Why did we make ourselves into walking advertisements?

[Wells]

I can admit to wearing a large array of graphic t shirts through most of my teenage days, all of them relating to a strong interest of mine. At the time, I was never fashion savvy and just wore whatever appealed to my interests. Since I turned 20, I have gotten rid of all graphic tees and see them as a somewhat immature article of clothing.

Wearing logos of expensive clothing companies is just branding yourself. But, it's trendy these days and says something about your social status and the money you make. Where I live, this means everything. Last week, I seen a couple in their 60's sporting head to toe Under Armour clothing, fit for that of an 18 year old. This really surprised me.

And don't get me started on the uprise of camouflage clothing...

 

[Fading Fast]

As posted before, I basically avoid logos, but some are not avoidable unless you are willing to give up the product.

I've worn Levi's my entire life and the label in the back on the waistband just doesn't bother me at all - it would be odd for a pair of Levi's not to have it. LL Bean boots - which I've also worn my entire life (we'll before the current fad) always had a small "LL Bean" label on the back - who cares, no one is impressing somebody with a pair of Bean boots (other than silly fad-followers today - who won't care about Bean boots in five years when I'll still be wearing them).

My little point is that while I pro-actively avoid labels / logos - and won't buy most products that have them - for some, they seem either part of the product (Levi's) or are so unimportant that I just don't care (Bean).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bean boots are one of those products that doesn't really need a label anyway -- they're recognizable at a glance just from their basic shape. They've come and gone into "fad" visibilty at least four times since they first became popular as a fashion item with non-hunters/woodspeople in the '80s. Prior to that you rarely saw them outside of the woods -- rubber pacs over heavy socks were far more common wear for Maine winters in the days of my youth.

While Bean still makes a good product, I've had an aversion to their logo since I pulled a month's worth of overtime at the t-shirt factory in 1987 meeting a rush order for a shipping-container-full of their logoed shirts. To this day when I see one, I automatically squint to see if the green, yellow, and red are all in register.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

I just am of the opinion that once t-shirts (mainly graphic T's) became "okay" in the mainstream to wear outside of the home, we see a definitive break with the Golden Era and the eras before it (characterized by collared shirts).

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I just last month purchased for the first time in a decade a T shirt with a logo on it. It had the Batman logo on it. In regards to the camouflage comment above, I wear camo utilities & other military items sometimes when I go hiking as its cheap , durable & if they get ruined I won't lose any sleep over it. Plus I like the pattern of the digital woodland.
Thanx!
Charlie

 

[2jakes]

I just last month purchased for the first time in a decade a T shirt with a logo on it. It had the Batman logo on it. In regards to the camouflage comment above, I wear camo utilities & other military items sometimes when I go hiking as its cheap , durable & if they get ruined I won't lose any sleep over it. Plus I like the pattern of the digital woodland.
Thanx!
Charlie

 

[Stearmen]

I am reminded today why T-shirts with graphics are fun to wear. I am wearing my AMAL carburetor shirt, on the back is an exploded view of a Monobloc carb. 99.999999999999999% of the worlds population have no idea what that is! So it is always a treat when you are standing in a line and you hear someone behind say, "Monobloc," and you proceed to have a nice conversation! I suppose if you are very shy, or just don't like talking to strangers, then plain shirts are in order.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Wearing camo in the woods up here in the fall is a good way to get yourself shot. We have a lot of hunters with quick trigger fingers and not a lot of sense. Some farmers even paint their horses safety orange.

 

[scotrace]

I'm at this moment wearing a T I picked up on a recent trip south from "The Rattlesnake Saloon." Actually a hamburger and beer joint wedged into a rock outcropping out in the middle of nowhere. It was a fast down and back three day trip, the first out of my home state in six years, so I wanted a memento.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I chalk it up to laziness. It's less effort to put on a tee shirt than a tie. I wear tee shirts when the occasion calls for it, for example when my band has a show, I tend to move and sweat a lot. But it's rare I won't at least wear slacks and a button down shirt.

"If you want to be a good blues singer, dress like you're going to the bank to borrow money." - B.B. King

 

[Wells]

I just last month purchased for the first time in a decade a T shirt with a logo on it. It had the Batman logo on it. In regards to the camouflage comment above, I wear camo utilities & other military items sometimes when I go hiking as its cheap , durable & if they get ruined I won't lose any sleep over it. Plus I like the pattern of the digital woodland.
Thanx!
Charlie

Camo utilities and military items are great. I collect a lot of military items, specifically USMC. It is great for outdoor activities. Digital woodland is nice. Desert MARPAT being my favourite.

