Many people wear undershirts on a regular basis, and they may notice that their undershirts look much like the T-shirts that they wear as outerwear. They might even wear an undershirt under their T-shirt, and wonder what the difference is. In some cases, the difference is very minimal. As a matter of fact, is perfectly acceptable to wear a regular, outerwear T-shirt as an undershirt. Some people wear their older T-shirts or T-shirts that have been stained or that have holes in them as undershirts. This is an inexpensive source of undershirts, and it provides some coverage that many people prefer to have.
There are some differences however, with some types of undershirts. T-shirts that are marketed as undershirts are often crew neck T-shirts that are made from a thinner material then many outerwear T-shirts. This provides you with a little extra coverage without adding too much bulk to your frame or making you feel overheated. In colder climates however, a regular T-shirt may be preferred as an undershirt. Or, a thick, ribbed shirt can be worn as an undershirt for extra warmth. Some people choose to wear a thick, long sleeve shirt under their over shirt. This type of undershirt is easy to tell from the typical T-shirt.
Some people choose undershirts that are shaped differently from most crew neck T-shirts. A V-neck T-shirt is a popular item to wear as an undershirt because the lower front means that it will not be visible under the over shirt. Many people like to leave a button unfastened to make their collar looser, and a V-neck undershirt means that they can do this and still keep their undershirt out of sight. It can also keep them a little cooler if they are worried about their undershirt making them too warm when paired with their over shirt.
A sleeveless shirt that is worn as an undershirt is often called an A-shirt. This shirt style is popular to wear under other shirts because it has no sleeves and often has a scoop neck to keep it out of sight. This means that it covers only the areas that the wearer wants extra coverage for and doesn’t add extra fabric in the form of sleeves. These look much different than the typical T-shirt and may be ribbed or have other texture to them that further makes them look different from a T-shirt. The thickness of A-shirts varies quite a bit along with the style of the shirt. Some are made from very thin fabric like other undershirts, and others are thicker and can help the wearer to stay warm.
An undershirt is generally not a shirt that most people would wear by themselves when going out in public. If you have a T-shirt that you wouldn’t consider wearing out in public, either because the shirt is in bad condition or because it is very thin, or perhaps because it has a sleeveless cut, that shirt is a good candidate to wear as an undershirt.
The word inappropriate means unsuitable, out of place or badly chosen. Appropriate in contrast is something which seems right or fitting. If you care about the message you portray then the following list provides examples of when wearing a T-shirt is generally thought to be inappropriate. However, because fashion today is not carved in stone like in the 1800's some exceptions to these rules do apply:
-A job interview-if you are being interviewed for a professional role than it is expected that you will wear business attire and T-shirt's do not qualify as this. You can certainly choose to stick to a T-shirt, but the likelihood of you getting the job will probably be quite slim. Yes, it is supposed to be about whether you have the right skills for the position, but the reality is people make judgments based on appearance.
*Exception to the rule-if you are going for quite a casual interview, perhaps where you will be asked to perform a trial shift or the likes then a T-shirt might be quite fitting. Just make sure it's a nice one because you should always wear something a little better to an interview then what you would actually wear to work on a day to day basis.
-Religious ceremonies-some religious traditions dictate that a specific type of attire is worn and usually T-shirts do not fit this criterion. In addition many religious events have a socially prescribed dress code. For example, Sunday Mass is associated with wearing your "Sunday best". Times have changed and people don't tend to wear hats, gloves and waistcoats anymore, but in general they leave the T-shirts and jeans for other times in favor of something a little more formal. If you are attending a christening, confirmation or another ceremony then it's probably best to wear something a little dressier then a T-shirt.
A T-shirt (or tee shirt) is a shirt which is pulled on over the head to cover most of a person's torso. A T-shirt is usually buttonless, collarless, and pocketless, with a round neck and short sleeves. The sleeves of the T-shirt extend at least slightly over the shoulder but not completely over the elbow (in short-sleeve version). A shirt that is either longer or shorter than this ceases to be a T-shirt. T-shirts are typically made of cotton or polyester fibers (or a mix of the two), knitted together in a jersey stitch that gives a T-shirt its distinctive soft texture. T-shirts can be decorated with text and/or pictures, and are sometimes used to advertise (see human billboard).
T-shirt fashions include styles for men and women, and for all age groups, including baby, youth, and adult sizes. Many youths wear T-shirts; they are great protection from the sun and useful for all wears, but the main reason being the fashion.T-shirts were originally worn as undershirts. Now T-shirts are worn frequently as the only piece of clothing on the top half of the body, other than possibly a bra or an undershirt (vest). T-shirts have also become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and even photographs on display.[1]
A T-shirt typically extends to the waist. Variants of the T-shirt, like the tank top, A-shirt (with the nickname "wife beater"), muscle shirt, scoop neck, and the V-neck have been developed. Hip hop fashion calls for "tall-T" T-shirts which may extend down to the knees. A 1990s trend in women's clothing involved tight-fitting "cropped" T-shirts that are short enough to reveal the midriff. Another popular trend is wearing a "long-sleeved T-shirt", then putting a short-sleeved T-shirt of a different color over the long-sleeved shirt; this is known as "layering".
