By John Medina, Staff Writer
Since the turn of the 20th century, the common T-shirt has maintained its status as a symbol in both fashion and larger pop culture as a whole. From its origins as undergarments for navy soldiers during the Spanish-American War to its current usage by millions every day, the T-shirt has become a mainstay in cultures around the world. Of course, people have been painting on their garments for thousands of years, but technologies for mass production of graphics are more recent developments.
According to Heddels.com, “Graphic tees as we know them today became possible with the combination of screen printing and Plastisol Ink in 1959,” an innovation that opened the gates for mass production of graphic T-shirts. The decision of what ends up on a shirt lands solely on the person who is screen printing the design and the canvas of a blank T-shirt leaves possibilities virtually endless: graphics ranging from band merch, political messages, crude brand parodies, bootlegs, and even cults? A T-shirt is a deceptively innocent medium of art, resulting in some of the most mind boggling pieces of clothing ever made.
What Exactly are “Weird Shirts?”
Do you ever walk past someone and have to do a double take to check what’s on their shirt to make sure you really saw what was on it? I personally love weird shirts like those and, since the pandemic, I’ve been going to thrift stores more and more – primarily as a pastime but also as a way to find cool clothes for cheap. Throughout my thrifting adventures, there has been a pattern of T-Shirts that are, putting it plainly, just odd. But what makes a shirt weird? Isn’t that subjective?
I would define them as a shirt that appears absurd or silly at surface level that may be made to promote a business, band, or made as a joke. Though, oftentimes, the weirdest of the bunch seem to lack a clear meaning entirely. So, what do people see in these clothes that, in any other case, would end up at the bottom of a land fill? And finally, who is making these?
The Spectrum of “Weird Shirts”
Gag T-Shirts are among the most common forms of “weird shirts.” Usually featuring a short quip or joke, these silly shirts have proliferated in flea markets, mall kiosks, and thrift stores around the world. On the surface, the garments are a bit plain: just a shirt with some text on it, big whoop. While they might not seem like much, these shirts are actually what inspired this article.
You may have seen some such shirts on images that have flooded various social media platforms and online text forums featuring people from different countries donning shirts that are wildly inappropriate. One can only assume that the shirts are either poorly translated or purposefully crude and that the people photographed are likely blissfully unaware of what they’re wearing. This pattern does not exclude English speaking countries either, as modern streetwear brands often make use of Sinitic characters (like those used in Mandarin or Japanese languages) or Arabic text without doing the proper research.
So, next time you step outside with an up and coming streetwear brand, make sure you run it through a translator so you aren’t walking around with “turkey sandwich” pasted on your chest. Additionally, when discussing photos like these, there is an undeniable larger conversation that needs to be had about clothing waste and the fact that some people rely on second hand clothing no matter how silly the shirt’s text may be – but hey man, I just wanna talk about some odd shirts.
Weird shirts come in a wide spectrum, not just silly joke shirts – so, what happens when a shirt graphic gets dark? First, let me catch you up to speed on the Heaven’s Gate movement, formed by Marshall Applewhite (the man featured on the shirt below).
Heaven’s Gate was a group that boasted hundreds of members at its peak, now remaining infamous for its bleak end. The group believed that, through rejection of their human form, they would be raised into an alien shuttle to ascend to what they called the “next level.” In 1997, the Hale-Bopp comet was projected to make its closest approach to earth, and Applewhite asserted that this was the UFO that would ascend members into a higher plane of being. He would often host video broadcasts that would be put onto the cults website and, on March 26, 1997 this message was uploaded: “Hale–Bopp brings closure to Heaven’s Gate …our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally coming to conclusion – ‘graduation’ from the Human Evolutionary Level. We are happily prepared to leave ‘this world’ and go with Ti’s crew.”
On the same day, San Diego police would find 39 members, including Applewhite, dead in a mass suicide. With this information in mind, this topic seems madly inappropriate to commemorate, let alone have a shirt based on it. Nevertheless, shirts like this have made their rounds online and often sell for hundreds of dollars. The shirt displayed makes use of a screencap of Applewhite from one of his video broadcasts edited to a green overlay with the text “follow me.” The tee has lived rent free in my mind since I first saw it as an eerie reminder of this tragic event.
Should I feel bad for wanting this shirt? Humans have a weird relation to tragedy; what some may see as a grueling tragedy may be someone else’s way to cash in. People are naturally intrigued by disturbing things and events like these act as bookmarks in a sort of “morbid” history. Clothing from the Titanic being sold is a great example of the odd fascination with clothing linked to tragedy – many of the pieces sold at auctions for thousands of dollars.
Hell, shirts referencing Heavens Gate aren’t even the only piece of apparel tied to the mass suicide. Every member of the Heavens Gate cult was recovered wearing pairs of the Nike Decade in a black and white colorway and, while Nike swiftly discontinued the shoe after news broke, they are still sold online with jacked up prices due to their association to the tragedy. So if you ask me, the answer to my question is “no.” No one should necessarily feel bad for wanting a shirt like this. Every piece of clothing has a story, it just so happens that some stories may be darker than others.
