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Home / Lifestyle

The T-shirt celebrates its 100th birthday

AAP
30 May, 2013 09:45 PM2 mins to read

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T-Shirts with prints or slogans have been popular for almost 100 years. Photo / Thinkstock

T-Shirts with prints or slogans have been popular for almost 100 years. Photo / Thinkstock

The T-shirt, one of fashion's most basic yet most versatile staples, is marking its 100th birthday this year.

Want to brush up on your T-shirt trivia in honour of the occasion? CustomInk, which allows people to customise their own T-shirts online, has created a birthday website, complete with photos of the most popular tees and a timeline of key moments from the shirt's life.

According to tshirtbirthday.com, the T-shirt had humble beginnings as an undershirt. In 1913, the US Navy issued crewneck tees to be worn under uniforms. The Merriam-Webster dictionary first recognised the term in 1920, defining it as "a collarless short-sleeved or sleeveless usually cotton undershirt (or) an outer shirt of similar design".

In the decades to come, T-shirts turned more stylish with prints and slogans. They got political in the 1940s, when New York Governor Thomas E Dewey's campaign designed ones with the phrase "Dew it with Dewey" printed on them when he ran for president.

Even Hollywood contributed to the T-shirt's popularity when Marlon Brando sported one in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire.

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THE TOP 10 T-SHIRT DESIGNS:

1. I (Heart) NY

2. Vote for Pedro (Napoleon Dynamite)

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3. College (inspired by sweatshirt from Animal House)

4. Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album-cover logo

5. Superman symbol

6. Batman symbol

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7. Hard Rock Cafe London

8. Tuxedo style

9. D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education logo)

10. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon

- SNS

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