Turns out, people really didn't do much with the concept of printing text on clothes until sometime in the late 1950's, early 1960's, which to some extent surprises me. I mean, people have had the ability to dye patterns into fabric for hundreds of years at this point.
Loud, multi-colored fabrics have been the staple of many an economy over the course of human history, and it seems odd that words hadn't been incorporated into those patterns until fairly recently. Of course, I guess literacy hasn't been particularly prevalent, so if you can't read, words on clothes probably just look like ugly patterns. Still I would have expected crosses or little Shroud of Turin replicas to be all over the place as soon as they could get a pattern made.
In all fairness, I think there was some sort of printing technique developed in the early 60's that made putting images and words on fabric, specifically T-Shirts, much easier. And T-Shirts specifically were made popular by 50's and 60's stud stars like James Dean. Although the Military was one of the first to put words on them, imprinting rank on the "underwear" of US soldiers. Although we have found a number of soldiers actually prefer this T-Shirt these days:
Ivy league fraternities followed suit shortly after the military, but leave it to the beer companies to grab onto any new method of advertising they can think of and run with it. Budweiser first put a picture of their can on a shirt in the 60's opening the floodgates. People have been imprinting thousands (millions?) of ads and slogans ever since.
At any rate, the 60's were a boom time for the T-Shirt in general, with Tie-Dye shirts and Rock Band logos showing up on T-Shirts all over the US and eventually the world. This was the start of self-expression with T-Shirts the way we know it today. Relating yourself with the "hippie" movement by wearing Tie-dye, or associating yourself with a specific band, whose message and values are expressed through lyrics and musical style, and therefore transferred to the people who wear the bands name and logo on their person, allowed people to state something about themselves without saying a word.
Obviously this is an over simplification of what stages the T-Shirt went through on it's way to the mega-stardom that represents such a large part of the apparel market these days, but you get the idea. Its actually still a fairly new concept (clothes being over 10,000 years old at least, and printed T-Shirts only 50 or so) that people have really grabbed ahold of and are continuing to develop in a number of ways. Different T-Shirt styles (like sleeveless, tank, v-neck, etc), a variety of printing options, new inks, allow the creative types in the world to continually find new ways to express themselves on their shirts.
That's where I come in. There has been a distinct move in today's world to not necessarily associate one's self with a band, sporting team, or alcohol type, (though they are by far still the most popular) but to actually convey a personal sense of politics, humor, sexual orientation, or just plain crassness. Sometimes all of the above.
A good example of that is our newest "Magically Gaylicious" T-Shirt, featuring a Dumbledore-esque wizard making a rainbow with his wand. Now, while I am personally extremely heterosexual, as my body chooses to remind me every time I see Kierra Knightly or Alexis Bledel on-screen, I love this particular shirt. It allows a person to show their support of the gay community, support of Rowling for her choice to out Dumbledore, their sexual orientation, the fact that they enjoy the Potter books, and all of the politics associated with Gay Pride and Gay Rights. And it offends the hell out of the right-wing conservatives. All from just wearing a shirt, without saying a word. Just a friendly little wizard making a rainbow with his wand with the slogan "Magically Gaylicious."
Now, the basis for this particular shirt should be fairly obvious. It's been bigger news than the Iraq war for the past couple of weeks. Not sure how I feel about the sexual orientation of a fictional character overshadowing the death and despair of our soldiers, or a whole country, but I am not the person who makes the news or decides what is newsworthy. And there are plenty of people who face prejudice and abuse everyday for their sexual and/or political beliefs (or enjoyment of the Potter books) that received validation from Rowlings proclimation, and are proud to wear a shirt that shows their support. And I honestly see nothing wrong with that at all. Having an opinion and wanting others to know it is just part of the human condition.
On the flip side, we also put out the "Dumbledore Sucks Dick!" shirt at the same time. Why would we do that when we so obviously showed our support for the other end of the spectrum with the Magically Gaylicious shirt? Well, because I damn well felt like it. Got a problem with that, then screw you.
T-Shirt Trauma isn't out to advance any particular political or social agenda. When you come to our site there are 3 things I personally want to happen. I want to piss you off with a shirt that offends you, I want to make you laugh with a shirt that appeals to your sense of humor (supposing you have one), and I want you to buy a shirt that you relate to. That is my agenda. So, to that end, I am willing to use my creative talents to supply a variety of T-Shirt options to people who might not have the creative talents, time, motivation, or T-Shirt company to do it themsleves.
So, that said, go to www.TshirtTrauma.com, check us out, and buy a damn T-Shirt already. That Hollister shirt makes you look like a spoiled little bitch anyway, and if that's what you want to look like, well, we've got a shirt that says that too.
