to the quality of a product, it’s not just the raw materials that count, but also the processing. I’ve run across a ton of companies that will tout sustainability and high quality, but they rarely back up their statements with facts.

Which is extremely unfortunate. As a consumer, I want a company to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak. This means I need to see a high level of transparency regarding all aspects of their supply chain in order to breed true confidence.

Luckily for me, Tact & Stone happens to have one of the most extensive supply chains with regard to transparency. They may not give us the exact farm that is producing the raw goods in every instance, but they do list where they come from and what certifications these producers have. These certifications include:

• Fair Trade – ensures better wages and safer working conditions.
• GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) – provides credible assurances to the end user regarding the harvesting of raw materials, manufacturing and labeling in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
• GRS (Global Recycled Standard) – a voluntary product standard that tracks and verifies the content of recycled materials in a finished product.
• Higg Index – a value chain measurement methodology tool to help companies find deficiencies in their supply chain and reduce their overall global impact.
• OCS (Organic Cotton Standard) – a voluntary standard to increase organic agriculture production by using certified organic input and chain of custody.
• Oeko Tex – certifies that end products have been tested to not contain any harmful substances.
• USDA Organic Certified – a certification process ensuring that the raw materials used are all grown organically without the use of pesticides and herbicides.

All of these certifications assist with the level of transparency Tact & Stone is attempting to convey, which is greatly appreciated. I also like that they tell the consumer where all of their products are manufactured (primarily in Portugal) where the raw materials come from. They do this to help reduce their carbon footprint by producing where the raw materials are.

In my humble opinion, it would be fantastic if all companies wanting to be more transparent would have a Supply Chain link directly on their homepage for consumers to dig into, like they do. Due to the high level of transparency, it’s easy to see they are producing good, quality products that are meant to last a long time.

And what’s even better is their Take Back Program. Once your Tact & Stone attire has outlived its usefulness to you, they will gladly take it back, at no charge. They will then use your old clothing to create new clothing and they’ll even give you 10% off your next purchase for partaking in this program. If that doesn’t say quality, then I don’t know what does.

Based on my experience with their products so far, and their fantastic transparency, I say they are definitely worth it. Tact & Stone may be a new company on the clothing market, but it’s obvious they are working hard to get it right from the very beginning. I wish I could say the same of all other clothing lines.

While Tact & Stone can be on the fairly pricey end of things, if you sign up for their email list they’ll give you 15% off. And once you’re on their list, they will communicate with you about new products and potential discounts on specific products also.

This company may still be young and smaller, but they are making a huge impact with their clothing offerings. The transparency of the Tact & Stone supply chain is worth its weight in gold alone. How much detail has been spent on sourcing the raw materials and the best manufacturing plants for their products speaks volumes about their mission to create a long-term difference.

It’s also reassuring that they are creating a closed-loop system from their raw materials all the way through upcycling their old clothing to create new products. The fact that they offer financing to help consumers better afford these more sustainable options doesn’t hurt either. Due to all of these factors, and how amazingly well their products look and perform, I can’t think of one good reason why you shouldn’t give them a try.