T-shirt 100th Birthday!

US Navy issues crewneck T-shirts to be worn under uniforms. An American icon is born.

The word “T-shirt” is officially added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The definition of T-shirt is a collarless short-sleeved or sleeveless usually cotton undershirt; also: an outer shirt of similar design.

Students steal T-shirts from their own football team when the University of Southern California prints “Property of USC” on the athletes’ workout clothes.

Men everywhere follow Clark Gable’s lead in It Happened One Night. After revealing his bare chest, T-shirt sales plummet 75%.

Sears introduces a T-shirt for less than a quarter. Known as the “gob” or sailor shirt, it is proclaimed to be either an outer garment or an undershirt.

The Air Corps Gunnery School logo is featured on one of the earliest printed T-shirts for the July 13^th cover of LIFE magazine.

New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s campaign presses “Dew-it-with-Dewey” for the 1948 presidential election.

Army follows the Navy by introducing the “Quarter Sleeve” shirt, keeping the boys in the Pacific theater cool in the tropical heat.

Following the popularity of Mickey Mouse, a Miami-based T-shirt company, Tropix Togs, purchases the exclusive rights to print the figure on a shirt.

The T-shirt gains popularity as an outer garment after heartthrob Marlon Brando wears one in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The invention of a durable, stretchy, and comfortable new ink, Plastisol, opens the door for more designs and screen-printing on T-shirts.

The invention of the multi-color rotary screen-printing machine makes graphics on apparel less difficult and costly. The US screen-printing movement doubles.

Andy Warhol’s famous print of Marilyn Monroe popularizes screen-printing in bright colors.

1969’s Woodstock positions tie-dye T-shirts as the voice for one’s individuality and the emblem for the era.

Alternative album cover for one of the best rock albums of all time, The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, the “lick” graphic quickly becomes one of rock and roll’s most recognizable symbols.

In an almost eureka moment, designer Milton Glaser sketches “I ♥ NY” on a napkin and the logo appears on T-shirts soon after.

Iron-ons allow graphic images to make custom T-shirts on the spot. Sports teams, corporations and bands realize the power of custom T-shirts. The sports jersey has never looked better.

Pictured: The Cardinal Bar in Madison, Wisconsin

International Drug Abuse Resistance Education program spreads across the United States, providing sleep shirts for an entire generation of schoolkids.

To overrule censoring of the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song “Relax,” label owner Paul Morley prints “FRANKIE SAY RELAX” on T-shirts.

Raising money to aid famine relief in Ethiopia, “Feed the World” T-shirts are sold in conjunction with Band Aid’s 1984 single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Inspired by grunge rockers, men wear old, unbuttoned flannel shirts over faded, un-washed T-shirts. This quickly becomes the fashion trend of the ‘90s.

In business since 1971, Hard Rock Café launches their signature T-shirt line. A collection of t-shirts from Cafes around the world becomes a must-have for the well traveled.

The Hypercolor T-shirt, created in the ‘80s, reaches its all-time peak selling more than $50 million worth of shirts in a four-month period.

Two college friends start CustomInk in their apartment on a garish green sofa. The site quickly becomes the preferred site for designing custom T-shirts online.

Fashion forward and knowing no gender, the deep V takes America by storm. From the Jersey Shore to Malibu, men everywhere are showing a bit more skin.

Sanath Bandara breaks the Guinness World Record for the “Most T-shirts Worn at Once” wearing 257.

Who knows what the next 100 years will bring? Follow us on Facebook & Twitter to watch the celebration