History of T-shirt

T-shirt is a shirt which is pulled on over the head to cover a person's body. Nowsadays, T-shirt has become a basic and common style in our daily life. T-shirt seems to exist for a long time, and it is so difficult to imagine a life without any T-shirt. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the T-Shirt quickly became people's favorite garment. Now, after a century, people still love T-shirt in the twenty-first century. Therefore, when and who started to wear T-shirt? In fact, during WWI, American troops wore wool uniforms in hot summer in Europe and noticed European soldiers wearing lightweight cotton undershirts.

The British Army WWI Gray (grey) wool collarless undershirt, 1910s

The left lady wearing a handprinted "Kilroy was here" t-shirt, 1947

Actually, “t-shirt” didn’t become a word in the English dictionary until the 1920’s and the style didn’t enter mainstream fashion until the 1960’s. In 1950s, T-shirts were still considered underwear, but John Wayne, Marlon Brando and James Dean really shocked Americans by wearing their underwear on TV. For instance, in 1951, Marlon Brando in his film "A Streetcar Named Desire" is successful to make people pay more attentions to the shirt.

Marlon Brando, "A Streetcar Named Desire", 1951

In 1955, James Dean made the T-Shirt real cool in "Rebel Without A Cause". James Dean made the T-Shirt a symbol of rebellious youth.

James Dean, 1950s

Moreover, becasue of the advance of screenprinting, people started to use such a way to print T-shirts in 1960s. Tye dying also became popular in addition to other forms of the t-shirt, such as tank tops and muscle shirts. In the late sixties and seventies, the ringer T-shirt appeared and became a staple fashion for youth and rock-n-rollers.

Ringer T-shirt

teenagers, in Los Angeles, 1970s

In the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent brand-name logos have been popular, and in 2000s, it is popular that T-shirts have slogans and designs, with a strong inclination to the humorous or ironic sentences, and people still like the designer brands' T-shirts. Nowadays, female likes T-shirts with some specific, lovely, and beautiful decorations, such as ruffles, laces, and studs.

T-shirts with bold slogans, in UK, 1980s

Calvin Klein, 2000s Guess, 2000s

Simply speaking, before 1950s, T-shirts were originally worn as undershirts. In 1940s, the technique of printing is not common, so the pattern was just handprinted. In 1950s, it started to be popular in public, and the style focused on simple and monochromatic T-shirts. In 1960s, People used tie-dye and screenprint, so there are more styles in this age, such as tank top, muscle shirt, V-neck, etc. In 1980s to 1990s, T-shrits were popular to use brand name logo. In 2000s, it is popular that T-shirts have big slogans and humorous designs. Now, we can find T- shirts with more decorations, such as laces, studs, ruffles, etc.