A T-shirt (also spelled tee
shirt, or tee for short) is a style
of fabric shirt named
after the T shape of its body and sleeves.
Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round
neckline, known as a crew
neck, which lacks a collar. T-shirts are
generally made of stretchy, light, and
inexpensive fabric and are easy to clean. The
T-shirt evolved from undergarments used
in the 19th century and, in the mid-20th
century, transitioned from undergarments to
general-use casual clothing.
They are typically made of cotton textile
in a stockinette
or jersey knit, which has a distinctively pliable texture
compared to shirts made of woven cloth. Some
modern versions have a body made from a
continuously knitted tube, produced on a circular
knitting machine, such that the torso has no
side seams. The manufacture of T-shirts has
become highly automated and may include cutting
fabric with a laser or
a water
jet.
T-shirts are inexpensive to
produce and are often part of fast fashion,
leading to outsized sales of T-shirts compared
to other attire.[1] For example, two billion
T-shirts are sold worldwide per year,[2] and the
average person in Sweden buys nine T-shirts a
year.[3] Production processes vary but can be
environmentally intensive and include the
environmental impact caused by their materials,
such as cotton, which uses large amounts of
water and pesticides.[4][2][5]
History
Simple, T-shaped top garments
have been a part of human clothing since ancient
times; garments similar to the T-shirt worn
earlier in history are generally called tunics.
The modern T-shirt evolved from undergarments used
in the 19th century. First, the one-piece union
suit underwear was cut into separate top
and bottom garments, with the top long enough to
tuck under the waistband of the bottoms. With
and without buttons, they were adopted by miners and stevedores during
the late 19th century as a convenient covering
for hot environments.
In 1913, the U.S. Navy first
issued them as undergarments.[6] These were
a crew-necked, short-sleeved, white cotton
undershirt to be worn under a uniform. It became
common for sailors and Marines in work parties,
the early submarines, and tropical climates to
remove their uniform jacket, thus wearing (and
soiling) only the undershirt.[7] They soon
became popular as a bottom layer of clothing for
workers in various industries, including
agriculture. The T-shirt was easily fitted,
easily cleaned, and inexpensive; for these
reasons, it became the shirt of choice for young
boys. Boys' shirts were made in various colors
and patterns. The word T-shirt became part of
American English by the 1920s, and appeared in
the Merriam-Webster
T-shirts were originally worn as
undershirts, but are now worn frequently as the
only piece of clothing on the top half of the
body, other than possibly a brassiere or,
rarely, a waistcoat (vest). T-shirts have also
become a medium for self-expression and
advertising, with any imaginable combination of
words, art and photographs on display.[10] A
T-shirt typically extends to the waist. Variants
of the T-shirt, such as the V-neck, have been
developed. Hip hop fashion calls
for tall-T shirts which may extend down to the
knees. A similar item is the T-shirt dress or
T-dress, a dress-length T-shirt that can be worn
without pants.[11] Long T-shirts are also
sometimes worn by women as nightgowns. A 1990s
trend in women's clothing involved
tight-fitting cropped T-shirt or crop tops short
enough to reveal the midriff. Another less
popular trend is wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt
of a contrasting color over a long-sleeved
T-shirt, which is known as layering. T-shirts
that are tight to the body are
called fitted, tailored or baby doll T-shirts.
With the rise of social media and
video sharing sites also came numerous tutorials
on DIY T-shirt projects.[12] These videos
typically provided instructions on how to modify
an old shirt into a new, more fashionable form.
Expressive messages Since the 1960s, T-shirts
have flourished as a form of
personal expression.[10] Screen printed T-shirts
have been a standard form of marketing for major
American consumer products, such
as Coca-Cola and Mickey Mouse, since the 1970s.
It has also been commonly used to commemorate an
event or to make a political or personal
statement.
Since the 1990s, it has become
common practice for companies of all sizes to
produce T-shirts with their corporate logos or
messages as part of their
overall advertising campaigns. Since the late
1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with
prominent designer-name logos have become
popular, especially with teenagers and young
adults. These garments allow consumers to flaunt
their taste for designer brands in an
inexpensive way, in addition to being
decorative. Examples of designer T-shirt
branding include Calvin Klein, FUBU, Ralph
Lauren, American Apparel, and The Gap. These
examples also include representations of rock
bands, among other obscure pop-culture
references. Licensed T-shirts are also extremely
popular. Movie and TV T-shirts can have images
of the actors, logos, and funny quotations from
the movie or TV show. Often, the most popular
T-shirts are those that characters wore in the
film itself (e.g., Bubba Gump from Forrest
Gump and Vote For Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite).
Designer Katharine Hamnett, in the early 1980s,
pioneered outsize T-shirts with large-print
slogans. The early first decade of the 21st
century 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 political and social
statements that T-shirts often display have
become, since the first decade of the 21st
century, one of the reasons that they have so
deeply permeated different levels of culture and
society. These statements range from completely
harmless to statements or quotes that may be
found to be offensive, shocking, or pornographic
to some. Despite this, or perhaps due to it,
companies like T-Shirt Hell (a T-shirt store
known for using offensive and shocking messages)
and various other organizations have caught on
to the statement-making trend (whether
offensive, etc or otherwise), including chain
and independent stores, websites, schools,
clubs, and groups of all kinds, with some even
incorporating said trend into their respective
business models.
A popular phrase on the front of
demonstrating the popularity of T-shirts among
tourists is the humorous phrase "I went to _____
and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Examples
include "My parents went to Las Vegas and all I
got was this lousy T-shirt." T-shirt exchange is
an activity where people trade the T-shirts that
they are wearing. Artists like Bill Beckley,
Glen Baldridge and Peter Klashorst use T-shirts
in their work. Models such as Victoria
Beckham and Gisele Bündchen wore T-shirts
through the 2000s. Paris Fashion Week 2014
featured a grunge style T-shirt.[13]
