# When did T-shirts start to be worn on their own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411 "2011-10-12T10:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/1 "2011-10-12T10:41:07Z")
It’s my understanding that T-shirts used to be stricly underwear. They were worn under the shirt. Yet today they’re very commonly worn on their own and in most circumstances, no one thinks anything of it. When, why and how did that change? Did you think the future holds wife-beaters as standard wear? ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/2 "2011-10-12T11:00:18Z")
My understanding is that during WWII the GIs in the tropical Pacific took to wearing only their undershirts when not required to be in uniform. They continued wearing only undershirts when it was hot when they returned to the US. This became increasingly acceptable, but considered rather low class, during the 1950s (ref _A Streetcar Named Desire_, 1947). Wearing T-shirts as outerwear became completely acceptable during the 60s, but was considered part of the counter-culture in the early part. Several of the fashions adopted by the counter-culture originated in the working class – jeans and T-shirts being the best examples. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/3 "2011-10-12T11:00:45Z")
I seem to remember reading that James Dean made the white T-shirt a fashionable stand-alone item. First cite I came across: [http://www.cityunlisted.com/i’m-with-stupid-a-social-history-of-funny-t-shirts/](http://www.cityunlisted.com/i%E2%80%99m-with-stupid-a-social-history-of-funny-t-shirts/) > [@](#): > > “They started as a symbol of rebellion, underwear worn as outer-wear. T-shirts were James Dean in ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ and Marlon Brando in ‘On the Waterfront.’ And here: [http://www.gilt.com/giltmanual/2011/05/theperfect-white-tee/](http://www.gilt.com/giltmanual/2011/05/theperfect-white-tee/) > [@](#): > > Originally meant to be worn as an undergarment, the T-shirt became a symbol of 1950s youth rebellion when young men followed James Dean’s lead in _Rebel Without a Cause_—ditching their button-downs and the stuffy values of their parents’ generation in the process. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/4 "2011-10-12T13:35:09Z")
I started a related thread many years ago in this forum asking, IIRC, when the first T-shirts with logos on them appeared. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/5 "2011-10-12T13:36:23Z")
I think it was the first hot day after they were invented. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/6 "2011-10-12T13:43:07Z")
As an item of rebellion, the 50s. As an item of fashion, about 30 minutes after the invention of silk-screening and tie-dye. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/7 "2011-10-12T16:11:56Z")
Workers wore them for work on hot days for most of the last century. Those iconic pictures of steelworkers walking on beams above the city in the 1920s and 30s often had them in undershirts. You’ll see them in other occupations as well. But that was work garment. They uniformly put their shirts back on afterwards. There seem to be many pictures of people wearing undershirts during the Depression, but those were mostly southern and lower-class men who had to deal with heat and poverty. Even hobos regularly wore suits, although probably because that was their only clothing. The other issue is the mystery of the missing undershirt. Legend has is that undershirt sales declined 75% after Clark Gable took off his shirt in It Happened One Night and showed off his bare masculine hairy chest. Nobody’s ever documented a sales drop like that in 1934, but undoubtedly some people imitated him just as some people imitate every movie fashion. If men generally stopped wearing undershirts they were less likely to have them to wear on their own. I agree that the WWII casual work garb carried over after the war and that’s what started the T-shirt as we know it today. But like most trends, there’s a history involved. It didn’t spring up out of nowhere. When Marlon Brando did it, he played a symbol of the working class. The working class had worked in undershirts for a generation. The only difference is that society now paid attention and started copying it. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/8 "2011-10-12T16:31:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > As an item of rebellion, the 50s. As an item of fashion, about 30 minutes after the invention of silk-screening and tie-dye. I’m always amused to see tie-dye stuff being sold commercially as a retro item. As I remember it, it was a do-it-yourself thing. Lots of packages of Rit dye were sold, which got mixed up in buckets and wastebaskets to have knotted up tee shirts soaked in it. Of course, the commercially done ones are probably more colorfast. Those home dyed ones always faded in the wash, particularly red, which would also tint your white underwear pink if it was in the same load. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/9 "2011-10-12T16:43:51Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > I’m always amused to see tie-dye stuff being sold commercially as a retro item. As I remember it, it was a do-it-yourself thing. Lots of packages of Rit dye were sold, which got mixed up in buckets and wastebaskets to have knotted up tee shirts soaked in it. Of course, the commercially done ones are probably more colorfast. Those home dyed ones always faded in the wash, particularly red, which would also tint your white underwear pink if it was in the same load. Even at the time, more people bought their tie-dyed shirts than did it themselves. They may have bought off of locals who made extra for the shops rather than big commercial entities but they always were for sale everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/10 "2011-10-12T16:47:46Z")
In my box o’ vintage stuff, I start to see photos of children wearing T-shirts, normally striped, in the '40s. And I hope the wifebeater never takes off. The last thing I want to see are hairy armpits on either gender. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/11 "2011-10-12T17:54:56Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > In my box o’ vintage stuff, I start to see photos of children wearing T-shirts, normally striped, in the '40s. I’d guess you’re thinking of something like in [this picture](http://u1.ipernity.com/11/75/92/5397592.5fac3918.560.jpg). My memories from the 50s tell me that these weren’t T-shirts but just plain shirts. But it’s hard to know where to draw a line between them. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/12 "2011-10-12T21:38:13Z")
Ex\_Chemist has it right…the 60’s. I’m 63 and still remember being forbidden to leave the house in a white (only color they came in) T Shirt. This was during the late 50’s/early 60’s. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-t-shirts-start-to-be-worn-on-their-own/599411/13 "2011-10-13T14:03:22Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’d guess you’re thinking of something like in [this picture](http://u1.ipernity.com/11/75/92/5397592.5fac3918.560.jpg). > > My memories from the 50s tell me that these weren’t T-shirts but just plain shirts. But it’s hard to know where to draw a line between them. Exactly. The striped ones are knit just like a white T, with color changes in the thread. The sleeves are set in, and the ring collar is made in a different stitch to prevent stretching. In sewing, the T-shirt can be made in any knit or jersey material. It refers to the construction. The sleeves meet the body at a blunt right angle, as opposed to the raglan sleeve. A little off topic, but recently I realized that Ts no longer have side seams. When did this advance begin?