subject: T Shirts From 8 Ball [print this page] Clothes are no longer mere articles that cover our body. They are expressions of our character, desires and even thoughts. Even more importantly, they depict our social status and taste in popular culture. T shirts have led the parade of casual clothing since their popularisation among the general public in the 1950s. The simple T-shirt gained the attention of the entire world within just a few decades, and has become the most popular type of fashionable apparel in the west and the east as well.
History in Brief
Historically, a T-shirt was an undershirt derived from the one-piece "union suit", the popular one-piece undergarment of the 19th century. Their lightness and comfortable texture made them popular among miners and stevedores during early days. With the World Wars, they grabbed the attention of veterans since they were simple enough to be worn during battles, unlike sophisticated uniforms. However, the dawn of the golden age of T shirts had to wait until the 50s, when they started exhibiting their potential benefits as easily cleaned, comfortable and stylish articles that were also cheap. The T-shirt could soon catch up with the current social trends and popular cultural inclinations to become the best choice of fashion in no time.
Modern Styles
A T-shirt basically consists of cotton fibers in a jersey stitch, leading to a characteristic soft texture. Traditional T shirts used to have round neck lines, short sleeves and no collars in keeping with the vest or undershirt design. However, this 'average T-shirt' model no longer holds since customer taste is radically changing all the time. For example, a release of a new album of a popular musical group may change the T-shirt market overnight, keeping T-shirt companies busy for weeks with the increasing demand for new designs. Nevertheless evergreen designs like the 'happy face' and cartoon T shirts remain popular all the time.
Various Designs
Modern technology has certainly done a great job to keep T shirts worthy of their price. Screen printing, dye sublimation, airbrush and various other methods have largely contributed to speed up T-shirt manufacture. Varieties of synthetic ink and heat-pressing techniques have improved the overall look of the T-shirt while enabling the designer to come up with any imaginable design without being hindered by technical constraints. Today you can find a whole variety of sizes, shapes, decorations and colors in the T-shirt market, intended for various age groups including kids, teenagers, adults and old people.