If you thought tee shirts were just those things you wore when you were too lazy to actually pick out an outfit, think again. Here are a few of the strangest, most fun facts about tees you never knew you wanted to know.
The First Promotional, Custom Tee Was Made For The Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard of Oz was not only the first movie in color. It was also the first film to market itself with cheap custom tee shirts. What’s particularly interesting about this little tid bit is the fact that the film came out in 1939, when people still considered tee shirts to be underwear.
Tee Shirt Marketing Is More Effective Than You’d Think.
Nowadays, it seems like just about every brand has ripped off the aforementioned classic movie, either selling or giving away cheap custom tees to help market themselves. And that’s because it works. Custom tees are a great way to spread brand awareness. According to one recent study, 76.1% of consumers studied could remember the name of a company that’d given them a promotional item like a custom tee in the previous 12 months, while only 53% who could remember the name of a company they’d seen on TV or in a print ad from the past month.
People Really, Really, Really Love Tee Shirts…
Believe it or not, the average person owns a whopping 27 tee shirts. That’s enough to last them nearly a whole month without doing laundry! And according to a recent survey, about 91% of Americans claim they have a favorite tee shirt, too. Even crazier, there are more Google search results for tee shirts than there are for the keywords “beer,” “NFL,” and “graphic design” put together.
Who would have thought that the first film in color was also the first film to use tee shirts as a marketing tactic, or that custom tees were so effective? If you have any questions, or know of any other cool factoids, feel free to share in the comments.