1890s

It wasn’t until it was adopted by American workers that it was realised what a flexible item the T shirt was and was named after its styling, namely a T with a head opening. Mass production of the T shirt was simple, as the hosiery machines of the day could easily be adapted to knit wider tubes of material - which are still being produced and evident in most modern factories today.

1950s

Around the late '50s in the US an idea came about directly from the relationship with sandwich board advertising, in that you could easily and cheaply get your message across as a way of advertising on a tee, and so the garment decoration business began.

1960s

In Florida people started decorating fanciful designs and, like a fire in the wind, it gathered apace at a speed that was unseen in the modern world. Soon there were companies from all across the globe using these items as hoardings and gaining much market advantage over their competitors. The T-shirt became a message medium – allowing people to express themselves and their personalities. Icon images soon adorned T shirts – for example, Che Guevara was the first person to be shown on a tee in the early '60s

1970s

Printing companies sprang up everywhere using the same method the Chinese invented over 2,000 years ago and soon the modern screen printing methods were born with solvent based inks and modern polyester meshes. Since then the garment decoration has been made into one of man’s finest arts creating style and art with modern techniques of embroidery, print CAD, transfer, foil, rhinestones etc.

The art of the T Shirt is in the humble T shirt itself, a selfless item of clothing unique yet simple.

And so the journey continues . . .

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