What’s with the T Shirt?

The T shirt

This isn’t a web site about t-shirts. But since you asked…

Do you collect T shirts?

No. But I do have lots of T shirts that I’ve bought on my travels. Doesn’t everyone?

What’s your favourite souvenir T shirt?

My all-time favourite was from Salzburg, maybe 20 years ago. I still have it. It says “Keine känguru in Osterreich”. Never mind. Australians and Austrians will get the joke.

Where does the phrase ‘been there, done that …’ come from?

I don’t know. I think I first heard it in Egypt in about 1986. When the next Partridge dictionary comes out, I’ll buy a copy and see if it has anything to offer.

Any good books about t-shirts?

I recommend The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli. It’s billed as a business book or economics text book (Rivoli teaches at Georgetown University). In spite of that, it’s a good read with facts and figures to answer some fascinating questions. Such as:

  • why is the US is the world’s largest grower of cotton?
  • why are the souvenir t-shirts sold in Fort Lauderdale manufactured in China?, and
  • what drives the second-hand market for T-shirts in Dar Es Salaam?

Know any cool t-shirt sites?

Here are some: