Gray Area

I have a small crisis on my hands, and I spent a good portion of my free time this week trying unsuccessfully to deal with it.

Old Navy has stopped carrying the gray undershirts I've been buying for years. I don't know when exactly this happened, because I haven't paid attention in several months. But about a week ago, I was folding my laundry when I noticed that some of my gray Ts were looking kind of old, and then I wore one to work and the neck got all stretched out of shape during the day, so I figured it was time to replace some of them.

I took a look online and saw that they had only white, where they used to also have gray and black. This launched me on a search, both online and in stores, for suitable replacements, and so far I'm not really having any luck with it, but I'm running out of places to look.

I'm not even sure why this happened. Used to be, almost every store had something like what I'm after, but now no one seems to. I've tried every store I can think of, except for places like Saks that sell ridiculously overpriced underwear by the likes of Armani. Yesterday I found a two-pack of gray Tommy Hilfiger T-shirts at Macy's for $20, which is twice what the Old Navy shirts cost. Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Jockey--all the usual suspects have nothing available. I've checked Marshalls and Kohl's, and even places like Sears--nothing.

I have a couple of options: Old Navy sells individual gray T-shirts in a slightly heavier fabric which are currently priced at two for $15, but I have some of these that I bought a few months ago when they were three for $15, so I'd rather wait and see if that deal comes around again, especially with Christmas approaching. Target sells something similar for $5 each, but the sleeves are longer than typically found on undershirts, and they stick out of short sleeves. Fine for the cooler months, but no good when warmer weather comes back around.

I did find a site that sells American Apparel shirts for about half of their usual retail price. The company's president and founder has a reputation as something of a creepy sleazebag, but I have to give him credit for building a manufacturing business in the United States that pays its employees a living wage and provides them with health benefits, so maybe that's the way to go. I've also found some gray Hanes T-shirts on the Kmart web site, but they are not sold in stores so I'd have to get them shipped, but they are a much better deal than the American Apparel shirts: currently a four-pack is $9 before shipping.

This is such a silly, trivial thing, bit it does serve to remind me of the value of buying and stockpiling things that may not be needed until several years down the road, because you can't rely on them always being available.