T-Shirts Are Everywhere Saying Everything
I am sitting in the food court of a very busy shopping mall on a
Saturday with a pad of paper. What am I doing? Counting how many
people are wearing t-shirts, what kind of t-shirt they're
wearing, and about how old they are. This is my 4th Saturday
conducting this survey at 4 different malls.
Before I began doing this "t-shirt survey" at the malls here in
Dallas, I was expecting about 30-35% of the people would be
wearing a t-shirt. Was I ever wrong. I had no idea just how
popular t-shirts actually are.
First, who is wearing t-shirts? I counted a total of about 4,000
people over 4 weeks in this survey. In total, about 60-65% were
wearing t-shirts - twice my expectations! There was a variance
in the age groups. For those under 25-years-old, about 80-85%
wore t-shirts. For those 25 to 40 years old, about 60% wore
t-shirts. And, for those over 40, about 35% wore t-shirts.
While I expected the younger crowd to be wearing tshirts, what I
was not expecting were those ages 35 - 50 wearing them. These
are mostly parents, business people, and maybe a couple
grandparents. Most of their tshirts were sports or college
tshirts, or a brand name like Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, or Polo -
nothing crude of obnoxious.
Second, what kind of t-shirts were they wearing? I rarely saw
the same t-shirt twice. There were funny t-shirts, animal
t-shirts, Christian t-shirts, patriotic t-shirts, and all kinds
of novelty t-shirts. And, I wasn't surprised to see a few crude
or offensive ones in the mix either.
Younger kids, those between 5 and 12-years-old, wore a lot of
tshirts. That age bracket was closer to 90%. Most of them had
some kind of "cute" picture or slogan (like a Disney tshirt), or
something to do with sports. Most teenagers and college students
wore tshirts that seem to match up closely with their identity.
More than anything, it became apparent that wearing a tshirt is
a way to express oneself. Whether supporting a sports team, a
university, or country, people wear tshirts to express
themselves and make a statement. But, some people wear them just
because it looks good, it's trendy, and they're comfortable. The
t-shirt industry is a huge business. While I don't have the
exact statistics, it made up 60% of the tops worn at the
shopping malls around Dallas, TX over the last 4 weeks.
After arriving back home, what did I do? I went to my dresser,
opened the drawer, and counted about 25 t-shirts of my own. I
put on my alma mater tshirt and sat down to watch the baseball
playoffs.