T-shirts are also very much used for cleaning up oil stains in your car.
In the early 1950s several companies based in Miami, Florida, started to decorate T-shirts with different resort names and various characters. The first company was Tropix Togs, under founder Sam Kantor, in Miami. They were the original licensce for Walt Disney characters that included Mickey Mouse and Davy Crockett. Later other companies expanded into the T-shirt printing business that included Sherry Manufacturing Company also based in Miami. Sherry started in 1948 by its owner and founder Quinton Sandler as a screen print scarf business and evolved into one of the largest screen printed resort and licensed apparel companies in the United States.
In 1959, plastisol, a more durable and stretchable ink, was invented, allowing much more variety in T-shirt designs.
In the 1960s, the ringer T-shirt appeared and became a staple fashion for youth and rock-n-rollers. The decade also saw the emergence of tie-dyeing and screen-printing on the basic T-shirt. In the late 1960s Richard Ellman, Robert Tree, Bill Kelly, and Stanley Mouse set up the Monster Company in Mill Valley, California, to produce fine art designs expressly for T-shirts. Monster T-shirts often feature emblems and motifs associated with the Grateful Dead and marijuana culture.[2]
The most common form of commercial T-shirt decoration is screen-printing. In screen-printing, a design is separated into individual colors. Plastisol or water based inks are applied to the shirt through mesh screens which limits the areas where ink is deposited. In most commercial T-shirt printing, the specific colors in the design are used. To achieve a wider color spectrum with a limited number of colors, process printing (using only cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink) or simulated process (using only white, black, red, green, blue, and gold ink) is effective. Process printing is best suited for light colored shirts. Simulated process is best suited for dark colored shirts. Very few companies continue to use water-based inks on their shirts. The majority of other companies that create shirts prefer to use plastisol due to the ability to print on varying colors without the need for color adjustment at the art level.
Specialty inks trend in and out of fashion and include; shimmer, puff, discharge and chino based inks. A metallic foil can be heat pressed and stamped onto any plastisol ink. When combined with shimmer ink, metallics give a mirror like effect wherever the previously screened plastisol ink was applied. Specialty inks are more expensive to purchase as well as screen and tend to appear on garments in boutiques.
Other methods of decoration used on T-shirts include airbrush, applique, embroidery, impressing or embossing and the ironing on of either flock lettering, heat transfers, or dye-sublimation transfers. Laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special toner containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat-transferred to T-shirts.
In the 1980s, thermochromatic dyes were used to produce T-shirts that changed colour when subjected to heat. This brand of T-shirt, Global Hypercolour, was a common sight on the streets of the UK for a few years, but has since mostly disappeared. These were very popular in the United States as well in the late 80's among teens. A downside of color-change garments is that the dyes can easily be damaged, especially by washing in warm water, or dye other clothes during washing.
At the turn of the century, designing custom T-shirts online became more popular. Popular websites began to use digital printing (such as Direct to Garment or DTG printing) to allow customers to design their own T-shirts online with no minimum orders. In the beginning, DTG could not print well on dark garments; however, with the help of some online T-Shirt retailers, printer manufacturers such as T-Jet have all but perfected the process, providing consumers with many more printing options.
Throughout the 1980s and ever since, T-shirts have flourished as a personal expression.
Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent designer-name logos have become popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. These garments allow consumers to flaunt their taste for designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative. Examples of designer T-shirt branding include Calvin Klein, FUBU, Ralph LaurenThe Gap. These examples also include representations of rock bands, among other obscure pop-culture references. and
Screen printed T-shirts have been a standard form of product advertising for major consumer products, such as Coca-cola and Mickey Mouse, since the 1970s. However, since the 1990s, it has become common practice for companies of all sizes to produce T-shirts with their corporate logos or messages as part of their overall advertising campaigns.
The early 2000s saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic. The trend has only increased later in this decade; embraced by celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and reflected back on them, too ('Team Aniston').[citation needed]
The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the 2000s, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society.[citation needed] The statements also may be found to be offensive, shocking or pornographic to some. Many different organizations have caught on to the statement-making trend, including chain and independent stores, websites, and schools.
A popular phrase on the front of T-shirts demonstrating T-shirts' popularity among tourists is the humorous phrase "I did _____ and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Examples include "I needlessly edited Wikipedia and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." and "My parents went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
T-shirt exchange is an activity where people trade their T-shirts they are wearing. Some designs specifically write on the shirt "trade with me".