Examples in the Rap Scene
I want to make it clear that rap is the genre I primarily listen to – while other genres like rock and metal have a rich history of rebellious fashion, merch, and iconography that would fit perfectly into an article like this, I don’t know enough to speak on those genres in an informational manner, so I’ll be sticking to pieces associated with the rap scene.
One major player in popularizing “weird shirts” in rap is Playboi Carti. He’s one of the newer rising faces in rap, making waves online with the releases of songs like “broke boi” and “wokeuplikethis” and quickly becoming renowned for his adoption of high fashion brands. In short, he’s a trend setter in the modern rap scene.
In 2017, the cover of Carti’s self-titled mixtape (the first official release of his career) was released featuring a candid photo of the artist wearing a shirt with straight jacket clasps, a Nazi swastika overlaid with an inverted image of Jesus Christ, and the text “DESTROY.” The shirt was made by fashion designer and icon Vivian Westwood, who began as the merch designer for The Sex Pistols and went on to make a name for herself as a pioneer of rebellious fashion and jewelry. The shirt has garnered attention from critics for its controversial imagery, though Vivian justifies the use of the graphics as they were designed to stand against dictatorship and government corruption in the United Kingdom. As it stands today, the shirt will be immortalized as a historic piece of revolutionary fashion as well as the cover of a Soundcloud-era classic album.
Another controversial name in modern rap, Kanye West, is known to release clothing alongside the release of his albums that often falls under the category of “weird shirts.” Whether it be through drops from his fashion line Yeezy or dedicated album merch, fans can count on getting clothes with unique graphics and innovative designs. In 2019, Kanye diverged from mainstream expectations and released his Christian gospel rap album Jesus Is King, to generally mixed reviews. The merch, on the other hand, was dragged across the mud by the internet upon unveiling.
Designs for the line overall appear crude, quickly thrown together, and deep fried. In collaboration with the streetwear brand Cactus Plant Flea Market, Kanye released a variety of shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies with two oval graphics plastered in the middle, like the yellow hoodie pictured above. I’m not here to argue whether Kanye is a genius or out of his mind for these designs, but they definitely look like they were pulled straight out of Microsoft Paint. I’m honestly just kind of shocked how they were greenlit and released to the public.
Not to mention that prices for this drop range from an absurd $60 to $240, with the yellow hoodie costing the latter. And yes, the design looks just as jarring in real life as it does in the product photo.
Weird Shirts from My Own Collection
Before closing out, I would like to flex on y’all and show off some of my favorite weird T-shirts that I have found throughout the years.
This past October, I attended Totally Rad Vintage Fest, a touring convention filled to the brim with second hand clothing and other nostalgic goodies. The event was an absolute blast and this was the second concurrent year I was able to go. One of the vendors I came across was a small brand named “I Survived Earth,” a brand I would call “very online;” it’s truly a product of the internet with graphics that are drenched in layers of irony and absurdity.
After browsing, I eventually picked up this “aura cleanse” T-shirt (pictured above). I feel like I am in need of my own “aura cleanse” once in a while and I thought the dog looked silly, so I had to get it! When I got the chance to chat with Rayne, the screenprinter behind “I Survived Earth,” I asked whose dog was on the shirt, expecting it might be a friend’s or her own, but she just said she found it on Google. Honestly, that fits the random nature of this shirt.
Now, let’s get a little nostalgic! If you grew up in America, you’re probably aware of the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS). The non-profit television station has captured the hearts of children and adults alike through their informative and educational programming, documentaries, and children’s programming. I would watch the program throughout much of my formative years and I really enjoyed shows like Arthur and Syd the Science Kid for their relatable and down to earth stories with positive and educational messages. So imagine my simultaneous shock and hype when I found this at Greater Goods, a pay by the pound thrift store that recently opened here in Knoxville.
The shirt above features the PBS logo with “LSD” below it in bold letters. By checking the shirt’s tag, I have been able to deduce that this shirt was made by the online brand Feels So Good, a streetwear brand that revels in absurdity with a plethora of funny shirt designs on their website. Drug tees are nothing new in the world of weird shirts, with many following this same format: widely recognizable brands or companies underlined with illicit substances. It’s important to elaborate that I do not condone or encourage the use of illegal drugs, but as a person with a lot of nostalgia for PBS and an enjoyer of weird shirts, this is one of the best finds I’ve ever come across.
Finally, I present to you my one of my favorite shirts, a personal prized possession of mine and the reason I keep going on: Battlecock.
Conclusion
What do people see in these shirts? And why do some of these run up to hundreds of dollars? While I hope I’ve been able to answer the first question, I’m not able to answer the latter, as God only knows why sellers choose the prices that they do.
In a world that is often weird and confusing, the energy is bound to manifest in a multitude of different ways, whether it be a political message, nonsensical gibberish, or a dumb joke. It just so happens that T-shirts offer an open canvas to anyone who is willing to screenprint. Shirts similar to these seem to be abundant in thrift stores and while most would skip or overlook them, I hope I was able to feature some shirts you find interesting and that you may not have known about; or maybe you just think they’re dumb. But hey, isn’t that like half the point?
