T-shirt
American Heritage Dictionary:
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T-shirt
also tee shirt (tē'shûrt')
n.
n.
- A short-sleeved, collarless undershirt.
- An outer shirt of a design similar to the T-shirt.
[Perhaps from its being shaped like the letter T when spread out.]
Gale's How Products Are Made:
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How is a t-shirt made?
Background
T-shirts are durable, versatile garments with mass appeal that may be worn as outerwear or underwear. Since their creation in 1920, T-shirts have evolved into a two-billion dollar market. T-shirts are available in a variety of colors, patterns, and styles, such as the standard crew neck and V-neck, as well as tank tops and scoop necks. T-shirt sleeves may be short or long, capped, yoked, or raglan. Additional features include pockets and decorative trim. T-shirts are also popular garments on which to display one's interests, tastes, and affiliations using customized screen prints or heat transfers. Printed shirts may feature political slogans, humor, art, sports, as well as famous people and places. T-shirts are also inexpensive promotional vehicles for products and special events.
T-shirts fit just about anyone in any size, from infants to seniors. Adult sizes are generally small, medium, large, and extra-large, while sizes for toddlers are detennined by month and weight. In addition, to compensate for the larger heads of infants relative to their bodies, shirts are specially designed with shoulder openings that may be fastened with buttons or snaps.
Raw Materials
The majority of T-shirts are made of 100% cotton, polyester, or a cotton/polyester blend. Environmentally conscious manufacturers may use organically grown cotton and natural dyes. Stretchable T-shirts are made of knit fabrics, especially jerseys, rib knits, and interlock rib knits, which consist of two ribbed fabrics that are joined together. Jerseys are most frequently used since they are versatile, comfortable, and relatively inexpensive. They also are a popular material for applying screen prints and heat transfers. Some jerseys come in tubular form, simplifying the production process by reducing the number of seams. Rib knit fabrics are often used when a snugger fit is desired. Many higher quality T-shirts are made of durable interlock rib knit fabrics.
Neckbands add support to the garment and give the neckline of the T-shirt a more finished look. Neckbands are generally one-by-one inch rib knits, although heavier fabrics or higher quality T-shirts may require two-by-two rib knits. Neckband fabrics may be tubed rib knits of specific widths, or flat fabric that must be seamed. Additional T-shirt materials include tape or seam binding, made of a twill or another stiff fabric. Binding reinforces the neckline and shoulder seams and by covering the seams, it protects them from ripping apart under tension. Alternatively, elastic may be used at the shoulder seams so they remain flexible.
Thread is of course an essential element in sewing any garment. Several types and colors of thread may be used to make a single T-shirt. Some manufacturers use white thread for seams on all their shirts, regardless of color, thus eliminating the extra labor involved in changing the thread. Visible topstitching is done with a color of thread that blends with the fabric. Colorless, or monofilament, thread could be used for hems of any color fabric, again eliminating the need to change thread often, though monofilament thread may irritate the skin somewhat. Finally, optional decorative features may include trim, such as braiding, contrasting cuffs, appliqués, and heat transfer or screen print designs.
The Manufacturing
Process
Making T-shirts is a fairly simple and largely automated process. Specially designed machines integrate cutting, assembling, and stitching for the most efficient operations. The most commonly used seams for T-shirts are narrow, superimposed seams, which are usually made by placing one piece of fabric onto another and lining up the seam edges. These seams are frequently stitched with an overedge stitch, which requires one needle thread from above and two looper threads from below. This particular seam and stitch combination results in a flexible finished seam.
Another type of seam that may be used for T-shirts are bound seams, in which a narrow piece of fabric is folded around a seam, as at the neckline. These seams may be stitched together using a lockstitch, chainstitch, or overedge stitch. Depending on the style of the T-shirt, the order in which the garment is assembled may vary slightly.
Styling
- The T-shirt style is designed and the dimensions are transferred to patterns. Adjustments are made for size differences and stylistic preferences.
Cutting
- The T-shirt sections are cut to the dimensions of the patterns. The pieces consist of a tubed body, or separate front and back sections, sleeves, perhaps pockets, and trim.
Assembling the front and back
- For fabric that is not tubed, the separate pieces for the front and back sections must be stitched together at the sides. They are joined at the seam lines to form a simple, narrow, superimposed seam and stitched together using an overedge stitch. Care must be taken to avoid a needle cutting the yarn of the fabric, which can lead to tears in the garment.
