Knit T-shirts / short-sleeve sweaters

[Edward]

So. Over the last couple of years I've picked up five of these knit-cotton t-shirts with a motif machine-knitted into them. (Mine are all from Collectif.co.uk , purchased in half-price sales. Lovely things, machine-wash really well.) This one is a favourite:

Scuse the context of the photo, only shot I can find of me in one of these.

What's got me curious is this - these are popular on the rockabilly scene, and as far as I can determine evolved at some point in the very early 50s? I remember we had a thread some years ago on vintage print t-shirts, but I don't recall us looking at this sort of thing in depth. I've gotten to wondering whether there's any relationship between these and print-ts. Is it just coincidence, different way of doing things, or did the printed t-shirt evolve as a cheaper alternative to getting these sorts of motifs on yer torso?

Interested too to see more of this sort of thing. Mine are all repros (as is the direction of my wardrobe these days, with 'real vintage' having largely priced me out in terms of available sizes, or rendered me too afraid to wear it with any regularity)., but very interested to also see older pieces anyone has. Since discovering these, I've greatly enjoyed them, much to my own amusement as I've complete moved away from regular print t-shirts (saving myself a fortune at gigs!).

 

[jchance]

I thought you were talking about these, which I think are very good looking. Made by S.E.H. Kelly.