T-shirts have always remained a ubiquitous comfortable piece of clothing for everyone across the world irrespective of their age, gender or to the races they belong. One of the easiest garments in the world that can be worn without an ounce of difficulty, T-shirts now occupies a huge section of a wardrobe for almost every person globally. With the availability of a range of styles mostly across the neck and sleeves, T-shirts also comes in a wide variety of versatile sizes and are sported flawlessly and fashionably by kids, youth and the elderly. The best thing about a T-shirt is that it looks neat to the eye when you wear it even though it was thrown by folding haphazardly in the cupboard the day before.
The history behind the evolution of T-shirts as the timeless fashionable upper-wear garment is also quite fascinating. T-shirt was said to be introduced to the masses at the time of the Spanish World War. It was issued to the members of United States (US) Navy as an underwear garment to be worn beneath their uniforms. Designed as a crew-necked short-sleeved undergarment for the US Navy, the T-shirt later came to be in fashion as a garment suitable for doing chores that makes a person tired or dirty like farming or gardening. After World War II, the men belonging to US Navy later made T-shirt a popular outer wear garment before the public eye by pairing it with their uniform trousers as a part of casual clothing. The rise of the T-shirt as a trendy fashion statement came when Hollywood actor Marlon Brando sported it in the 1951 movie A Streetcar Named Desire. With the invention of plastisol in the 1960s, the printing and tie-dying in bright colours started and soon the T-shirt became a comfortable and stylish piece of clothing which is a perfect choice for both men and women to wear.
Today, the T-shirt is used as a promotional medium for almost any kind of event by an individual, group of people or an organization. The garment has now become an excellent advertising platform massively used for campaigning about a cause or a product in streets and social media. With creative slogans and attractive designs printed or painted in it, the T-shirt has perhaps became the only piece of clothing in the world used for widely publicizing and making a huge impression on the public about an event or a thing and thereby turn it into a profitable / money making venture. The first use of T-shirt as a promotional medium was done by presidential candidate Governor Thomas E. Dewey during the campaigning for the 1948 presidential elections in the United States. With the slogan “Dew-It with Dewey”, the 47th Governor of New York became the talk of the whole country for his out-of-the-box idea of advertising himself in the run-up to the 1948 presidential elections.
One of the reasons why the T-shirt has topped the charts of favouritism globally over the years is because of the fact that the level of comfort remains the same even when wearing it for doing laborious chores or just whiling away the time. Being a breezy outfit, it is an excellent choice of clothing for summers as it keeps a person relaxed even in the sweltering heat. For this reason, a T-shirt has even now remained as a fashionable plus cozy upper wear to sport while cleaning the premises of the house, farming in the little garden outside the house or painting / whitewashing the flaky walls. Apart from being a fuss-free wear that can be easily pulled over the head, the T-shirt is also a good choice of clothing that can be agreeably layered with jackets, sweaters, jumpers, shawls and does not cause irritation by making the person feel unbearably hot during the winter months. Another good thing about a T-shirt is that it can be wonderfully maintained without having to make a fuss about it. A T-shirt can still look amazing on a person even if he / she had worn it after wringing it for a number of times the previous day before hanging out in the sun and then put it in the cupboard by folding it into a ball after it has been dried. It will make a person look chic even if he / she wear it without smoothly ironing it. As the T-shirt can make a person look good and even give extreme comfort with the requirement of the least maintenance, it has become a go-to everyday wear for people. Therefore, the T-shirt have now become so deeply ingrained as an essential piece of clothing across each group of people in the world that it seems like the garment could not have been discovered eons ago.
Meanwhile, the T-shirt has also been upgraded to a stylish modern fashion wear today with the presence of imaginative short slogans, colourful graphics and even in classic and fully solid paints. With different types of innovative neck cuts and a range of modern geometric shapes found in the sleeves also, the T-shirt has come to be a garment that has remained trendy from the 1980s era. In India, the image of a person dressed in modern outfit has always meant he / she dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. Having literally identified itself as the source of global modern fashion to the T, the T-shirt has also become the medium that can adjust the whole appearance of a person with the choice of his / her accessories. When the appropriate kind of earrings, chains, bracelets and bags are paired well with the right T-shirt, the style quotient of a person can make him / her talk of the town. However, the wrong type of accessories paired with a T-shirt can make a person a subject of gossip or a laughing stock among the public. A T-shirt is one such garment that cannot be officially labelled as a particular type of wear. Call it as a semi-formal wear, an everyday casual chic wear or a high fashion streetwear, the thing is that the T-shirt is seen with an equal level of judgement by the young and old generation of people and literally holds a place of pride in a wardrobe as a fashionable collection. Wherever the collection of T-shirts could have been picked up from say, expensive fashion outlets in a mall, an independent retail shop or a roadside stall, it is a fact that the T-shirt could be made fashionable only when you wear it the right kind of trousers, accessories, make-up and footwear.
