If you are looking for a great posture correcting shirt, then you will find this list and comparison of the best-performing posture shirts on the market very useful!
These shirts are crafted with a unique combination of different stretchable fabric, and wearing them encourages better upper body alignment.
In fact, they have been clinically proven to improve posture.
Besides improving your posture, wearing a posture shirt can potentially make you appear slimmer and more fit because the shirt will:
1) compress your abdomen, and
2) pull back your shoulders and straighten your spine.
This effect might sound trivial to you but depending on the circumstances it can indeed have a significant visual difference.
In case you are wondering, it is mainly the posture improving effect that brings about the visual difference, and not because your gut is compressed. So it is not really “cheating” 🙂
Comparison Table
Why Get An Expensive Posture Shirt In The First Place?
Posture shirts do not come cheap, and I think it is only natural to consider whether there are cheaper alternatives.
There is a popular alternative which you probably have heard about before: posture braces.
They have even been presented on the popular show Shark Tank.
Posture braces come in different designs but their purpose is basically the same as a posture shirt, i.e. help you improve your poor/weak posture.
Both posture shirts and posture braces can be very useful for helping you in your posture improving efforts, but posture shirts do have several major benefits over a posture brace.
Depending on your own circumstances these benefits could be worth spending the extra money.
Major benefits include:
- Can be worn seamless in your daily life. No bulkiness or movement restriction.
- Easily concealed when wearing underneath other clothing. No awkwardness.
- Can be worn by itself (some would argue a posture shirt looks cool)
- Compression effect speeds up recovery due to increased blood flow.
- Stimulate muscle contraction rather than forcefully pulling
The last-mentioned benefit can make a big difference over time.
Essentially, wearing a brace will mechanically pull your muscles and joints in alignment and spending too much time like that can potentially lead to weaker muscles as the brace is “doing most of the work” and not your muscles.
In terms of your posture muscles (and any muscle) the proverb “use it or lose it” regrettably describes it well.
This does not mean a posture brace can’t be effective, but you probably want to wear them more sparingly and they are not suited for long-term use. I talk more about this issue here.
Posture Shirt Critique
While it is a benefit that a posture shirt encourages your muscles to contract by themselves, another way to look at it is that they don’t offer the same level of “support” as a posture brace.
It seems to me that much of the critique of posture shirts is more or less related to the customer being disappointed in what can be described as “the level of postural support”.
Perhaps the companies could be more clear in their marketing, but because the shirts were never designed to give as rigorous support as a posture brace, such critique is based on a misunderstanding.
If you now worry that a posture shirt will not offer enough support for you, let me just repeat that wearing them have been clinically proven to have posture improving effects.
It is especially the two companies Intelliskin and Alignmed who have done trials and arranged for clinical tests to be conducted.
Intelliskin Posture Shirts
Intelliskin is one of the top companies in posture correcting clothing. The company uses a patented technology woven into their products called PostureCue™.
PosterCue stimulates the muscles to lengthen or contract to align your body and help you maintain good posture.
This effect is said to be mimicking kinesio taping, which is the founder’s field of expertise.
Paired together with compression wearing a shirt from Intelliskin will help to strengthen your core muscles, increase blood flow for faster recovery, improve shoulders movement and mobility and adjust your posture.
The shirt works well for everyday use and while exercising. Some pro-athletes even say wearing them improves their athletic performance.
It is made from a blend of different fabrics including nylon, lycra, polyester, and spandex makes it both lightweight and the aforementioned compressing effect. These fabrics are commonly used in compression apparel by the way.
The fabric is also well ventilated to disperse heat, form-fitting and moisture wicking & antimicrobial.
Pros:
- Stylish enough that you can wear by itself (arguably)
- Endorsed by pro-athletes
- >Invented by a doctor with immense experience in Kinesio Taping
- Backed by research and clinical trials
- Generally very positive feedback
Cons:
- Pricy
- Some have issues with buying the right size
- Some issues with irritable skin under armpits after wearing for a long time
By the way, Intelliskin has a few different designs and models including zipper versions, tank-tops, and bras.
Intelliskin also has an Instagram profile, and I looked it through to find a cool image of their shirt.
For more information, I have written a more in-depth review of Intelliskin here.
View this post on Instagram
Alignmed Posture Shirts
Alignmed is another top company when it comes to posture correcting clothing. The company has coined its special posture correcting technology “neurobands” which are special bands built into the fabric.
The neurbands stimulates muscles to contract and help you keep great posture and perform at your best.
The neurobands leads to better movement patterns and muscle recruitment, and also less wear and tear on joints. Its compression effects also stimulates blood flow enhancing recovery and potentially make you function better for in your day-to-day activities.
Like Intelliskin, several pro-athletes have spoken highly of Alignmed and say that wearing the shirt seem to boost athletic performance.
Although Alignmed and Intelliskin seem to present their technology in a conceptually different way, they more or less seem the same to me.
If there is a difference I am not sure that it is relevant or interesting, which is why I won’t go into that here.
