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August 4, 2005
T-shirts with a difference
T-shirts come in all the colours of the rainbow, and usually the more brash the statement on it, the bolder is the colour of the shirt, writes Sibtain Naqvi
‘Don’t hate me ‘cause I am beautiful’ and ‘I am with stupid’ are statements which under normal circumstances would be called offensive or at least very blatant, but put them on T-shirts and you come up with the latest trend in the casual wear: phrase T-shirts.Shirts with logos have been around for sometime and they are considered as the hallmark of casual wear and a cool look. But shirts with actual phrases are a relatively new phenomenon that has caught the fancy of consumers. Since we have warm weather most of the year, T-shirts are the preferred casual wear. The people who usually don these T-shirts are the brash younger generation, who are always ready to embrace something that is off the beaten track.
It is all about having an opinion and the audacity of expressing it. High school students, college graduates and young adults are the ones usually seen sporting a T-shirt, reflecting the opinion or personality of the wearer.
This trend started off when people who had brought these shirts from abroad, inspired their friends and associates here to wear them, too. Some bright people then got the idea of buying plain T-shirts and asking a local shirt maker to print their logo or phrase on it. Then the trend spread through word of mouth and some entrepreneurial souls recognized its lucrative potential and commercial production started.
The phrases can range from humorous and political to downright risqué. The phrases in the English language are, of course, ubiquitous but there has been a gradual tilt towards ethnic phrases as well. So, the T-shirts with phrases in the vein of Na Kar and Lahore Lahore Hai are quite the rage currently.
The casual ensemble of jeans and T-shirt has been around for eons and will always be an essential part of the fashion scene. So one assumes that T-shirts with phrases will stick around for a while.
They come in all the colours of the rainbow and usually the more brash the statement used, the bolder the colour of the shirt. At present only a few stores carry these shirts, but the way the trend is catching on the scenario is bound to change soon.
The prices are usually within reach of the young consumers (ranging from Rs300-500), which is hardly surprising keeping in mind the market segment they are directed at. There’s a phrase for everyone and something for the esoteric and mundane if they go looking for it.
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