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History of the T-shirt

11/18/2013

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Who doesn't own at least one T-shirt?

I used to wear them all the time ...  the kind with pictures on the front that say things. Recently, I'm feeling like I want to be a little more stylish, but I still wear one when I go to the the gym or yoga. And I, like the statistics below, have several that I cannot throw out for sentimental reasons.
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This is from a terrific article that was in the New York Times Magazine in September.  I saved it because I wanted to share it with you.

T-shirts haven't always been around.  Someone had to design the first one.  And here is how the story goes in this article.

In 1904, the Cooper Underwear Company ran a magazine ad announcing a new product for bachelors. In the “before” photo, a man averts his eyes from the camera as if embarrassed; he has lost all the buttons on his undershirt and has safety-pinned its flaps together. In the “after” photo, a virile gentleman sports a handlebar mustache, smokes a cigar and wears a “bachelor undershirt” stretchy enough to be pulled over the head. “No safety pins — no buttons — no needle — no thread,” ran the slogan aimed at men with no wives and no sewing skills. Someone in the U.S. Navy must have seen the logic in this, because the following year, the quartermaster’s office specified that sailors should wear undershirts with no buttons under their uniforms; soon thousands of men became acquainted with the comfort of the cotton pullover.

Click here to read the whole article.  If you don't have an account with the New York Times you can easily make one to read this article and then you can read a certain number of articles monthly for free.  You have to subscribe to read more.

Below is what men wore before the advent T-shirt.
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Center button men's undershirt from the Metropolitan Museum.
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Side button undershirt from the Metropolitan Museum.
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And a pattern, if you wanted to make your own!
I don't see the T-shirt going out of fashion for a long time.  What could replace it??

Here are a couple of my T-shirts I can't throw out.
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I have a number of shirts from community theater productions. I like this one because of the fun quote on the back.
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a line from the script ... Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are so funny.
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Well ... and this one says it all!
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    From Andrea 

    I am a commercial pattern maker who is now "sewing over 50"!
    I love to sew and hope to encourage others to come back to sewing.
    The water is fine!!

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