T-shirt

A woman wearing a pink V-neck T-shirt

A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generally made of stretchy, light, and inexpensive fabric and are easy to clean. The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century and, in the mid-20th century, transitioned from undergarments to general-use casual clothing.

They are typically made of cotton textile in a stockinette or jersey knit, which has a distinctively pliable texture compared to shirts made of woven cloth. Some modern versions have a body made from a continuously knitted tube, produced on a circular knitting machine, such that the torso has no side seams. The manufacture of T-shirts has become highly automated and may include cutting fabric with a laser or a water jet.

T-shirts are inexpensive to produce and are often part of fast fashion, leading to outsized sales of T-shirts compared to other attire.[1] For example, two billion T-shirts are sold worldwide per year,[2] and the average person in Sweden buys nine T-shirts a year.[3] Production processes vary but can be environmentally intensive and include the environmental impact caused by their materials, such as cotton, which uses a lot of water and pesticides.[4][2][5]

  1. ^ "A Breakdown of the Environmental Impact of a Cotton T-Shirt – Treefy". Archived from the original on 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  2. ^ a b Wallander, Mattias (2012-09-02). "T-Shirt Blues: The Environmental Impact of a T-Shirt". HuffPost. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  3. ^ Hurst, Nathan. "What's the Environmental Footprint of a T-Shirt?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  4. ^ Hurst, Nathan. "What's the Environmental Footprint of a T-Shirt?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  5. ^ "A Breakdown of the Environmental Impact of a Cotton T-Shirt – Treefy". Archived from the original on 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2021-02-27.