Pro tip incoming.

Basic workout t-shirts can be surprisingly expensive.

Obviously…we need them. So it isn’t like we’re just not going to buy them. And unless you’re shopping somewhere crazy it isn’t like they’re exorbitantly budget-ruining or anything. They’re usually just five or ten bucks more than you think they ought to be.

There are a couple of red flags that usually mean you’re about to get hosed on some shirts.

One is if there’s a mannequin wearing it. Turn around. That sexy plastic man with the thousand yard stare is telling you exactly two things. The first is that you’ll never look as good as he does in slim-cut jeans and the other is that you’re about to see a display of neatly folded shirts that would cost more than a Rolex if you shoved them all into your cart.

The other red flag is if they’re on some sort of seasonal sale.

Anyone offering “T-shirts just in time for summer” should be met with the same skepticism as “umbrellas just in time for a downpour” or “ammo just in time for a zombie uprising.”

We can narrow it down for you, though.

The time to buy t-shirts is right now. And that’s literal. We don’t vaguely mean to buy them now-ish or generally off-season, but specifically right at this minute of today.

They’re two for sixteen bucks. Stock up now or remember this moment with shame in four months when you face the judgmental stare of a money-grubbing mannequin.