Assembling the sleeves
- The hems of sleeves are generally finished before they are fitted into the garment, since it is easier to hem the fabric while it is flat. An automated system moves the sleeves to the sewing head by conveyor. The edge may be finished by folding it over, forming the hem and stitching, or by applying a band. The band may be attached as a superimposed seam or folded over the edge as binding.
- If the T-shirt body is tubular, the sleeve material is first sewn together, and then set into the garment. Alternatively, if the T-shirt is "cut and sewn," the unseamed sleeve is set into place. Later during the final stage of sewing the shirt, the sleeve and side seams are sewn in one action.
Stitching the hem
- The garment hem is commonly sewn with an overedge stitch, resulting in a flexible hem. The tension of the stitch should be loose enough to allow stretching the garment without tearing the fabric. Alternative hem styles include a combination of edge finishing stitches.
Adding pockets
- Pockets may be sewn onto T-shirts intended for casual wear. Higher quality T-shirts will insert an interlining into the pocket so that it maintains its shape. The interlining is inserted into the pocket as it is sewn onto the T-shirt front. Pockets may be attached to the garment with automated setters, so the operator only has to arrange the fabric pieces, and the mechanical setter positions the pocket and stitches the seam.
Stitching the shoulder seams
- Generally, shoulder seams require a simple superimposed seam. Higher quality T-shirt manufacturers may reinforce seams with tape or elastic. Depending on the style of the T-shirt, the seams at the shoulder may be completed before or after the neckband is attached. For instance, if a tubular neckband is to be applied, the shoulder seams must first be closed.
Attaching the neckband
- For crew neck shirts, the neck edge should be slightly shorter in circumference than the outer edge where it is attached to the garment. Thus, the neckband must be stretched just the right amount to prevent bulging. Tubular neckbands are applied manually. The bands are folded, wrong sides together, stretched slightly, and aligned with the neckline. The superimposed seam is stitched with an overedge stitch.
Bound seams are finished with a cover stitch and are easy to achieve. Bound seams may be used on a variety of neckline styles. The process entails feeding ribbed fabric through machines which fold the fabric and apply tension to it.
Some neckbands on lower-priced shirts are attached separately to the front and back necklines of the garment. Thus when the shoulder seams are stitched, seams are visible on the neckband.
V-necks require the extra step of either lapping or mitering the neckband. In the former process, one side is folded over the other. A mitered seam is more complex, requiring an operator to overlap the band accurately and stitch the band at center front. An easier method for a V-neck look is to attach the band to the neckline and then sew a tuck to form a V.
Finishing the neckline
- Necklines with superimposed seams may be taped, so that the shirt is stronger and more comfortable. Tape may be extended across the back and over the shoulder seams to reinforce this area as well and to flatten the seam. The seam is then cover stitched or top stitched.
Label setting
- One or more labels are usually attached at the back of the neckline. Labels provide information about the manufacturer, size, fabric content, and washing instructions.
Optional features
- Some T-shirts will have trim or screen prints added for decorative purposes. Special T-shirts for infants have larger openings at the head. The shoulder seams are left open near the neck, and buttons or other fasteners are attached.
Finishing operations
- T-shirts are inspected for flaws in the fabric, stitching, and thread.
- High-quality T-shirts may be pressed through steam tunnels before they are packaged. Packaging depends on the type of T-shirt and the intended distribution outlet. For underwear, the shirts are folded and packaged in pre-printed bags, usually of clear plastic, that list information about the product. Shirts may be boarded, or folded around a piece of cardboard, so that they maintain their shape during shipping and on the shelf. Finally, they are placed into boxes by the dozen or half-dozen.
Quality Control
Most of the operations in manufacturing clothing are regulated by federal and inter-national guidelines. Manufacturers may also set guidelines for the company. There are standards that apply specifically to the T-shirt industry, which include proper sizing and fit, appropriate needles and seams, types of stitches, and the number of stitches per inch. Stitches must be loose enough to allow the garment to stretch without breaking the seam. Hems must be flat and wide enough to prevent curling. T-shirts must also be inspected for proper application of neck-lines, which should rest flat against the body. The neckline should also recover properly after being slightly stretched.
