T-Shirts

The other day as I was leaving the gym I passed a woman who was wearing a T-shirt with a scenic graphic picture on the front and the simple words "South Carolina" emblazoned across the bottom. Clearly on her way to work out, I guessed this shirt (like the sweaty one rolled up in the bottom of my gym bag) was a "cull" from the "soon to be rag" category of her wardrobe.

When it comes to work out clothes it generally seems like there are two kinds of "gym types." There are those sporting the high dollar, scientifically developed, pro athlete endorsed, sweat wicking togs and then there are what I would call the "S.L.O.B's" (Shirt Left Over Bunch) who grab whatever may be laying on the floor when the motivation to hit the gym strikes. I'll confess, I'm more the "slob" variety. But this has little to do with my point.

Seeing this woman's shirt got me to wondering what life was like before silkscreen shirts. Can we even remember back that far? I remember the "early days" of silk screens when they were basically iron-on emblems that in time pealed off the shirt like old paint off the side of a barn.

Now, that type of technology is so good, you can print your own iron-on transfers from your own laptop and have a "custom" shirt in minutes and they last nearly as long as commercially produced shirts.

Commercially produced silk screen shirts in our culture today is big business (I actually was aggressively challenged by a silk-screen salesperson last week on "why in the world would you not want screened shirts advertising your church?") and the more attention I've paid to it the last few days, I can safely say screened shirts are "everywhere." Even the label in the T-shirt I'm wearing today is screened in, not sewn in.

What has really got me thinking is "why" do we wear screened clothing? Going back to the lady at the gym early this week... why "South Carolina" anyway? Is she a native? Did she visit and like it so much she had to tell the world about it? Did someone else visit and "all she got was this stupid T-shirt?" What is it with our fascination with advertising places and products, anyway?

To my knowledge I've never received a single penny from one of the "big three" sports clothing manufacturers for wearing one of their shirts, yet I have a shelf in my closet full of them. Weird! Is it our desire to look like pro athletes that makes us buy these things? Are we so impressed with a particular vacation spot that we want the world to know we've been there, done that?

What are we proclaiming with our shirts? Are we encouraging others to buy "our" brand? Surely it is more than letting others know what brand we're wearing. If that's it, then why don't we just rip our labels out and sew them on the front of our shirts? Problem solved!

Is the woman at the gym proud of South Carolina? Is wearing the shirt a way of recalling a memory? If so, does the affection of the memory fade as the shirt reaches "workout" status? I now own shirts I won't wear anymore simply because the memory attached to the place is so strong. I don't want to ruin the shirt and then not have the symbol of my affection. Again, quite weird if you're asking me!

And what of all those religious shirts? Are they a proclamation of faith? Are they testimonial? Are they simply a reminder to benefit the wearer? Are they judgment for all others who don't agree with the wearer's brand of faith?

It is a curious thing why we wear our allegiances so boldly. I have to wonder if we really believe what we wear, or are we merely wearing our convictions on our sleeves?