The history of T-shirts and their importance (still) to the American economy (and a little trivia)
And you thought t-shirts weren’t an important part of American history
Nine-one percent of Americans say they have a “favorite shirt.”
That, of course, is no big deal … I have a favorite pair of socks, shoes, and even a salad fork.
But there is more to the shirt than meets the eye. There is an important history and economics.
The first promotional t-shirt for a movie was printed in 1939. That movie was “The Wizard of
Oz. “As in the movie, the t-shirt worked quite well. We made our own version of a Wizard of Oz t-shirt, I imagine a little different than the first image, which shows a cartoon of the gang walking down the yellow brick road and Toto is raising a hind leg. Caption reads, “How the Yellow Brick Road Got Its Name.” But I digress.
The t-shirts represent a major American economy. Cotton remains a huge industry in this country, particularly in the southern states. It takes six miles of yarn to make a T-shirt. One acre of cotton is enough to produce 1,200 T-shirts.
Ever wonder if the t-shirt business is viable? How about this for a statistic? Approximately two billion T-shirts are sold annually around the world.
The Salvation Army receives millions of t-shirt donations annually which are then auctioned for the pound to third world countries.
If you’re into t-shirt history, the Smithsonian displays the oldest recorded printed t-shirt that simply says “Dew-It With Dewey.” Rocío, what am I wondering? Hmm.
In the 1950 play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Brando’s T-shirt and jeans were tailored to fit the shape and fully show his physique.
However, the word T-shirt did not become an official word until the 1920s, when it was included in Webster’s dictionary.
In 1977, more than $ 8 million worth of Farrah Fawcett T-shirts were sold when he appeared in Charlie’s Angels.
And speaking of sexy shirts, have you ever wondered what motivated the “wet t-shirt contest”? It started after Jacqueline Bisset’s appearance in the movie “The Deep” in which she swims underwater, then surfaces, dressed in a white tank top and bikini topless.
The most popular form of designer t-shirts today are screen-printed. But digital reproductions are becoming very popular and blend into fabric and look more ‘real’ to me than ironed decal look, but of course it’s a matter of taste. I decided to make both as different people like different looks.
Americans love our t-shirts. A survey conducted several years ago shows that more than 62% of the US (all ages) own at least 10 shirts and a demographic of 18-24 years old owns more than 10 shirts and 19% own more than 30 Tshirts. So it doesn’t look like they’re going to go out of style anytime soon.