The account of the initial stages of the t-shirt is as just about as long as its arm. Pretty short, you might be inclined to think, but it is quite long and interesting evolution. An evolution Charles Darwin would have been particularly fascinated in, had he been around at that time to chronicle it.



It was only in the early twentieth century that the idea of wearing an under cloth germinated, and in 1901, the P.H. Hanes Knitting Company began the manufacture of men's underwear and this apparel came into existence as an piece of underclothing hidden away under a stratum of other dresses. But its prominence is due to the issue of a piece of underwear that had no collar, with short sleeves that looked extraordinarily like a "T" (hence the name of "t-shirt") to the sailors of the US Navy going to the World War I theater.

It was also the WWI that brought it out into the open when footage of news of the war showed the soldiers clad only in this piece of cloth, to overcome the hot and humid European type of weather. But as always its popularity was really established by Hollywood when it depicted it as a piece of clothing on its own rights. By the 1950s, the popularity of the t-shirt had skyrocketed when it was worn on the silver screen by Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) and then by James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). As more and more icons of the film industry began sporting it as a dress on its own rights the image of the t-shirt grew in stature.

Though it was still considered as an underwear, the news reels from the war showed it being worn in the open by the soldiers, to beat the hot and humid European climate. But, as it almost always happens, Hollywood stepped in to make the this particular item of clothing more popular as an apparel on its own rights. It became to be noticed and popular by the 1950s when it was worn on the silver screen by Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) and then by James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). More of its appearances on the silver screen worn by prominent icons of the industry skyrocketed its image.

From then on its growth was phenomenal. Everybody was wearing one. It was something cool - literally and figuratively. Its history even has a political edge to it and the Smithsonian Institute boasts ownership of the oldest printed T-Shirt on record, imprinted with the phrase "Dew-IT with Dewey" from New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey's 1948 presidential campaign.

Throughout its history this informal dress has been used for promoting various causes. At first it carried just simple messages. Political messages, health messages etc. The Vietnam War saw them carrying protests. Plastisol, a more resilient and stretchable ink was invented in 1950 and it became a more versatile medium of just about any type of written or graphical communication.

Jokes, one-liners, graphically symbolic messages, you name it and they all appeared on the simple, inexpensive piece of dress shaped like a "T". As printing technology developed it became more and more graphical. Mass production techniques just edged it on the more.

What one wears speaks volumes of wearer; this is a well known saying but the humble t-shirt manages to say a lot more that the others. You just can't beat a t-shirt.