T-Shirts and James Dean

You may have noticed that on our About Us page I have posters of James Dean hanging up. There is a reason for that. The way I see it, I owe my work and our industry in large part to James Dean and the style he made popular.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the T-Shirt quickly became an American favorite. Now, a century later, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the T-Shirt remains as popular as ever.

The American T-Shirt began during WWI when American troops noticed European soldiers wearing a comfortable and lightweight cotton undershirt during the hot and humid European summer days. Compared to the wool uniforms that the American soldiers wore, these undershirts were cooler and more comfortable and they quickly caught on with the Americans. Due to their simple design, these shirts became known in the USA as "T" shirts or, as we know them now, "T-Shirts".

By the 1920's, "T-Shirt" had become an official word in the American English language with it's inclusion in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. By W.W. II, both the Navy and the Army had included the T-Shirt as standard issue underwear.

Initially pegged as an undergarment, the T-Shirt soon came in to it's own on the big screen. John Wayne, Marlon Brando and James Dean all shocked Americans by wearing their underwear on national TV. In 1951, Marlon Brando shocked Americans in his film "A Streetcar Named Desire" when his T-Shirt was ripped off of his body revealing his naked chest.

By 1955, the T-Shirt was tolerated worn without another shirt covering it. Then James Dean made the T-Shirt real cool in "Rebel Without A Cause". James Dean made the T-Shirt a contemporary symbol of rebellious youth.

In the 60's people began to tie dye and screenprint the basic cotton T-Shirt making it an even bigger commercial success. Advances in printing and dying allowed more variety and the Tank Top, Muscle Shirt, Scoop Neck, V-Neck, and many other variations of the T-Shirt came in to fashion.

The T-Shirt was inexpensive, in style, and could make any statement you cared to print. The American T-Shirt came into it's own during the late sixties and seventies. Rock and Roll bands began to realize that they could make significant amounts of money selling their T-Shirts. Professional Sports caught on and soon the officially licensed T-Shirt became hot merchandise.

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Comments (4)

reply:

I think this will be very useful for many t-shirt lovers. Looking forward for some more interesting work from your end.

Mens Dress Shirt

Mens Dress Shirt , April 10, 2010 | url

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Thanks

Thanks. We have articles planned for Screen Printing How To's... (Screen Making, Printing the Seps, and so on). We are also going to start putting up "Screen Print of the Month".

ivan , April 10, 2010 | url

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great work... really loved it, the pic are really hot.... and the info is a positive one....

custom t-shirts , May 08, 2010 | url

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sdfsf

Thank you for sharing such valuable information. This cause is very dear to me as well. My name is Stephanie Robin and I am fighting Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer and have been sharing my story through my organization, THINK PINK. Each day I am amazed at the number of people I meet who have never heard of the Breast Cancer Gene (BRCA).

northface , August 14, 2011 | url

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