Unfortunately, I was not able to be part of the workshop with artist Shelby Head last week. I was disappointed because I am always looking for ways to recycle clothes or accessories I no longer us and try hard to avoid the guilt of simply throwing them away. Nevertheless, for this post, I had the chance to think in depth about the role of the t-shirt, a garment which is usually underestimated for its simplicity and – in some cases – even considered banal and boring. While looking at the Fabric of Cultures website, an item in particular surprisingly caught my attention: a white, plain but classy t-shirt. This fact made me think about the role of t-shirts in my personal experience but also in modern society.

The T-shirt in general is considered a comfortable and practical piece of clothing for everyday life, usually perceived as too basic to be worn in a professional environment or an elegant occasion. But yet it is used in varied circumstances, showing adaptability among its hidden properties. It is often underestimated because it is cheap and easy to wear: it is ready-to-go, it does not need much embellishment and it fits different body types. It is a symbol of fashion equality, as everybody can afford and wear a t-shirt (i.e. let’s think of the t-shirt business in impoverished nations).

When I think about the t-shirt, I associated it with the idea of western culture and modernity: born at the beginning of the XX Century, this piece of clothing became a universal symbol of democratization that can be declined in many different ways, without losing its simplicity or becoming irreverent. It is linked to youth and spontaneity but it is also worn by people of different ages, cultures and social statuses.

If we follow Eco’s thinking, in his article Lumbar thought, that clothes are make us assuming a specific demeanor (Eco 316), we can conclude that t-shirts affect human beings the least: as they are comfortable and easy to wear, they do not lead us to think about what we are wearing and how we are perceived by society in that moment. However, if we are, we are associated with the idea of conformity and neutrality. If we think about someone who does not want to be noticed, we can picture them wearing a plain t-shirt.

Nonetheless I pushed myself to redefine my idea of t-shirts and in particular the white one. This is probably the article of clothing in my wardrobe that I consider least and yet it is the most important and has never been missing. Since I was a teenager and I started to make fashion choices for myself, I can remember having a white t-shirt. Whenever I am shopping for something to wear, I tend to go straight to the pile of the white t-shirts. It almost seems my subconscious pushes me to the piece that I know I will always wear whenever I feel challenged in my outfit decisions. A white basic shirt has all the potential I need: it is almost like an empty space I can fill with my imagination (i.e. jewelry, jacket, pants, shoes); I can play with it, reshape and redesign the surroundings of my own person, and once I am done, I can always go back and start from the beginning.

I like the idea of thinking that, instead of having only one piece in my wardrobe to rethink, I could use my white t-shirt to create something new every time. A white t-shirt that I can erase and modify and finally bring back to its original self.

This is the first segment of the video 

Second 

When we were told we had to take one article of clothing and turn it into something else, I was really stumped as to what we would do. Once we got started, my mind started working. You could honestly see the gears turning. I suggested we turn the shirt into a pair of shorts. The rest of the group agreed and the rest is history. We folded up the bottom of the shirt to make the pants shorter. We used hot glue to keep it in place. Krzysztof had the brilliant idea to put the sleeves in and convert them into pockets. That really made the shirt look like a true pair of shorts. We decided as a group to add some rips in the shorts to give it a Yeezy vibe. Along with some minor alterations to the shorts to make them fit better, the shorts were practically finished.

Our Professor, Eugenia Paulicelli, told us we would be having a lab, in which we would be taking a regular old T-Shirt and transforming this garment into something else. My group decided to take a red T-Shirt and transform this shirt and a pair of wearable shorts. We stretched out the neck as much as possible without tearing or ruining the shirt and had one of our members wear the shorts and from there we experimented. Our first idea was to put the sleeves inside the pants to not have them dangling outside and we realized that the sleeves tucked inside themselves could make great pockets. Next we had to get rid of the dress/loose look that came from the shirt waist just dangling with no support in between the legs. We grabbed the middle part of the shirt to distinguish a right and left leg hole and hot glue gunned to securely hold the middle. We took scissors and added some holes and slashes to give it a more street look. For the chest and head, we added a black bandana and a white T-Shirt cut down on sleeve to make a poncho. We created a new form of street style/gang style.  

