As early as 1913, the US Navy adopted a crew-necked, short-sleeved, white cotton undershirt as issue to be worn under a jumper. Legend has it that it was introduced to cover sailors' chest hairs! It wasn't until the late 1930s that companies, including Fruit of the Loom, started to market the T shirt in earnest.

Originally, or course, the T shirt was not meant to be seen. And the T shirt industry suffered a setback when, in 1934, Clark Gable stripped off his dress shirt in the movie "It Happened One Night," to reveal no T shirt at all. Women swooned, although fortunately for the T shirt industry, the garment remained an item to be worn under a dress shirt, or work shirt. Later, stars such as Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire), James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause) and a young Elvis Presley made the T sexy.

The first printed T shirts appeared in the Second World War. The Smithsonian Institute displays the oldest printed shirt on record, emblazoned with the phrase "Dew-It with Dewey" from New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey's 1948 presidential campaign. Nonetheless, T shirts were still meant for men until marketing gurus including Walt Disney began to "flock" letters and simple (often peelable) designs onto T shirts to be sold as souvenirs. Then came the '60s, when hippies abandoned traditional dress for tie-dye. T shirts became one of the easiest, and cheapest, forms of clothing to buy and dye. And a whole industry was born. It is now reckoned that more than two billion T shirts are sold worldwide each year.

Now that has to be good news in these straightened times!

Have a good month.

deales@datateam.co.uk

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