T-shirts have also become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and photographs on display.

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 are especially popular with branding for companies or merchandise, as they are inexpensive to make and purchase. T-shirts are among the most worn garments of clothing used today. In the 1960s, printed T-shirts gained popularity for self-expression as well as for advertisements, protests, and souvenirs.Ĭurrent versions are available in many different designs and fabrics, and styles include crew-neck and V-neck shirts. Printed T-shirts were in limited use by 1942 when an Air Corps Gunnery School T-shirt appeared on the cover of Life magazine. Often boys wore them while doing chores and playing outside, eventually opening up the idea of wearing them as general-purpose casual clothing. The shirts became even more popular in the 1950s after Marlon Brando wore one in A Streetcar Named Desire, finally achieving status as fashionable, stand-alone, outerwear garments. Following World War II, it was worn by Navy men as undergarments and slowly became common to see veterans wearing their uniform trousers with their T-shirts as casual clothing. Marlon Brando in the trailer for A Streetcar named Desire.īy the Great Depression, the T-shirt was often the default garment to be worn when doing farm or ranch chores, as well as other times when modesty called for a torso covering but conditions called for lightweight fabrics. With and without buttons, they were adopted by miners and stevedores during the late 19th century as a convenient covering for hot environments. 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. The modern T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century.

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. Production processes vary but can be environmentally intensive, and include the environmental impact caused by their materials, such as cotton which is both pesticide and water intensive. For example, two billion T-shirts are sold per year in the United States, or the average person from Sweden buys nine T-shirts a year. T-shirts are inexpensive to produce and are often part of fast fashion, leading to outsized sales of T-shirts compared to other attire. The manufacture of T-shirts has become highly automated and may include cutting fabric with a laser or a water jet. 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. 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. The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century and, in the mid-20th century, transitioned from undergarment to general-use casual clothing. T-shirts are generally made of a stretchy, light, and inexpensive fabric and are easy to clean. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar. A T-shirt (also spelled tee-shirt or tee shirt), or tee for short, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves.

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