The alignmed shirts are made of a combination of spandex (which makes up 17% of the total material) and polyester (making for the other 83%).
The fabric is well-ventilated with so-called “Power mesh panels”, and has an anti-microbial protection and moisture-wicking. However, some customers have complained that the male version traps heat making it tough to wear underneath another shirt on a warm day.
This does not seem to be a problem with the women’s version.
The shirts by alignmed come in black, white and with and without a zipper. There is also one in white and grey but doesn’t have a zipper version.
The shirts are sometimes referred to with a 2.0 on Amazon.
Pros:
- Looks cool
- Endorsed by pro-athletes
- Created under the advisory of several medical doctors
- Backed by research and clinical trials
- Generally very positive feedback
Cons:
- Pricy (often a bit cheaper than Intelliskin – but not a lot)
- Some issues with the men’s model trapping heat
The shirt you see in the image below is the women’s zipper shirt. The image is from Alignmed’s Instagram profile.
View this post on Instagram
CEP Posture Shirts
CEP is a German company with a long history of producing useful products for healthcare and sports markets.
Their medical compression technology is a culmination of decades of expertise in both medicine and sports. With their posture shirts, they have taken their expertise of compression clothing technology and made a posture improving addition which they have called “Wingtech”.
Using so-called smart stripes on the back, the shoulders are pulled back and chest pushed forward reversing the typical rounded shoulders / slouching.
Although not as advanced as neither Intelliskin nor Alignmed this can still be a great help if you are often slouching when sitting at a desk. This posture shirt is also relatively cheaper compared to other brands.
The CEP wingtech is made of a blend of polyester and spandex and the shirt is both comfortable to wear and moisture-wicking.
Pros:
- Usually more affordable than the other products above
- Good for countering slouching
- The company has a very long history of creating compression wear
Cons:
- Posture correcting effect not as advanced as other brands
Equmen Men’s Core Precision Undershirt
Equmen is an Australian company that designs and produces compression wear for men using insights from physiotherapy and ergonomy.
The purpose of the garment is to help men feel an look better and by using a technology the company has chosen to call Helix-mapping the body’s natural structure is supported and reinforced.
The shirt crisscrosses the upper and lower back gently pulling the shoulders back to support an upright posture resulting in a better alignment of the upper body and stimulates the core muscles.
The shirt also has a compression effect supporting healthy blood flow.
The fabric is made from a blend of fibers including 73% polyester cationi, 13% nylon, and 14% spandex.
It is also marketed as being anti-microbial and moisture wicking and its mesh design seem to be effective at temperature control.
Customers describe the undershirt as breathable, but if you want to wear it during a workout its breathability is perhaps not as good as its pricier competitors.
The undershirt also helps to reduce embarrassing sweat stains and its seamless design makes the Equmen particularly comfortable against the skin.
Pros:
- Comfortable
- Simple design (less conspicuous)
- Developed with insights from physiotherapy and ergonomy
Cons:
- Perhaps not as well-suited to wear during workouts as other brands
- Posture correcting effect not as advanced as the other brands
Relieve tightness in the back by improving your posture
Importance Of Good Posture
Since you are reading this I assume you have heard a bit about why good posture is important.
In recent years quite a lot has been said about having good posture, especially since social psychologist Amy Cuddy became popular for her concept of “power poses” presented in a TED talk in 2012.
However, some people still think of good posture / proper body alignment as only relevant for ensuring your limbs can move around freely.
But besides this obvious reason, there is a lengthy list of other benefits to having good posture. Some of these are:
- Evidence that poor posture like slouching affects emotions negatively
- Poor posture can interfere with internal processes like digestion and breathing
- It creates a lot of muscle tension leading to soreness and pain
- Perhaps what people care most about, it looks really unattractive.
I wrote an article on the website Big Blue Waves, that you can check out if you want to read more about this.
Why Posture Shirt Are Very Useful
If you are anything like me, you probably could use a better posture. Being completely honest here, I believe most of us could…
With that being said, improving your posture is often a long and exhausting process.
It requires you to become more “posture aware” and get new “postural habits”.
You will most likely also have to reverse the effects that maintaining poor posture has had on your body.
All this takes a long time and it is hard. Getting a posture shirt can speed things up and make it easier.
You can read more about the pros and cons of posture correctors here.
Not A Complete Solution
If you really want to improve your posture, you most likely can’t just get a posture shirt and call it a day.
What you need to do is a series of things that address the problem from different angles.
I like to suggest that you focus on these three things:
- Improve ergonomics: focus on where you spend the time most, e.g. your desk, your bed (often forgotten), couch, and car.
- Improve “postural awareness”: Get familiar with good posture, wearing a posture shirt can help you do that.
- Reverse the effects of poor posture by stretching shortened and tight muscles and strengthen elongated and weak muscles. You can check out some exercises here.
My name is Marcus, I am a lawyer (LL.M.) and the founder of this website. Besides sometimes doing lawyer stuff, I like to write about fitness and health and share what I have found “works” for people like YOU. If you want to know more about me and my vision for this website then you can 