T-shirts In American History

Filed Under Fashion |

by Rick London

In my life, for many years, nothing could be so benign and innocent as a -shirt. All that has changed.

Nine-one percent of Americans claim they own a “favorite T-Shirt”.

Doesn’t seem like such a big thing. Many of us have a favorite pair of shoes or socks.

But there are more economics behind t-shirts. More jobs created. More of a lot of things.

The first promotional tshirt for a movie was printed in 1939. That movie was “The Wizard Of Oz”. Like the movie, the tee did quite well. We make our own version of a Wizard Of Oz tee, I imagine a bit different than that first image, which shows a cartoon of the gang walking down the yellow brick road and Toto is lifting a hind leg. The caption reads, “How the yellow brick road got it’s name.” But I digress.

Since cotton is king, yes, still in southern states, much can be done with it. For instance an acre of it will yield 1200 t-shirts.

But do t-shirts sell? Not just in America but around the world? Statistics show about two billion per year.

Even the Salvation Army has gotten into the act and sells them to third world countries by the pound.

Even politics became savvy to tees after the movie industry and the first to use them was Dewey with his slogan, “Dew-It With Dewey”.

The film industry was just getting started. When they got wind of what the proper tee could do, they form fitted Brando in both his t-shirt and jeans for “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

Only in the 1920’s did T-Shirt become an official word.

In 1977 more than 8 million dollars worth of Farrah Fawcett T-Shirts were sold when she appeared on Charlie’s Angels.

Jacqueline Bisset’s appearance in the film “The Deep” in which she is swimming underwater, then surfacing, wearing a white T-Shirt and topless bikini started the wet t-shirt craze.

The most popular form of designer tees today are silk-screened. But digital reproductions are becoming very popular and blend into the fabric and, to me, have more of a “real” look than a decal ironed-on look, but of course, it is a matter of taste. I decided to manufacture both, as different folks like different looks.

We in the U.S. love our tee shirts. A survey done several years ago show that more than 62% of the U.S (all ages) own at least 10 tees and 18-24 demographic group owned over 10 T-shirts and 19% owned over 30 tees. So it doesn’t appear they are going out of style anytime soon.

About the Author:

There are many places to purchase funny t-shirts. There is only one that sells award-winning Rick London designs hilarious offbeat merchandise>offbeat cartoon tees, and funny t-shirts