The Future
Exposure to sun's harmful rays has become a concern to many people who enjoy outdoor activities. In addition to sunscreen and sun glasses, sun-blocking T-shirts are now available. Founded by Harvey Schakowsky, SPF Wear company has introduced a line of clothing, including T-shirts, that blocks out 93-99% of ultraviolet rays. A typical T-shirt blocks out only 50% of the rays. Using a fabric called Solarweave, these new T-shirts are made out of synthetically woven nylon treated with a special chemical substance.
Where To Learn More
Books
Carr, H. and B. Latham. Technology of Clothing Manufacture. Oxford BSP Professional Books, 1988.
Glock, Ruth E. and Grace I. Kunz. Apparel Manufacturing: Sewn Product Analysis. Macmillan, 1990.
Solinger, J. Apparel Manufacturing Handbook. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980.
Periodicals
Callahan, Peter. "Sunday Best: Protective Wear for Your Day in the Sun." Omni, October 1992, p. 35.
Kopkind, Andrew. "From A to Tee." Harper's Bazaar, July 1993, pp. 34-36.
[Article by: Audra Avizienis]
Houghton Mifflin Word Origins:
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T-shirt
Origin: 1919
The walking advertisement of late twentieth-century American culture got its start as a humble item of men's underwear and got its name because when spread flat it formed a stubby letter T. Its little sleeves and round collar distinguished the T-shirt from the standard sleeveless undershirt of the day. The sleeves may also have helped bring the T-shirt out of hiding in the 1930s and 1940s, since they offered a gesture toward modesty as well as a cache for a pack of cigarettes.
Once they were on view, T-shirts became canvasses for images and messages. In addition to basic white, they soon came in all shades; and equally important, they displayed first the emblems of schools and teams, and then every design or slogan imaginable. Today a public event is hardly complete without its accompanying T-shirt. Cold weather doesn't slow us down; we just cover the T-shirt with a sweatshirt, a 1925 American invention.
Though it must have been around at least a year earlier (hence our 1919 date), we first read of the T-shirt in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920 This Side of Paradise. In the novel, a wealthy, self-absorbed 15-year-old boy from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, heads off to prep school in Connecticut with a wardrobe including "six suits summer underwear, six suits winter underwear, one sweater or T shirt, one jersey...." Exciting words of the Roaring Twenties--Flapper (1915), sheik, cat's pajamas--have faded into history, but the two informal garments we began to wear in those times, the T-shirt and the sweatshirt, hang in our vocabulary more prominently than ever.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'T-shirt'
- Shirts and Tops - T-shirt: collarless, short-sleeved, cotton-knit casual shirt
- Men’s Underwear - T-shirt: collarless, short-sleeved, cotton-knit undershirt
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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T-shirt
For the Shontelle song, see T-Shirt (song).
A T-shirt (T shirt or tee) is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, usually with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line.
T-shirts are typically made of cotton fibers (sometimes others), knitted together in a jersey stitch that gives a T-shirt its distinctive soft texture. T-shirts can be decorated with text and/or pictures, and they are often used to advertise (see human billboard), promoting products, companies, films and websites.
T-shirt fashions include many styles for both men and women, and for all age groups, including baby, youth, teen, adult and elderly sizes.
The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century, through cutting the one-piece "union suit" underwear into separate top and bottom garments, with the top long enough to tuck under the waistband of the bottoms. T-shirts, with and without buttons, were adopted by miners and stevedores during the late 19th century as a convenient covering for hot environments.
T-shirts, as a slip-on garment without buttons, originally became popular in the United States when they were issued by the U.S. Navy during or following the Spanish American War. These were a crew-necked, short-sleeved, white cotton undershirt to be worn under a uniform. It became common for sailors and Marines in work parties, the early submarines, and tropical climates to remove their uniform "jacket", wearing (and soiling) only the undershirt.[1]
Named the T-shirt due to the shape of the garment's outline, it soon became popular as a bottom layer of clothing for workers in various industries, including agriculture. The T-shirt was easily fitted, easily cleaned, and inexpensive, and for this reason it became the shirt of choice for young boys. Boys' shirts were made in various colors and patterns. By the Great Depression, the T-shirt was often the default garment to be worn when doing farm or ranch chores, as well as other times when modesty called for a torso covering but conditions called for lightweight fabrics.[1]
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World War II
Following World War II, it became common to see veterans wearing their uniform trousers with their T-shirts as casual clothing, and they became even more popular in the 1950s after Marlon Brando wore one in A Streetcar Named Desire, finally achieving status as fashionable, stand-alone, outer-wear garments.[2]
In the mid-1980s, the white T-shirt became fashionable after the actor Don Johnson wore it with an Armani suit in Miami Vice.[1]
They can also be used to carry commercial advertising, souvenir messages and protest art messages. Beginning in the late 1960s, the T-shirt became a medium for wearable art. Psychedelic art poster designer Warren Dayton pioneered several political, protest, and pop-culture art T-shirts featuring images of Cesar Chavez, political cartoons, and other cultural icons in an article in the Los Angeles Times magazine in late 1969.
