Here at Impressions magazine, we get a lot of press releases. Rarely, however, do they pique my interest in quite the same way as the one I received publicizing a recent blog post published by the circular knitting machine manufacturer Morton.
To quote said post: “You probably put one on this morning without thinking twice. I get it. It’s just a T‑shirt. Comfortable. Cheap. Everywhere. But here’s what most people don’t realize: the humble T‑shirt is probably the single most influential product the textile industry has ever produced. Not silk. Not denim. A plain cotton crew‑neck.”
Even for someone making his living covering the decorated apparel industry—in which screen-printed and/or heat-pressed T-shirts are preeminent—this simple statement couldn’t help but give me pause for thought; couldn’t help but cause me to reflect on the idea that this most humble of garments should have become as vital a part of the modern wardrobe as it has.
The T-shirt Becomes High Fashion
As for how this came to be, truth be told I’d never really given its much thought. The Morton blog, though, has the answer to that question as well:
“Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, nobody wore a T‑shirt out in public. It was strictly an undergarment thing. Workers, sailors, soldiers—they wore it because it was lightweight, easy to wash and didn’t make you overheat. Function, not fashion. Everything changed after WWII. When soldiers came home, they just kept wearing the damn things. Slowly—and I mean slowly by today’s standards—the T‑shirt crawled out from underneath and into the street. Then came Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. Then James Dean. Suddenly, it wasn’t underwear anymore. It was a statement.”
Couple that with the increasingly sophisticated apparel construction tech, including the knitting machines Morton specializes in, that has come into being over the course of the ensuing decades, and you have the fashion world of today—a world in which T-shirts are not just “underwear,” but among the most cherished of garments in more than a few dresser drawers out there. Amazing! And as always, kudos to the industry that made it happen!
