T-shirts are a pretty recent newcomer on the fashion scene; we've only had them for a couple of centuries now. They've come a long way from their evolution from a one piece long undergarment to become a garment that offers a take on social mores and culture, including being seen as funny, comic, stylish, trendy, cute and cool. Nowadays, you can get yours in a variety of garments, thicknesses and sizes, from the quite sheer to a beefy heavyweight tee.
A t-shirt has a straight torso with two sleeves at the top which form the letter t, and this is how it got its catchy name. After the cotton undershirt became a distinctive product, no longer attached to pants, it became a work garment and something worn under clothing. In fact, the United States Navy commissioned t-shirts specifically in 1913 because they would be worn underneath the sailors' jumpers and cover the sailors' chest hair. But these were primarily sleeveless varieties.
It was Sears in 1938 that began to offer the "gob" shirt, a sailor shirt advertised to be worn on top of clothing that lead to our modern day understanding of the utility and attractiveness and fashion possibilities of t-shirts. And then the oft-mentioned Marlon Brando t-shirt wearing scenes in Streetcar were a unique marketing vehicle to this end, making t-shirts a fashion statement.
But graphic tees, which are the modern day standard for t-shirt fashion, came into their own in the 1950s when companies like Tropix Togs began to license Disney characters and screenprint them onto t-shirts.
Since 1959, with the invention of plastisol inks, the graphic slogan t-shirt has flourished, enabling cute, cool t-shirts and funny t-shirts to be printed. The t-shirt has become a garment that transcends age and identity, a staple of every person's wardrobe, men, women, boys, girls, kids of all ages, even toddlers and babies.
You can find a range of Fun T Shirts at Big Concept Designs.