Today, many notable and memorable T-shirts produced in the 1970s have now become ensconced in pop culture. Examples include the bright yellow happy face T-shirts, The Rolling Stones tops with their "tongue and lips"[3] logo, and Milton Glaser's iconic "I ♥ N Y” design.
Trends
T-shirts were originally worn as undershirts. Now T-shirts are worn frequently as the only piece of clothing on the top half of the body, other than possibly a bra or an undershirt (vest). T-shirts have also become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art, and even photographs on display.[4]
A T-shirt typically extends to the waist. Variants of the T-shirt, like the tank top, crew neck, A-shirt (with the nickname "wife beater"), muscle shirt, scoop neck, and V-neck have been developed. Hip hop fashion calls for "tall-T" T-shirts which may extend down to the knees. A 1990s trend in women's clothing involved tight-fitting "cropped" T-shirts short enough to reveal the midriff. Another popular trend is wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt of a contrasting color over a long-sleeved T-shirt. This is known as "layering". T-shirts that are tight to the body are called fitted, tailored or "baby doll" t-shirts.
Decoration
In the early 1950s several companies based in Miami, Florida, started to decorate T-shirts with different resort names and various characters. The first company was Tropix Togs, under founder Sam Kantor, in Miami. They were the original license for Walt Disney characters that included Mickey Mouse and Davy Crockett. Later, other companies expanded into the T-shirt printing business, including Sherry Manufacturing Company, also based in Miami. Sherry started in 1948 by its owner and founder Quinton Sandler as a screen print scarf business and evolved into one of the largest screen printed resort and licensed apparel companies in the United States.
In 1959, plastisol, a more durable and stretchable ink, was invented, allowing much more variety in T-shirt designs.
In the 1960s, the ringer T-shirt appeared and became a staple fashion for youth and rock-n-rollers. The decade also saw the emergence of tie-dyeing and screen-printing on the basic T-shirt. In the late 1960s Richard Ellman, Robert Tree, Bill Kelly, and Stanley Mouse set up the Monster Company in Mill Valley, California, to produce fine art designs expressly for T-shirts. Monster T-shirts often feature emblems and motifs associated with the Grateful Dead and marijuana culture.[5] Additionally, one of the most popular symbols to emerge out of the political turmoil of 1960s were T-shirts bearing the face of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.[6]
Screen printing
The most common form of commercial T-shirt decoration is screen-printing. In screen-printing, a design is separated into individual colors. Plastisol or water based inks are applied to the shirt through mesh screens which limits the areas where ink is deposited. In most commercial T-shirt printing, the specific colors in the design are used. To achieve a wider color spectrum with a limited number of colors, process printing (using only cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink) or simulated process (using only white, black, red, green, blue, and gold ink) is effective. Process printing is best suited for light colored shirts. Simulated process is best suited for dark colored shirts. Very few companies continue to use water-based inks on their shirts. The majority of other companies that create shirts prefer to use plastisol due to the ability to print on varying colors without the need for color adjustment at the art level.
Specialty inks trend in and out of fashion and include shimmer, puff, discharge, and chino based inks. A metallic foil can be heat pressed and stamped onto any plastisol ink. When combined with shimmer ink, metallics give a mirror like effect wherever the previously screened plastisol ink was applied. Specialty inks are more expensive to purchase as well as screen and tend to appear on garments in boutiques.
Other methods of decoration used on T-shirts include airbrush, applique, embroidery, impressing or embossing, and the ironing on of either flock lettering, heat transfers, or dye-sublimation transfers. Laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special toner containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat-transferred to T-shirts.
