Tshirt Letter Trend

[pas]

I randomly thought to myself...when did the tradition of wearing your Greek letters on a shirt start?

Looking at my college's yearbooks it seemed that badges were worn than in the 1950s blazers with the crests were worn than all of a sudden in 1970 shirts with Greek letters were common.

I wonder when and where this started...and some groups aren't allowed to wear their letters on anything that could be easily distroyed if I'm remembering correctly.

Thoughts?

[carnation]

There were still several colleges where girls could only wear dresses on campus until the seventies. Once we had more choice in wardrobe, such as jeans, it follows that lettered shirts would become popular.

[NinjaPoodle]

Perhaps the early 60's? <--uneducated guess

[ElieM]

I imagine as clothing got more casual, lettered t-shirts became more popular.

[nyapbp]

In the late 1940s, 1950s and into the 1960s, sweatshirts with a crest and the name of the group were also popular. These are usually seen in pictures of powderpuff football competitions and the like. i think the dress rules of the day entered into it and as dress rules relaxed, more clothing with letters became available. It may have been tied into the emergence of blue jeans as everyday wear.