I should have been clearer in my statement. When I refer to the camo clothing that really gets to me, I was referring to clothing such as this:

 

[Benproof]

Camo utilities and military items are great. I collect a lot of military items, specifically USMC. It is great for outdoor activities. Digital woodland is nice. Desert MARPAT being my favourite.

I should have been clearer in my statement. When I refer to the camo clothing that really gets to me, I was referring to clothing such as this:
View attachment 48820

Errr....not if you lived in a war zone and saw gratuitous violence anywhere where military has no connotation at all with peace corps.

That looks good though. On a small pit bull

Over 60s tend to be frivolous...they wear anything fanciful and on sale, especially out of season golf gear like Under Armour. The label itself trades on group membership and golfing, regardless of age. And the over 60s have plenty of time for that!

I used to watch a lot of the BSB and WSB motorcycle races growing up. Couldn't understand why the racers all wore garishly loud colours with large logos. Boy, I was so naive then before I became one of them. Every other motorcycle i pass screams of FURYGAN or RST or AXO or Dainese emblazened over ever possible contact point. Fair call: in a crash, the extra stitched letterings come off as the first abrasion layer

Well even in the medieval era, courtly conduct and jousting required riders to identify themselves with their own coloured plumes and coat of arms. How else can a spectator suss out a hunk of metal clambering on horseback about to go into high velocity collision?

Logo identification is more social and unites Anthrax fans at first sight in case they are mistaken for Slipknot fans at shortsight. Black tees just don't offer significant discriminatory powers lol.

In a world of copy and clone, logo is the way to go go ga ga oh no!

 

[Stearmen]

Back in the early 90s, my neighbors went down to Cancun, they brought back a gag gift for me, a Corona T-shirt in XXXL. I got the last laugh though, my 71 Super Beatle needed a drivers side seat back cover. Drove it for years like that!

 

[Stearmen]

Wearing camo in the woods up here in the fall is a good way to get yourself shot. We have a lot of hunters with quick trigger fingers and not a lot of sense. Some farmers even paint their horses safety orange.

And the men buy their mother in laws antler hats!

 

[2jakes]

Wearing camo in the woods up here in the fall is a good way to get yourself shot. We have a lot of hunters with quick trigger fingers and not a lot of sense. Some farmers even paint their horses safety orange.

And the men buy their mother in laws antler hats!

You guys weren’t kidding!

 

[Edward]

The french use a comma in place of the decimal point we use. Even in Quebec, $9.99 would be 9,99$ (yes, the dollar sign comes at the end).

I think some other continental countries use the comma as well.

Impression I have is that it's pretty standard across all of Europe to use the '.' and the ',' that way - opposite to the tradition in the Anglo-American world.

And don't get me started on the uprise of camouflage clothing...

I find that fascinating. I did once, in my early 20s, buy a camo shirt. It never got worn much, but it was a novelty-buzz, having grown up in Northern Ireland at a time when a lot of parents didn't want their kids wearing camo lest it got them shot (similarly, playing with toy guns in public; there were some terrible incidents of kids getting mistaken for paramilitaries and shot). It's not really my bag now, but I'm always amused by the subversion of original purpose in takingh camo - designed to disguise, to hide, - and making it a fashion thing, all about being seen and showing it off.

FWIW, though, the ex-forces types I've known have all been quick to avoid wearing anything military-looking. One once said to me "if we can be issued with it on the job, I'm not wearing it on my own time!" :lol:

 

[bebop13]

to me the big differece is if a brand sign on a tee is simply meant to indicate that it was made by a certain company OR its purpose is to enable the wearer to display that he can afford a designer tee...

 

[MisterCairo]

to me the big differece is if a brand sign on a tee is simply meant to indicate that it was made by a certain company OR its purpose is to enable the wearer to display that he can afford a designer tee...

If you can afford it, you don't need to let others know.

And shouldn't want to...

 

[Fading Fast]

If you can afford it, you don't need to let others know.

And shouldn't want to...

It is the clothing equivalent of scoring a touchdown and nonchalantly tossing the ball to the ref versus doing the overwrought victory dance.

Nothing is more elegant than when - and it almost never happens anymore - a player scores a touchdown and insouciantly gives the ref the ball without any celebration or emotion.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's illuminating to watch old baseball telecasts and see what happens when a player hits a home run. He runs the bases at a brisk trot with his head down, accepts a handshake or two from his teammates and disappears into the dugout. He doesn't stand to admire the flight of the ball, he doesn't flip the bat, he doesn't make eye contact with any member of the opposing team. There are occasional exceptions -- Carlton Fisk in Game 6 of the '75 Series, Ted Williams in the 1941 All Star Game -- but the fact that these exceptions are so well known proves the rule. It was considered strictly bush to show yourself up as bigger than your own team or the other team -- and if you did do it, you were likely to get the ball in your ear the next time you came up to bad.