In the 1980s, thermochromatic dyes were used to produce T-shirts that changed color when subjected to heat. The Global Hypercolour brand of these was a common sight on the streets of the UK for a few years, but has since mostly disappeared. These were also very popular in the United States among teenagers in the late 1980s. A downside of color-change garments is that the dyes can easily be damaged, especially by washing in warm water, or dye other clothes during washing.
At the turn of the 21st century, designing custom T-shirts online became more popular. Popular websites began to use digital printing (such as Direct to Garment or DTG printing) to allow customers to design their own T-shirts online with no minimum orders.[citation needed]
Expressive messages
Since the 1980s, T-shirts have flourished as a form of personal expression.[4]
Screen printed T-shirts have been a standard form of marketing for major consumer products, such as Coca-Cola and Mickey Mouse, since the 1970s. However, since the 1990s, it has become common practice for companies of all sizes to produce T-shirts with their corporate logos or messages as part of their overall advertising campaigns. Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent designer-name logos have become popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. These garments allow consumers to flaunt their taste for designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative. Examples of designer T-shirt branding include Calvin Klein, FUBU, Ralph Lauren and The Gap. These examples also include representations of rock bands, among other obscure pop-culture references. Licensed T-shirts are also extremely popular. Movie and TV T-shirts can have images of the actors, logos, and funny quotes from the movie or TV show. Often, the most popular T-shirts are those that characters wore in the film itself (e.g., Bubba Gump from Forrest Gump and Vote For Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite). Designer Katharine Hamnett, in the early 1980s, pioneered outsize T-shirts with large-print slogans. The early first decade of the 21st century saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic. The trend has only increased later in this decade, embraced by celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and reflected back on them, too ('Team Aniston').[citation needed] The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the first decade of the 21st century, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society.[citation needed] The statements also may be found to be offensive, shocking, or pornographic to some. Many different organizations have caught on to the statement-making trend, including chain and independent stores, websites, and schools. A popular phrase on the front of T-shirts demonstrating T-shirts' popularity among tourists is the humorous phrase "I did _____ and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Examples include "My parents went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." T-shirt exchange is an activity where people trade their T-shirts they are wearing.
Artists like Bill Beckley, Glen Baldridge and Peter Klashorst use T-shirts for their artistic expression.
World record
The current holder of the Guinness World Record for "Most T-shirts Worn at Once" with 257 T-shirts is Sanath Bandara[7]. The record was set in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on December 22, 2011. The record was attempted on stage in front of a crowd of people in a public park in Colombo. Bandara surpassed previous record-holder Hwang Kwanghee from South Korea, who had held the record at 252 shirts.
See also
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Look up t-shirt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: T-shirts |
- Concert T-shirt
- Football kit
- Inkjet transfer
- Long-sleeved T-shirt
- Polo shirt
- Printed T-shirt
- Protest art
- Raglan sleeve
- Replica
- Wet T-shirt contest
References
- ^ a b c Harris, Alice. The White T. HarperCollins, 1996.
- ^ "A Streetcar Named Desire - AMC filmsite". Filmsite.org. 1947-12-03. http://www.filmsite.org/stre.html. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ File:The Rolling Stones Tongue Logo.png
- ^ a b Sally Larsen with Neeli Cherkovski, Japlish, Pomegranate Art Books, San Francisco, 1993, ISBN 1-56640-454-1
- ^ Monster T-SHIRT ART, Monster Corporation catalog #3, Mill Valley 1974
- ^ The Most Famous Statement T-Shirts by SoJones Asmara, September 10, 2009
- ^ "Guiness World Records". http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-3000/most-t-shirts-worn-at-once/. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
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Translations:
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T-shirt
Français (French)
n. - T-shirt
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κοντομάνικο φανελάκι ή μπλουζάκι
Português (Portuguese)
n. - camiseta (f), camisa (f) de malha com mangas curtas e sem colarinho
Русский (Russian)
Т-образная майка, футболка
Español (Spanish)
n. - camiseta
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - T-shirt, T-tröja
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
短袖圆领汗衫, 短袖圆领运动衫
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 短袖圓領汗衫, 短袖圓領運動衫
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) قميص تائي - قميص قصير ألكمين
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - חולצת טריקו, חולצת T
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Gale's How Products Are Made
How Products are Made. Copyright © 2002 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Houghton Mifflin Word Origins
America in So Many Words, by David K.Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Random House Word Menu
© 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier.
Write Brothers Inc.
All rights reserved.
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Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article T-shirt.
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