# Logos/Slogans on T-Shirts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753 "2007-10-15T04:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753/1 "2007-10-15T04:04:24Z")
When did people start wearing t-shirts with logos and/or slogans on them, as part of daily wear? My research [television] would lead me to believe teens were doing it in the 70’s [_That 70’s Show_] but not in the 50’s [_Happy Days_]. If this becomes an anecdote thread, feel free to move it, Mods. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753/2 "2007-10-15T04:14:19Z")
The mid to late 60s ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753/3 "2007-10-15T04:18:07Z")
I don’t know if this fits your description, which relates only to t-shirts, but it would have been common in the 50s to see young people with clothes bearing their school’s logo ([bottom right](http://cinememorial.com/FILMS/AFFICHE/Jours%20Heureux1974.jpg)). ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753/4 "2007-10-15T04:31:00Z")
I’ve seen pictures from the '50s and '60s of people wearing t-shirts with logos for auto racing parts and pop icons (i.e., Crower Cams, Rat fink, and the like.) Silk screened and iron-on t-shirts really took off as a fad in the '70s. I’d guess that it was a Around 1975 or so, it seemed like every mall and neighborhood strip mall had a small shop with hundreds of iron-on decals, iron-on letters and t-shirts in every color, and of course everyone bought a t-shirt when they went to a rock concert. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753/5 "2007-10-15T11:15:09Z")
Back in the '50s, some of the “beatniks” wore sweatshirts, not t-shirts, with the picture and name of a favorite artist, writer or composer, etc. I was barely a teenager, and I had a “Beethoven” sweatshirt which was way cool, man. The t-shirt phenomenon started in the '60s. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logos-slogans-on-t-shirts/422753/6 "2007-10-15T14:08:32Z")
Quoting from the introduction to Vintage T-Shirts by Lisa Kidner & Sam Knee: “The cotton T-shirt was standard issue as an undergarment in the US armed forces. WW2 also provided another preview of the T-shirt as soldiers crudely customised their vest-style tees to identify their station and using any materials they could find - often handmade, cut-out stencils and vehicle spray paint” [link to Uk edition](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vintage-T-shirts-Over-Authentic-Tees/dp/1844424049/ref=sr_1_2/202-6981247-4183853?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192457024&sr=1-2) There’s a US edition as well, which I assume has the same text.