The T-shirt (or tee shirt or tee) originally evolved from the one-piece undergarments worn in the 19th century through cutting it into seperate top and bottom garments. The top was made long enough to tuck into the waitband of the bottoms and these T-shirts with and without buttons were adopted by miners and dock workers during the late 1800's as a convenient covering for hot environments.

In the U.S., the T-shirt as we know of it today, became popular when it was issued by the U.S. Navy during and following the Spanish American War as an undershirt for their uniforms. It soon became common for sailors to remove their uniform jacket and wear only the under shirt keeping the dressier parts of their uniform clean.

Named the T-shirt due to their shape, they soon became popular as a bottom layer of clothing for workers in various industries. The T-shirt was easily fitted, easily cleaned, and inexpensive, and for this reason, it became the shirt of choice for young boys (perhaps more the choice of their mothers than of the boys themselves). Boy's shirts were made in various colors and patterns.

By the time of 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.

Following World War II it became common to see veterans wearing their uniform trousers with their T-shirts as casual clothing. They became even more popular after Marlon Brando wore one in A Streetcar Named Desire, and later, James Dean in A Rebel Without a Cause, finally achieving status as fashionable, stand-alone, outer-wear garments.

In the years since, T-shirts have also become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and even photographs on display. One of our favorite ways to use custom t-shirts is to show our appreciation and love for a television show, movie, musician or other pop-culture reference. 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.

Whee! Design, in partnership with CafePress, has been allowed to produce fan merchandise for a variety of TV show, movies and musicians. Licensed designs for Twilight, LOST, Grey's Anatomy and Dexter, to name a few, have become increasinging popluar.

At Whee! Shirt, we will show off our Whee! Design t-shirts as well as some favorite, fun designs by other artists. We will also try to give you some interesting information about the shows, movies and music we make t-shirts for.

What's Your Whee!?