Price: What’s a tee worth?

Tim Gunn, on Kanye West’s APC collaboration:

The only thing dumber than a plain $300 t-shirt is someone who would buy it.

West is hardly the first, ahem, designer to charge a small fortune for a basic tee. I once spent $60 for a James Perse tank top and castigated myself for paying that at the time. That was at least 9 years ago and it’s still in perfect condition. So if you go in for the whole amortization rationalization, the cost per wear is infinitesimal. If value is relative then how much is too much and how good can a tee be? Does it caress your body like an angel’s wings? Will it stop bullets? Can it do your taxes?

Should Greatest Tees on Earth list t-shirts that are aesthetically outstanding even if  they are high-priced? Well, you will not see a $1,500 ripped tee from Balenciaga here anytime soon. However, some artist collaborations (with Opening Ceremony, for example) yield inventive, beautiful results. This site’s function is to find the most creative, quirky, cool, silly, smart-assed and gorgeous designs on the Internet, bring them to you and let you decide what you must have and what you’re happy just to look at in our offbeat art gallery.

(To be fair, it looks like Kanye x APC charged $120 for a plain t-shirt and $280 for a plain hoodie, no zipper. So Mr. Gunn’s facts may be uncoordinated. Still, West’s explanation of his vision for the 2014 line makes me wonder if his head might be filled with a swarm of bees. And the prices are still high for what look like rejects from a Hanes factory outlet store. Game, set and match to Mr. Gunn.)

So what’s the highest price you’ve ever paid for a t-shirt?