The Great T-Shirt Census

I often wonder if I might suffer from some degree of OCD. The latest evidence of which is today’s project, sorting and cataloging my t-shirts. I have too many t-shirts, and it would not be an unreasonable chore to look through them for ones that I might throw out. But I couldn’t just do that. T-shirts are one of my primary pieces of clothing. I have acquired those that I have over many years, and most of them have some sort of personal or historical significance, at least to me. Before any purge, there must first be a census!

So what did I find? Here’s some results from my T-shirt Census:

Total Count: 54

Type Breakdown:

Political: 14
I acquired a few in this last year, my favorite of which was this Obama/Biden shirt purchased at the Democratic Convention in Denver. I attribute Obama’s historic win in Virginia to my wearing of this shirt while running in my Northern Virginia burb. But I also love this bush-basher.

Sports Related: 17 (5 Chicago Cubs)
Music/Band: 1 (wow, this is a change. In my younger days, just about all of my shirts were concert tees).
Blank: 3 (two orange, why?, and one single plain white tee).

Top Colors:
White & Grey: (combined total of 21 shirts)
Tie-Dye: 2

Top Brand:

Hanes & Gilden: 7 each

Age:

There are two that date to the 80s. One of which, I’m embarrased to say is a black tee that reads ‘Hustler Muff Dive’, which I think I acquired in high school and I hope I’ve never worn, but just never through out either. The other says, “Miru Mir”, Russian for “Peace on Earth” from the foreign language house I lived in off campus at UCSB.

My favorite in the batch is one of the oldest. It’s a black t-shirt from the Internet World Conference I attended in 1995. The shirt has held together enough to wear, but the fabric has achieved a unique softness that feels nothing like the heavy cotton it once was.

What other insights did I gain? Probably just that I need to do a better job prioritizing my tasks. Feel free to browse my list of tee shirts here, and see what insight you can learn about me from it.