      Saad, Shamsiya, and Isabel’s T-shirt Workshop

       Turning a t-shirt into something other than an ordinary t-shirt proved more difficult than we had anticipated. However, we collaborated, and found the process rather enjoyable as we were able to think creatively with fabric. For this workshop, we used one of Saad’s t-shirts. We initially thought of turning the t-shirt into a dress, but our t-shirt wasn’t big enough. With a little bit of experimenting, we stretched out the neck of the t-shirt, and slipped it over our model’s (Isabel) hips to make a skirt. We twisted the little sleeves and tucked them into different parts of the skirt to create an asymmetrical shape. Taking newspapers and magazines, we began to cut out pictures. At first, we thought we should cover the skirt with pictures and words. There were plenty of pictures of food, so we thought that would be our theme. Instead, we decided to keep it simple. We left the majority of the skirt plain. A few clippings of the comics  from our newspapers was added to one side of the skirt. This would give it the quirky design we wanted, without being too over the top. We also made a belt out of red construction paper, but decided only to put it in the front of the skirt to keep it as simple as possible. The simplicity of the white fabric of the skirt contrasted with the little red belt, and the few pictures. We had collectively made a complete masterpiece.

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       My group used a grey t-shirt, a white t-shirt and magazine pages to transform these old objects into something new that can act in unison. We were inspired by the Japanese kimono. We decided to add our own original touch to it by not creating a slit directly down the kimono. In order to wear the shirt, the person must slip it over their head rather than them wearing it like a jacket. The grey shirt under the drape was cut from a t-shirt into a halter top. I decided to add the fringe and braiding to draw attention to certain parts of the shirt that I felt needed something more. The circular piece of folded magazine paper really captured a focal point of the shirt. This activity helped me realise that old clothing can be transformed int something new and fashionable. Before this workshop, I thought I was not creative and that my renewed shirt would end up looking horrendous. I was able to come up with the idea of adding braiding and my group members loved it. I didn’t know I was capable of being creative and imaginative but this piece of clothing taught me otherwise. We didn’t exactly have a specific inspiration for this piece. We brainstormed and all decided whether we liked an idea or not and if it was feasible. We were all very proud of our end result and we had a lot of fun during the process of creating it!

-Julia Francione

Fashion is more than just clothing. It simple defines who we are as a whole. When we were told to bring in an old t-shirt or a garment in which we could cut, I for one thought, what in the world could I possibly do with this? I didn’t think it was feasible to take an old t-shirt and create something else out of it. But that morning, when we all sat down and got ready to work, I was instantly proved wrong.
We used two t-shirts; a plain white one and a grey with designs on it. After one idea was thrown out there, many ideas followed. Everything came to us and started to flow easily. Together, we worked on the grey shirt and cut the sleeves to turn it into a muscle tee. Then we decided to fringe the bottom of the shirt to give it a new look. The white shirt was initially going to be used as a kimono of some sort, until we realized that it looked better once it was cut shorter and also fringed on the side. Then, we pulled the middle of the shirt up, in the front and back, and placed the design made from the pages of a magazine.

I don’t think we really had an inspiration for this. It was all about trial and error, and finding out what seemed to work best. In the end, we were pretty pleased at what we had accomplished.

A T-Shirt Is Born

Who knew that a simple T-shirt had such a thought-provoking inception.  From its creation to the retailer and consumer, the T-shirt steps are fascinating and interesting.  One cannot imagine that since its birth, the T-shirt goes through various processes in several environments. 

As an illustration, NPR’s Planet Money, an American podcast and blog producer, conducted research in 2013 to learn how a T-shirt is made.  They set out to find the best cotton and found it at the Mississippi Delta farm.  As a matter of fact, most cotton used throughout the world comes from the United States, where cotton is king.   Cotton is so big in the United States that since 1950 cotton yield has tripled.   How does all pf this cotton get picked?  By using John Deere 7760 pickers – these massive self-driving, finely tuned machines can sense the cotton plant stalks and twist off their cotton puffs.  Cotton will continue to get more productive as the technology improves.  As an example, today a 7760 driver can pick 100 acres of cotton a day. 

