The T-shirt started as an item of underwear - in the 19th Century the t-shirt was born when labourers in America cut their jumpsuits in half to cope with the summer heat. Although they were starting to be manufactured in1898, the T-shirt really made it in 1913 when it became standard issue in the US Navy's uniform
The T-shirt business boomed in the early decades of the 20th century. The P.H. Hanes Knitting Company began producing men’s underwear in 1901, while Fruit of the Loom began marketing T-shirts on a large scale in the 1910s. By the 1930s, T-shirts were standard issue for college sportsmen.
By the time that Hollywood’s rising method actors began donning white T-shirts to signal their character’s rebelliousness — Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951), Marlon Brando (above) in The Wild One (1953) and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) — the T-shirt officially entered the man’s wardrobe as a garment that could be worn on its own outside of the workplace.
During the 1960's, women started protesting for equal rights. Women before the 1960's were known as housewives and mothers and nothing but those two things. This aggravated many women and made them feel the need to reform this stereotype. The 1960's was the time to do this.
In the 1960's the phrase "Bra Burning" was well known. People say that very few women actually burned their bras, but many supported those actions. Women burned their bras because they felt that it proved a statement or made a stand for Women's Rights. Another reason they burned their bras was because it was a symbol that showed independence of men at the time. The women that didn't burn their bras often walked around wearing no bra at all. This was also meant to show independence of men.
This 1990's tommy hilfiger t-shirt was going for £22. Not bad huh.
Here are some instagram t-shirts with vintage t-shirt inspiration
