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Josie Hopper

ENG 101-004T

Paula Boyd

8 May 2019

The Evolution of the T-shirt

The T- Shirt was originally made to be a protection for the wearer’s body. Clothing was

designed to keep a person warm, to shield sensitive areas of the body and to help carry

weapons and tools. Throughout the years clothing has become more of a way to show a

statement than an item essential to survival. In today’s world, we wear clothes that denotes

social status or to express our own opinions about ourselves, or the world in which we live in.

Take the lowly T-shirt as an example. T- shirts were designed to be a comfortable white

undershirt for men. First, the white t-shirt ceased to be an undershirt and became outerwear to

signify teen rebellion. The actor James Dean made a big impact on this trend by wearing the

white t-shirt with his package of cigarettes rolled up in one sleeve of the shirt in his iconic

movie, “Rebel Without A Cause”. Seeing a need for a revision, the manufacturers added a chest

pocket and those pockets could hold a package of cigarettes, pens, small notebooks, and

assorted other small items. After that, and because men liked to wear them as outerwear, the

T- shirts began coming out in many different colors and even the colored T- shirts had the

innovative chest pocket.

Buy why limit T- shirts just to the male population? The designers were ready to explore

a new market. They decided that the women of the world could benefit from the ease and

comfort of their shirts. To break into that new market, lady’s T- shirts were born. New colors
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were added, pinks, yellows, lavenders, and a whole array of other pastels. Some of the lady’s T-

shirts also featured lace collars, or lace around the bottom of the sleeves and the bottom of the

shirts. Women loved them, with the relaxing of social norms, women could now wear pants and

T- shirts were perfect to pair with the slacks and jeans.

We needed and wanted more. Men and women just wanted more. We desired these

very washable shirts for our children, too. The clothing designers were more than happy to

accommodate our growing demands. The t-shirt became a staple item in everyone’s wardrobe.

Men had them, women had them, children and even babies had them.

Women at first, wanted designs and get creative and added their own touch. Once

again, designers stepped up to the plate and we got designs. Beautiful flowers, birds, butterflies

adorned many women’s T- shirts. But what comes next? You have probably guessed it by now,

the public wanted more. The designers needed to come up with new things on a continuing

basis to keep the public buying their T- shirts.

Enter the craze of printing words on T- shirts. Businesses started putting their logos on

T- shirts. Musicians started putting their tour dates and locations on T- shirts. Movie stars and

tv stars started selling their faces to put on T- shirts. Everyone from business to Hollywood stars

have realized that not only can they get free advertisement by putting their logo or faces on T-

shirts, they can also make money by doing so. How many little girls born around the year 2000

wanted to wear a t-shirt with Hannah Montana’s face proudly displayed on it? How many

young boys have wanted Superman or Batman on their T- shirts? We are currently supplied

with the opportunity to purchase T- shirts with superheroes, video games, tv shows, cartoon
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characters, memes, movie stars, tv stars, and almost anything else printed on them and in a

variety of colors at stores, gas stations, roadside vendors, and festivals.

Want to express your personal beliefs? Put it on a t-shirt. Want to let everyone that sees

you your sexual preference? Put in on a t-shirt. How about your political views? Or possibly

your occupation, your life goals, the fact that you have a significant other? That’s right, you can

put it on a t-shirt. They are also used as great souvenirs. You can show everyone where you

have been or the sights you have seen. I have seen many families get matching shirts during a

family vacation to either find one another or because it’s a funny statement to all be wearing

the same T-shirt.

I, personally, have four entire drawers of T- shirts that state my religious beliefs, the

places I have been, the things I have seen, groups I have been a part of, the schools I have gone

to, and some that just have funny sayings or jokes on them. I also have a few with cartoon

characters on them and even a few that are plain. I like to use my T- shirts as a way to show my

mood and views about life. Many of my friends use various T- shirts with words printed on

them to show how they are feeling that day or moment. I almost always am wearing T- shirts

where ever I go, mostly Christian related because I love supporting what I believe in.

The technology of the undershirt has evolved to meet the needs and wants of society.

The item once designated to be hidden under a shirt, whose purpose was to soak up a man’s

sweat, has now become a walking billboard of advertisement in a glorious array of colors and

designs. By having businesses use their logo on shirts, promoting the newest fad helps bring

attention to their movie or video game. Many people do not realize the effects of seeing logos
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on T- shirts. We see advertisements everywhere we look, but many would say tv or the

internet, but not the lowly T-shirt that almost everyone across the United States has.

For a fundraiser with my church, and we used Custom Ink and designed T- shirts. We

used the T- shirts to promote awareness to raise money for a mission’s trip to the Philippines.

While we ran, the people saw the T- shirts and donated money to help our cause.

Another instance is when my high school wanted to raise money for breast cancer

awareness month. The booster club sold T- shirts and other various items. The T-shirt is a great

way of promoting a cause, it occupies a large part of the body and in a small school that is all

there is to see is those bright pink shirts.

The technology of the T-shirt has revolutionized the way businesses market their

product. They way they came from a white T-shirt to what they are today is astonishing. The

way they went from a plain white shirt to these beautiful colorful and creative shirts. As Zeynep

Tufekci said in her TED talk We’re building a dystopia just to make people click on ads, she

agrees that each company designs ads in various ways and styles to target customers to buy

their product. Ads online can be dismissed and occasionally avoidable depending on the

software, but T- shirts are not so easily avoidable as we see many people each day and clothing

hanging up in stores.

I am one to have a very strong belief, and I do not like seeing vulgar ads or T- shirts.

With online ads, I can simply turn them off or go to another website, but if I am stuck in a room

with someone with a shirt that I disapprove of, I have to either endure it or leave the room. I

have left rooms in some cases, but in most situations, I would have to stay in the room and be

around the shirt. Tuferci talks bought some plane tickets to Vegas, and upon selling them
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people would have a specific audience to target. When companies sell their T- shirts, they have

an audience for their ad, but they do not know the audience of the people of the customers

that wear the T-shirt and when in certain environments can result in a terrible result.

Overall even though the use of the T-shirt can from being used as an undershirt to

gather sweat to develop into a walking billboard for companies, people do not usually see the

T- shirt as an ad technology. Through everyday life the evolution of the T shirt has been a great

transformation and benefit to the society.

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