Bargains Group Blog

History of the T-Shirt

T-Shirts

They come in all sizes, colors and designs. They feature company slogans, witty comments, pop culture figures, and sometimes they are simply blank.

Named because they resemble a 'T' when unfolded, T-shirts are one of the most, if not the most, popular types of clothes that exist today.

History of the T-Shirt

Oddly, the T-shirt developed as a form of underwear in the 19th century; however the true origin of the T-shirt is very obscure, possibly emerging as a form of dress between 1913 and 1948 in California or Britain.

Many researchers have stated that the T-shirt made its way to Britain after World War I when U.S. soldiers noticed the undershirts British soldiers were wearing under their uniforms.

In 1932, Howard Jones developed a sweat-absorbing shirt for the USC Trojans football team, which many claim is the true modern T-shirt.

During World War Two, the T-shirt became the standard underwear for U.S. soldiers, however many soldiers loved it so much that they wore the shirt with their pants as an outfit, rather than as underwear. As time went on, the T-shirt became more acceptable, especially after July 13, 1942, when Life magazine showed a soldier wearing a T-shirt.

When the soldiers returned home after World War Two, the T-shirt became very popular, largely due to politics. In 1948, New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey released a T-shirt with Dew It for Dewey, which Dwight D. Eisenhower jumped copied in 1952 with his I like Ike T-shirts.

Around this time, John Wayne, Marlon Brando and James Dean began to wear the shirts on television and by 1955; the T-shirts had become acceptable public dress.

Customizable

The beauty of T-shirts is that they can be any color and any size. They can be bright pink with glitter, or simply white. All of it really depends on what you want to wear and what kind of image you want to project to the public around you.

Conclusion

Despite having a rather short history in terms of fashion, T-shirts have become a hugely popular, multi-billion dollar industry sector that employs untold numbers of people all around the world.

Whether you choose white, black, blue or green, with a picture, slogan or simply blank, T-shirts are the most flexible and widely used shirt on the planet.

So, the next time you put your T-shirt on, think about the interesting history and the two World Wars has played in the evolution of the simple shirt.

Bargainsgroup t-shirt