Evolution of the T-Shirt

It’s been burned, washed, stoned, dipped in acid, discarded and rediscovered, even shot.

I am probably not the only one out there who has trouble keeping up with their Google Reader. So when Tobias asked me if I had recently checked American Apparel’s “Daily Update” blog, I scrolled down to come across a link to NY Mag’s Fall fashion piece by Hugo Lindgren entitled T-Shirt by Darwin.

The article deals with the well-known and oft-mentioned James Dean-sian beginnings of the t-shirt, but focuses much on the recent developments of the tee, much of them coupled with new techniques and technology. Many have perhaps heard of stone-washing, garmet-dying, faux-fading, but the article goes into detail about some innovative and very interesting techniques:

• “slub knit” and “fire knit” - both producing a clotted feel to the material with lighter and denser chunks (think old gym shirt).
• “burnout” - chemically treated to polyester/cotton material, destroying the cotton fibres and creating a very soft, see-through material.
• “distressed” or “used look” – treating the shirt to make it look like you’ve owned and washed it for years.

In other words, we’re now buying things that look like we made them ourselves.

I think this one statement by Lindgren really speaks to the nature of the modern t-shirt: that we want our apparel to be personalised, be it through its used, worn look – or even, step in Spreadshirt – customised to fit one’s style even more.

One last observation worth mentioning is the increasing popularity of deep v-necks, scoop necks, oversize tees and low-cut tanks in men’s fashion. These are shirts which only a couple of years ago were predominantly sold to women. The t-shirt is constantly evolving, in many, many ways.