Some sorta history again, I guess this sounds more interesting than my previous history entry. Hurrh.
The word T-shirt originated from the letter “T’ and the word “shirt”. Brainless yes? Not quite, it’s really a shirt in the shape of T. Notice those early Tees where the cut is not that well-defined, it’s really horizontal, forming a “T”. In the 17th Century, workers unloading tea boxes from boats in the harbor of Annapolis, Maryland, used to wear a short-sleeved shirt whose shape evoked the letter T. In the 1880s, US Navy soldiers used to wear lightweight cotton shirts that dried easily. These shirts could also be worn as underwear to shield their clothing from sweat. In 1913, the US Navy approved the T-shirt as part of its uniform. The Industrial Revolution paved the way for the technology that allowed the mass production of T-shirts and soon, T-shirts became part of the uniforms of solders, workers, and sailors. By 1920, the word T-shirt appeared in official US dictionaries.
The widespread T-shirt trend was born in the 1950s, thanks to the movies. Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Art Carney, all dressed in T-shirts, created the tough guy image that launched the T-shirt into mainstream popularity. In 1951, a chiseled Marlon Brando starred in the film A Streetcar Named Desire. His tough, coarse, working-class Stanley Kowalski dressed in a white T-shirt became an iconic image. The film earned Brando his first ever Oscar nomination. In 1953’s The Wild One, Brando played Johnny Strabler, a rebel on Harley-Davidson; a white T-shirt under a black leather jacket became the standard look for young men during this era.
In the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause, James Dean turned the image of a white T-shirt under a red jacket into a symbol of rebellion, turning the T-shirt into a historical icon. When the Baby Boomers came into adolescence after the war, feelings of a lack of national security appeared. This generation of ”hippies” participated in anti-war movements as well as sexual revolution. With widespread rebellion challenging social normas, T-shirts became a forum for a rebellious attitude. From standard uniform to means of expression, T-shirts upended tradition within one generation. Young people dressed in T-shirts with in-your-face, lewd messages printed on them and wore torn jeans to criticize the US government.
With the technical advancement of dyeing and printing techniques in the 1960s, T-shirts took on greater commercial value. Rock and Roll bands capitalized on this, and created fan memorabilia. Film studios printed posters and publicity stills on T-shirts. T-shirts with logos were given away as promotional items by innumerable companies. Even during presidential elections, supporters wore T-shirts with the candidates’ slogans. The anti-war sentiments brought on by the Vietnam War were printed, and the shirts became the uniform of the protest march. Also starting from that time, T-shirts became a medium for commercial promotions. This once humble garment became more vivid and mainstream.
