T-Shirts for Surfing

by Kathy Austin

Riding waves on boards. Ancient Hawaiian tradition called it "The Sport of Kings". And it was in Hawaii that surfing was first seen to be practiced with unsurpassed skill. Captain James Cook was stunned by the way the surfers managed to stay erect on their surfboards and ride the waves at such velocities. The entry of Christianity led to the decline of the sport because the missionaries of those times frowned upon the scant way the surfers were dressed. But the sport did not die out completely and the art of riding the wave was acknowledged as a blend of athleticism and the understanding of the beauty and power of nature by the Reverend Henry T. Cheever, who documented it in 1851. Mark Twain tried it and failed in 1866.

Alexander Hume Ford introduced the sport to Jack London when London and his wife Chairman visited Hawaii in 1907. Together with George Freeth, an intrepid surfer, they brought the art of riding the waves to it own. Subsequently Duke Kahanamoku, a Polynesian, brought it to California in 1912. From then on the popularity of the sport grew exponentially.

While surfing was gaining popularity, the t-shirt, the predecessor of the surfing t-shirt was also gaining its own ground, thanks to the helping hand of the icons of Hollywood who wore the humble undergarment out in the open on its own. The T-Shirt had been popularized only as an undergarment by the soldiers of the World War I, who had seen them being worn by their European counterparts.

The T-Shirt had come into its own rights (thanks to Hollywood) and everyone, man, woman and child, people from all walks of life and all ages - from the youngest to the oldest - were wearing t-shirts. It had graduated to a National Phenomenon. Printing on T-Shirts had boosted the popularity of the T-Shirt to such heights and it had become a medium of expression of just about anything and everything.

But it was only in 1961, about half a century since its induction as an undergarment that the t-shirt became a "Surfing T-Shirt". It was then that Gordon & Smith, the manufacturers of surf boards hit on the notion of printing the symbol of their company, free of cost, on to white shirts, as an advertisement gimmick. It isn't surprising that everyone had to have this fad on their t-shirts. It did not matter if they surfed or not.

The surfing t-shirt gained more popularity when Dave Sweet, the father of the foam surfboard printed his arrowhead logo on surfing t-shirts. This humble start, kick started the surfing t-shirt on the road to becoming the sports enduring gift to the world of fashion. As the sport of surfing gained international recognition, the surfing t-shirt also rode on its reputation and became accepted throughout the world. It is said that in 2002 an estimated 300 million surfing t-shirts were manufactured throughout the world.

Hollywood's adoption of the surfing t-shirt in 1973 when Mackenzie Phillips was seen sporting a Dewey Weber Surfboard Surfing T-Shirt in the movie "American Graffiti" and Robert Duval in "Apocalypse Now" as Colonel Kilgore further boosted the reputation of the t-shirt.

Now that you have learnt something about this t-shirt and the manly sports association to it, it is high time that you got yourself one if you don't already have one. You have one. Then get one for a friend as a gift, perhaps as a souvenir of your vacation to the coast. Get a picture of your self in it holding a prominent surfboard. Keep it safely and bring it out when your grandchildren visit you. Do it when their grandmother is not around. Otherwise, it is bound to bring a smile on her face, because only she knows that you do not know how to surf.

About the Author:

Kathy Austin is a writer for an online gallery.Red Bubble enables you to buy surfing t-shirts, crazy t-shirtsand more.