Story No. 01 · Drop-shoulder

Life is short.

A drop-shoulder tee for the days you don't get back.

Read the story Take it home

The story of one tee, told in six chapters: three words, a bale of cotton, a dropped shoulder, a hand-pulled print, forty minutes of hands, and a long day.

Why we made it

We started ঋ - Reé with one sentence: not everything old belongs in the past. This tee is that sentence made wearable. Heavy cotton the way tees used to be, a print pulled by hand the way posters used to be, and three words for a city that never sits still.

  • 3

    words on the back

  • 240 g

    of cotton per square metre

  • 2 fingers

    the shoulder drop

  • 1 at a time

    screens pulled by hand

  • 40 min

    of sewing per tee

A woman in a black tee with white Urdu calligraphy on the chest, one hand in her hair, in a leafy courtyard
Two models in black tees and blue jeans, one facing forward and one turned to show the back print
A woman in a black tee standing on a dirt road between dry bushes
The back of a black tee with a large Urdu calligraphy and painted portrait print, worn by a woman glancing aside

Chapter 01 · The phrase

Three words on the back

We printed them where you cannot see them yourself: a reminder for the person walking behind you, and for the mirror at the end of the day. Life is short. Wear the thing you love.

A note to the person behind you.

  • Set in a grotesque cut from an old Dhaka signboard
  • Printed 18 cm wide, between the shoulder blades
“People read it on the bus and smile at the back of your head.”
— Mahir, who wears one
A woman in a black tee standing on a dirt road between dry bushes

Chapter 02 · The cloth

Cotton that has been somewhere

Combed cotton from the delta, knit heavy at 240 grams so it falls instead of clings, then garment-dyed ink black. It fades the way good denim does: slowly, and only where you live in it.

  • Combed, ring-spun cotton
  • 240 g per square metre, knit as a 24-gauge single jersey
  • Garment-dyed, so the seams carry the colour too
“Heavy jersey is honest. It shows every skipped step, so we skip none.”
— Shanta, knitting master
Two models in black tees and blue jeans, one facing forward and one turned to show the back print

Chapter 03 · The cut

The shoulder that dropped

The seam sits two fingers down the arm. The body is boxy, the sleeve is wide, the hem stops at the hip. It is cut for a hot city and long afternoons, not for a mannequin.

Two fingers down the arm.

  • Shoulder seam 4 cm past the natural shoulder
  • Chest 56 cm and length 70 cm in size M
  • Sleeve wide enough to roll once
The back of a black tee with a large Urdu calligraphy and painted portrait print, worn by a woman glancing aside

Chapter 04 · The print

Pulled by hand, one at a time

Water-based ink pushed through a silk screen by hand in Old Dhaka. No two pulls are identical, and the letters soften after the first wash instead of cracking.

  • Water-based ink, cured at 160 °C
  • One pull per tee; the misprints become our shop rags
“A good pull sounds like tearing paper. You learn it by ear.”
— Rahim, printer, Old Dhaka
A woman in a black tee with white Urdu calligraphy on the chest, one hand in her hair, in a leafy courtyard

Chapter 05 · The hands

Forty minutes of hands

Every tee is sewn in a twelve-machine unit in Keraniganj by people we know by name. Side seams first, then the rib collar, then the twin-needle hems. Forty minutes, give or take a tea break.

People we know by name.

  • Side-seamed, not tubular
  • Twin-needle hems; rib collar with a taped back neck
  • Paid by the hour, not by the piece
“The collar tells you who sewed it. Mine sit flat.”
— Rina, sewing line two
Two models in black tees and blue jeans, one facing forward and one turned to show the back print

Chapter 06 · The wear

From the morning tea to the last bus

It is the shirt you reach for without thinking. Tea at seven, the office by nine, the rooftop at ten. We made it to be forgotten on you.

Made to be forgotten on you.

  • Fades at the shoulders first, slowly
  • Softens after the third wash
  • Mended free for two years of wearing
“I have washed mine forty times. The words are still there.”
— Arif, Mirpur
A woman in a black tee standing on a dirt road between dry bushes
Two models in black tees and blue jeans, one facing forward and one turned to show the back print
The back of a black tee with a large Urdu calligraphy and painted portrait print, worn by a woman glancing aside

From the field to the street

  1. 1

    Cotton, picked and ginned

  2. 2

    Spun and knit heavy

  3. 3

    Garment-dyed ink black

  4. 4

    Screen pulled by hand

  5. 5

    Sewn, forty minutes

  6. 6

    Worn, for years

Epilogue · Take it home

If this story is yours

We keep this page for the story, so there is no price on it. Choose a size and the bag takes it from here.

Our heaviest tee: combed Bengal cotton knit at 240 grams, garment-dyed ink black and hand-printed on the back with three words we keep forgetting. Cut with a dropped shoulder and a boxy body for hot afternoons.

Colour
Ink black
Sizes
S · M · L · XL · XXL
The cloth and the cut
  • 240 GSM combed cotton jersey, garment-dyed
  • Drop shoulder, boxy body, wide sleeve
  • Ribbed crew neck, twin-needle hems
  • Back print LIFE IS SHORT in water-based ink
  • Unisex sizing; the model wears M
Care
  • Cold machine wash, inside out
  • Line dry in shade
  • Iron on the reverse, never on the print

Life is short tee

Ink black · unisex

Choose size

Size chart

Approximate, in centimetres

SizeChestLength
S4462
M4864
L5266
XL5668
XXL6070

Pick a size to continue

  • Free delivery across Bangladesh
  • Seven-day exchange, unworn with tags

Worn by

  • “I bought one for the print and kept it for the cotton.”

    — Nafisa, Dhanmondi

  • “Wore it three days straight on a trip to Sylhet. Still my favourite.”

    — Rafi, Uttara

  • “Soft in a way the price does not suggest.”

    — Tanha, Chattogram

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