Some have catchy sayings, some have name brand graphics, some don’t say anything at all, but regardless of what you have, everybody has at least one T-shirt.
“I love me who wouldn’t,” “Sexy: Doesn’t mean you have to have sex,” “If you can read this you are standing too close,” these phrases and many others are publicly displayed on T-shirts everywhere.
“It is a representation of oneself, because if it is a shirt saying ‘I can take your boyfriend’, usually it is a representation of someone’s personality, attitude or how you go about things in life,” said Bianca Taylor a sophomore mass communications major from San Jose, Calif.
The first printed T-shirt was produced during the 1948 political campaign to promote Thomas Dewy which said, “Dew-It with Dewey,” it is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute.
The trend of promoting through T-shirts stuck around and they are often called “walking billboards.” This type of T-shirt has a direct association with their manufacture.
Venders such as Old Navy, American Eagle, Gap, FUBU, Sean John, Phat Farm and many others publicize their logo’s and sell them to promote future sales. Wearing logos such as these are free publicity for the manufacture, but comes at a price for the consumer.
“I think places that advertise and sell clothes such as American Eagle are not targeting black people, they don’t even want black people to wear their clothes and you see a lot of people of color wearing them,” said Taylor. “Whatever clothes you wear makes you a walking advertisement so you would want to advertise something that is good, not something that stands for something that doesn’t stand for you.”
Wearing a T-shirt with graphics, catchy phrases, and logo’s are not a choice for some people at all.
The decision of what T-shirt to wear is made at Foot Locker by buying four white t-shirts for $20.
Johnathan Faura a junior electrical engineering major from New Orleans said, “If you don’t feel like putting on anything a white T-shirt is simple and it goes with everything.”
