I have t-shirts; about two weeks’ worth in the “regular” wardrobe, and a half dozen in my “workout” drawer. Doing some folding today, I said to myself, “Self, there’s a lot of history here. . .” I’ve got t-shirts of all sorts: places I visited, organizations I worked for, training courses I took, and a couple of regular ones. I realized that my oldest t-shirt is from around 2003 (don’t worry, it’s a gym shirt). Normally, I wear a t-shirt under an ‘outer’ button down shirt for work; I think I look fairly spiffy in a collared shirt, t-shirt, and jeans at the office.
Why so many, though? In my old apartment, the laundromat broke down and it took 'em two weeks to fix the room. Thus, I have a decent supply to get me through (same with skivvies and socks).
So I’m curious.
Do you ‘collect’ t-shirts like I do? How old, on average, is your t-shirt wardrobe (the poll)? What’s your criteria for getting rid of 'em? What’s your favorite one?
Tripler
I transfer my unservicable t-shirts to the “Rag Corps.”
I don’t wear T-shirts that much, mostly when I get up in the morning before I get dressed. My shirts are from companies and conferences, and since I don’t wear them often they are in good shape. I voted 5 - 10 years, but thinking about it it is probably more. The one I wore this morning is from 2003, but the other one I wear most is from a reunion 8 years ago.
2-5 years is my average, closer to the 5 year end of the scale. I do have a few much older than that but I wear them a lot so most don’t last all that long.
I have at least two dozen t-shirts, which tend to fall into one of the following camps:
Nerdy t-shirts (mostly Star Wars shirts)
Green Bay Packers t-shirts
Rock bands and concert t-shirts
Shirts from 5K and 10K races I’ve run in (most of those are tech fabric, rather than cotton)
I have a lot that are over 5 years old, and a few that are well over 10 years old. They tend to get thrown out or repurposed as rags when they get too raggedy.
My current favorite is the raglan (three-quarter sleeve) shirt I got at an Electric Light Orchestra concert two years ago.
I have a Neville Brothers tee shirt from 1985. My buddy and I were headed to New Orleans, but my car died and I had to spend the money on a new car instead of a trip. So I asked him to pick me up a souvenir, and it’s still in my tee shirt drawer.
I have a skanky blue soccer dad tee-shirt.
I can’t wear it anymore because of unfortunate holes in inappropriate areas. But it’s my lovey.
It’s very old. I’d say the 90s.
Since I’m retired, I live in t-shirts. In fact, I have one that says, “I’m retired. This is as dressed up as I get.”
I have several Star Trek t-shirts, coffee-themed t-shirts, and for a while I had some cat-themed t-shirts.
They get demoted to rags because of grease stains that WON’T come out, or holes from using bleach. I don’t bleach the shirts. I clean with it, and my shirts are casualties.
Oh, I also have several Grandma-themed shirts. I wear those to birthday parties.
I have a couple of Christmas-themed shirts, and by some strange coincidence, they are also Star Trek shirts.
I have two collections - good and work. They become work shirts for under my uniform shirt (I hate the feel) when they start getting old or well-worn. I know one there was for a wedding preparty that my 2nd son stood up in 20 years ago. Several others in that stack are around that age or a little older. In my good pile is one my wife made with iron-on transfers when I only had 2 kids so that is close to 25 years old. Two others have my daughters picture on when she was a baby 18 years ago. I have a Brett Favre jersey from his good days with the Packers, Not very many from the pst 3-4 years. I got a pile about 5 years ago from fundraising and chaperoning a trip. End of life for them is the pits shredding or usually tearing across the shoulders from loss of material.
I’m not particularly into fashion, so t-shirts make up very large percentage of my wardrobe. As a stereotypical west coast tech nerd, I will often even wear t-shirts to the office in the summer. (Actually, in the winter too, but then they’re worn under a long sleeved shirt.)
Most of my t-shirts fall into one of these categories:
Nerdy shirts. For a while a friend would get me a shirt from Comic-con every year for my birthday, as my birthday usually fell right after the event.
Shirts from concerts and other shows
Cycling related shirts. Back what I cycled more than I do now, I would get a free shirt for participating in Sacramento Bike Month every year, plus I participated in the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure several years.
Freebie corporate shirts, like shirts with the company logo on it from the company picnic, etc.
My newest is from a Lewis Black show last October.
My oldest is from my high school graduation, in 1998 – some students had some shirts printed to commemorate our graduation and sold them to other students. I bought one, but then didn’t wear it much because I thought it was embarrassing to wear a shirt from your old high school in college. But I kept it, and now I’m like whatever, a shirt’s a shirt.
I have two categories of shirts, “good” shirts, and weekend/yard work shirts. Once a shirt starts to get visibly worn, has holes in it, noticeably tattered collar, etc., it gets demoted to the second category. Really worn shirts get worn only for oil change and painting duty, or become rags.
I’ve worn t-shirts on a daily basis for years - under a scrub top at work, for leisure activities etc.
I’ve accumulated several hundred over the years. Restaurant t-shirts are a major category (the Maine Diner and Chuy’s have had good ones) but there are many others with varyingly provocative themes.
It isn’t for all audiences, but I’m fond of the one that says Free Hugs, showing a guy wielding a chainsaw.
I don’t know what my average is, but I’m pretty sure my oldest T-shirt is the one I was given at my eighth birthday party. It was so big on me I wore it as a nightgown throughout elementary school, but more than twenty years later it fits just fine. It’s in better shape than a lot of of my more recent shirts, too.
I don’t remember the last time I wore any shirt that wasn’t a t-shirt. I have two sets of t-shirts: good and at-home. As the good ones get worn out, they go into the at-home closet. When they get TOTALLY worn out, they get tossed. I haven’t bought a new one in several years.
The oldest t-shirt I own is my ACT-UP shirt from the 80s (I was a charter member). The shirt no longer fits.
I don’t have a lot of t-shirts, because I’m really picky about them. Crew necks drive me crazy, the material can’t be too thick, they have to be just the right amount of “fitted yet slouchy”.
I did a massive closet purge before my last move, so I only have one or two that are over the 2 year mark.
I own many, but they are far from what I wear most of the time.
In the summer, I wear them every day, except to church. Floral prints, floral embroidery, messages, my first bike race (only a few years old and still looks new). I have a lovely tee I bought at Ron Jon’s Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach on the 90’s. I’d still wear it weekly, but the rib knit at the neck is disintegrating and I don’t know how to preserve it.
TBH, the ones that have the most sentimental meaning to me I rarely wear. Autographed concert tee from the 90’s Newsboys, for example. I would hate to wash away the autographs. I don’t know why I’ll wear the Gallup Celtic Festival tees but not the Aztec Highland Games and Celtic Music Festival tee. Gallup was much more fun and rewarding.
I don’t often buy new clothes, so my shirts, like everything else, trends old. Thank goodness for Woolite. I have favorite clothes that I bought in the early 90’s and still wear happily.
I’ll wear dressier-looking tees at school with a skirt in the warmer months, but not when it gets cold.