Picking and growing cotton is a high-tech business.  Ninety percent of United States cotton is genetically modified; it comes from seeds that are designed in labs to produce more cotton and resist pests. 

After the Planet Money team’s cotton selection, they traveled to Indonesia where the cotton for the men’s T-shirt was spun. 

Similar to the cotton production, yarn is also high-tech.  A machine sucks fibers close together creating yarn.  The product has fewer twists per inch, making Planet Money’s men’s T-shirts softer and more comfortable.  Incredibly, the T-shirts were made with six miles of this yarn.

After the cotton was picked, the yarn spun, all pieces were shipped to Bangladesh for the men’s T-shirts assemblage.  

Yet, under what conditions were the T-shirts made in Bangladesh?  Who are the people behind the assemblage of the T-shirts? 

To understand how Bangladesh was selected to complete the T-shirts, we need to understand the trade agreement introduced in 1974 by President Richard Nixon.   

The Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA), an international trade agreement on textile and clothing, was active from 1974 until 2004. The agreement imposed quotas on the amount that developing countries could export in the form of yarn, fabric and clothing to developed countries such as the United States. 

How does Bangladesh fit into this pact?  Let’s take a look at South Korea.  In the 1970’s South Korea had reached their quota and were no longer allowed to export to other countries.  Because Bangladesh was in financial dire straits and South Korea needed to continue their export operations, these entrepreneurs joined forces with South Korea to set up textile factories.  Hence, the Bangladeshi garment district was born.  Today Bangladesh factories employ approximately 4 million people. 

With so much talk of sweat shops and hazardous working conditions, what are the settings for the workers who assembled Planet Money’s men’s T-shirt?      

Let us take a look at two Bangladeshi factory workers – the women who made the men’s T-shirts.  Since the MFA, there have been huge changes in Bangladesh.  These changes have altered the lives of its residents.  Two women that have been affected by these changes are Shimu and Minu.  They work six days a week, 10 hours a day at Deluxe Fashion Limited among hundreds of women.    At the time of Planet Money’s interview the sisters were earning $39.00 a month.  They were hoping for a raise.  There were daily protests going on due to the recent Rana Plaza building accident earlier that year.  An eight-story mixed-use building containing factories, a banking institution, apartments and various shops collapsed.  With a death toll of 1,129 and 2,500 injured, it is considered the deadliest garment factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure.   Nonetheless, the sisters feel safe in the factory where they work – there are fans and fire exits. 

Minu is married and she, her husband and Shimu live together in a room.  They pool their money to pay the bills and the rent.  Minu sends money to her daughter who lives with their parents.  Shimu occasionally sends money home – she is able to save money and buy whatever items she wants such as a television.  The sisters cook and eat their meals together.   They cook enough food for the three of them to have three meals a day.  Their living arrangement might sound dreadful, but in comparison to the village they come from, the women are living quite comfortable. 

With the sisters’ incomes, their parents are able to purchase meat and fish, they pay for their younger brother’s education and provide financial support for Minu’s daughter. 

The women’s lives are very different from their parents.  In addition, there is also a big difference between the sisters.  For example, their parents chose a husband for Minu, that to date, she regrets and will not forgive her parents for doing so.  

On the other hand, Shimu will not allow her parents to choose a husband for her.  She is saving money for a wedding to a man of her choosing.   Apparently it is a Bangladeshi custom for the parents to choose their daughter(s) husbands and for the husband to take on the responsibility of providing support and lodging for the wife.  Shimu is very adamant about choosing her own partner.

Finally, after all of the fascinating processes have taken place, a T-shirt is sent to the retailers.   But next time I pick up a T-shirt I will reflect on how it has traveled from one side of the world to another and mostly about the people who are part of its production.  I will contemplate about their lives and hopes, but mostly that the factory workers stay safe.  Who knew that a simple T-shirt had such a thought-provoking inception.  From its creation to the retailer and consumer, the T-shirt steps are fascinating and interesting.  One cannot imagine that since its birth, the T-shirt goes through various processes in several environments.