It was in Hawaii that surfing was first practiced with consummate skill by the then Polynesian settlers. Ancient Hawaiian tradition called it "The Sport of Kings". The entry of Christianity led to the decline of the sport because the Christian missionaries disapproved way the surfers were scantily dressed. But the sport hung on by its teeth and riding the wave was acknowledged as manly sport by the Reverend Henry T. Cheever, who documented it in 1851.
The sport of surfing was introduced to Jack London, the author of such famous novels like the "Call of the Wild", in 1907 by Alexander Hume Ford. They, together with George Freeth and Duke Kahanamoku (a Polynesian) revived it and it was Duke that introduced it in California in 1912. Since then the sport has never wavered in its popularity.
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 become a national phenomenon and one simply had to be seen in it. Men, women and children of all walks of life and of all ages had to have at least one of them. And once the idea of printing something or other on the front or back of the t-shirt was introduced, the popularity of the t-shirt simply skyrocketed.
It was in 1961 that Gordon & Smith, the makers of surfboards, struck upon the idea of using the widely and wildly popular t-shirt as a promotional tool and he invited people to bring in their t-shirts (white) to have his company's logo printed on it free of charge. Naturally people, whether they surfed or not, flocked to get their t-shirts printed and thus was born the "Surfing T-Shirt".
The tome for the surfing t-shirt arrived when it was again used as a promotional media by another maker of surfboards; Dave Sweet, the inventor of the foam surfboard. Surfing and the surfing t-shirt grew together like twin brothers. Strictly speaking, the surfing t-shirt's popularity grew faster because anybody could wear them, whereas the number of surfers was comparatively less. But grow they did.
As usual, Hollywood brought these t-shirts onto the silver screen when in 1973 Mackenzie Phillips appeared in the film "American Graffiti" wearing a Dewey Weber Surfboard Surfing T-Shirt and Robert Duval, as Colonel Kilgore, in "Apocalypse Now". Purist consider only those t-shirts put out by actual surfboard makers as the true "Surfing" T-Shirt. So whether you know how to surf or not, get yourself one surfing t-shirt and be considered a practitioner of the manly sport. The fairer sex can ignore this and get themselves one also.
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-shirts and more.
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