A Birthday we can ALL celebrate!

[Grumpy Ole Artist]

If there is already a thread for this, I apologize, but I saw on the tube over the weekend that this year marks the centennial of the great American T-shirt! Earliest domestic reference found was the US navy adding tees to standard equipment issue in 1913! What I want to know is, who was the first to screenprint a tee, and what did it say? Info lost to antiquity, I am sure, but can't help wondering !

[mk162]

I have found a couple different claims to be the first printed tee.  The first claim is a Wizard of Oz promo shirt, that one I am a little skeptical of since the Smithsonian has the first printed shirt as a campaign shirt from 1948 for the Dew-it with-Dewey campaign.

The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939(if my memory serves me correct), a full 9 years before the Dewey campaign.  I don't think the Smithsonian would be off by that much.

[kingscreen]

Most claim that the Wizard of Oz promotional tee from 1939 was the first. Life Magazine July 13th, 1942 featured a printed Air Corps Gunnery School t-shirt which was likely the first wide exposure for printed t-shirts.

[mk162]

well it sounds like the smithsonian has it wrong then, or people are mis-representing what they have.

That Life magazine cover clearly predates the 1948 presidential campaign.