T-shirt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

T-shirt for promoting Wikipedia, showing its characteristic "T" shape

A T-shirt (or tee shirt) is a shirt, usually buttonless, collarless, and pocketless, with a round neck and short sleeves, that is pulled on over the head and covers most of a person's torso. The sleeves of the T-shirt extend at least slightly over the shoulder but not compleletly over the elbow. A shirt that is either longer or shorter than this ceases to be a T-shirt, at least in the classic sense.

T-shirts are manufactured by the textile industry. They are typically made of cotton or polyester fibers (or a mix of the two), knitted together in a jersey stitch that gives a T-shirt its distinctive soft texture. T-shirts are often decorated with text and/or pictures.

T-shirt fashions include styles for men and women, and for all age groups, including baby, youth and adult sizes.

1 T-shirt history
2 T-shirt trends
3 T-shirt decoration
- 3.1 Concert T-shirts
4 Further reading
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] T-shirt history

An example of a tie-dye T-shirt

The idea of the T-shirt came to the USA during World War I when US soldiers noticed the light cotton undershirts European soldiers were using while the US soldiers sweated in their wool uniforms. Since they were so much more comfortable they quickly became popular among the Americans, and because of their design they got the name T-shirt. Other experts credit the U.S. Navy's "light undershirt" from 1913, described with "elastic collarette on the neck opening".

Man in white tee shirt

What became the modern T-shirt was developed in 1932 when officials from the University of Southern California Trojans football team (often credited to coach Howard Jones) asked Jockey International, Inc. to develop an inexpensive undergarment to absorb sweat and prevent a football player's shoulder pads from causing chafing. This resulted in the invention of the crewneck (or crew-neck) T-shirt. The shirts proved so popular that students started stealing them from the athletes and the athletic department reacted by stenciling "Property of USC" on each shirt, inadvertantly making them even more popular.[1]

During WWII the T-shirt had become standard issue underwear in both the U.S. Army and Navy. Although the T-shirt was formally underwear, soldiers often used it without a shirt covering it while doing heavy labor or while stationed in locations with a hot climate. As a result, the public was frequently exposed to pictures of members of the armed forces wearing pants and a T-shirt. As an example, the cover of the July 13, 1942 issue of Life magazine, features a picture of a soldier wearing a T-shirt with the text "Air Corps Gunnery School" (see [2]).

After WWII the T-shirt started appearing without a shirt covering it in civilian life. According to the New York Times, the 1948 presidential campaign of Thomas E. Dewey produced a "Dew It for Dewey" T-shirt, which was followed in 1952 by "I Like Ike" T-shirts in support of Dwight D. Eisenhower. John Wayne, Marlon Brando and James Dean all wore them on national TV. At first the public was shocked, but by 1955 it had become acceptable. The T-shirt became cool when James Dean wore it in the film Rebel Without a Cause.

The record, as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, for Most T-shirts worn was broken on October 12, 2006 by Matt McAllister a radio DJ of 99.9 KTYD in Santa Barbara, California. He put on 121 t-shirts, sized small to 10XL, on The Late Show with David Letterman, breaking his own record of 120[3].

[edit] T-shirt trends

T-shirts were originally worn as undershirts. This still occurs, but T-shirts are now also frequently worn as the only piece of clothing on the top half of the body (other than possibly a bra).

A T-shirt typically extends to the waist, although one fashion is for "oversized" T-shirts, namely in modern hip hop fashion (a perfect example of this can be clearly seen in the song, White Tee, by Dem Franchize Boyz). A more recent trend in women's clothing involves tight-fitting "cropped" T-shirts that are short enough to reveal the midriff.

[edit] T-shirt decoration

T-shirts with bold slogans were popular in the UK in the 1980s

In the 1960s, the Ringer T-shirt appeared and became a staple fashion for youth and rock-n-rollers. People also started to tie-dye and screen-print the basic T-shirt and variants such as the tank top, A-shirt (with the nickname "wife beater"), muscle shirt, scoop neck, V-neck etc. became popular.

Since then T-shirts have become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and even photographs on display.

The most common form of commercial t-shirt decoration is screen-printing. In screen-printing, a design is separated into individual colors. Plastisol or water based inks are applied to the shirt through mesh screens which limits the areas where ink is deposited. In most commercial t-shirt printing, the specific colors in the design are used. To achieve a wider color spectrum with a limited number of colors, process printing (using only cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink) or simulated process (using only white, black, red, green, blue, and gold ink) is effective. Process printing is best suited for light colored shirts. Simulated process is best suited for dark colored shirts.

Other methods of decoration used on T-shirts include airbrush, applique, embroidery, and the ironing on of either flock lettering, heat transfers, or Dye Sublimation transfers. Laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special toner containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat-transferred to T-shirts.

In the 1980s, thermochromatic dyes were used to produce T-shirts that changed colour when subjected to heat. This brand of T-shirt, Global Hypercolour, was a common sight on the streets of the UK for a few years, but has since mostly disappeared. These were very popular in the United States as well in the late 80's among teens. A downside of color-change garments is that the dyes can easily be damaged, especially by washing in warm water.

Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent brand-name logos have been popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. These garments allowed consumers to flaunt their taste in designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative. Examples: Calvin Klein, FUBU, Ralph Lauren, The Gap.

The early 2000's saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs, with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic. The trend has only increased later in this decade; embraced by celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and reflected back on them, too ('Team Aniston').

The story of the message tee embraces the modern phenomenon of “personal branding” (indicating, in this case, the wearer’s sense of humor), as well as a climate in which statements—political or personal—are generally preferred to be catchy than true . Notable was the popularity of political slogans and messages on T-shirts coinciding with the presidential election.

The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the 2000's, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society. The statements also may be found to be offensive, shocking or pornographic to some. Many different organizations have caught on to the statement-making trend, including chain and independent stores, websites, and schools.

The early 2000s used the internet to continue the modern phenomenon of "personal branding". Companies such as Threadless, T-bar [4] and CafePress make it easy for people to create their own designs, while creating online communities of fellow T-shirt designers and consumers. These internet based social networking companies build communities of people through the design and distribution of t-shirts.

[edit] Concert T-shirts

It has been suggested that Black concert T-shirt be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Concert-goers wearing black concert t-shirts at a concert.

The concert T-shirt is a fashion trend of rock concert attendees from the 1970s through today. Bands and musical groups often promote themselves by creating and selling or giving away t-shirts at their shows, tours, and events^[1]. A popular color for the shirts is black, and they normally feature printed graphics. Fans purchase or obtain these shirts to wear to future concerts, often with jeans, dark colored pants or skirts. Fans may wear the shirt of one band to a concert of another to show their taste in a particular type of music or loyality to another band or type of music.

One popular feature of concert T-shirts is a listing of tour dates for the band's current tour on the back.