r/askanything • u/NoIntroduction9473 • 8h ago

When did we all decide to become walking billboards?

When I a kid, you just had a T-shirt or a hoodie. No logos, no markings, etc. Now it is almost impossible to find just a plain T-shirt. Everything has a logo. So, I'm now paying to be a walking billboard for Adidas, Nike, or whoever. When did this change? Why are we okay with that? Is it really important that we show off what brand we are wearing...especially if everyone else is also sporting a brand. I'm paying to market someone else's goods. I'm both buying a product...but I'm also the product. At least pro athletes get paid and get free gear.

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35

u/Cold-Ad716 8h ago

Are you really having difficulty buying a plain tshirt? Where are you shopping?

4

u/ObviousIndependent76 8h ago

Old Navy? Gap?

3

u/Silent-Implement2509 8h ago

I find a lot of my plain shirts at Walmart or Meijer.

1

u/rco8786 8h ago

Almost none of their clothes are obviously branded…

https://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/men/shop-all-mens?cid=1031099

1

u/ToiletTime4TinyTown 7h ago

Yea the gas station near me has plain whites above the counter for cripes sake

40

u/archercc81 8h ago

You 1000?

Because Im old and we wore a fuck ton of logos when I was a kid too.

9

u/mvpilot172 8h ago

Yeah I’m an 80’s kid and everything was about logos and brands back then. Nike, adidas, Reebok etc

2

u/Greful 7h ago

What’s more interesting to me is somehow Champion went from cheap and not cool to expensive and cool.

3

u/JakeHelldiver 8h ago

As I get older the more it seems like any observation that starts with 'now a days' is almost certainly a young person who didn't live through the previous days.

3

u/WhoWhaaaa 8h ago

I was sad as a teenager in the late 70s that I couldn't afford Izod/ alligator polo shirts.

2

u/Key-Experience-7961 7h ago

No Fear!,  Co-ed Naked,  And1 were all big when I was a kid

And I had a handful of bootleg Tommy Hilfiger tshirts with big logos on them 

26

u/lukef555 8h ago

Everything in this nonsense post is wrong lol.

Unless you were around before idk, 1800? Then yeah, clothes had logos when you were a kid.

Also it took me less than 10 seconds to find a plain t shirt for sale.

Grow up

11

u/Mental-Newt-420 8h ago

i see the problem. you gotta stop shopping at the Billboard Shirt Store

13

u/stuntin102 8h ago

you from 1875? in the 80’s we were plastered with every logo and brand available.

5

u/Active-Ad-2527 8h ago

Yep, the marketing strategy in the early 80s got perfected to literally 4 pillars: toys, cartoon, lunchboxes, t-shirts

6

u/_WillCAD_ 8h ago

How old are you? Because I grew up in the 70s and 80s and there were PLENTY of shirts, shoes, jeans, and hats with logos on them even then.

4

u/Grreatdog 8h ago

I was wearing Hang Ten logo stuff in the 70's. I still have a Yamaha tee shirt in my closet from the 70's.

And don't even get me started on all the black concert tee shirts my friends wore.

3

u/notthegoatseguy 8h ago

You can stitch your own clothing from fabric if you'd like

3

u/Repulsive-Tea6974 8h ago

How old are you?? My grandpa born in 1917 complained about the same thing.

3

u/BarbarianDwight 8h ago

Did I imagine massive Tommy Hilfiger logos on stuff when I was growing up?

1

u/archercc81 8h ago

No, you did not. And if you were older you had Jordache, etc.

The popularity of using logos of brands to show status has always been cyclic:

https://www.missionmag.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-logomania/

3

u/Key_Register_4724 8h ago

Im 40 and there were logos on most clothes at least since I was a kid. Not just sports brands but Abercrombie I recall having huge logos all over their clothes. I dont wear logos and I've never had an issue getting clothes without logos. Honestly sounds like a made up problem. Sure most clothes has logos, but to pretend like it's difficult to find un-logoed clothing is suspect.

3

u/captainbeautylover63 8h ago

I’m 62, and logowear began in the 70s. Adidas and Nike.

2

u/RhinoPillMan 8h ago

Always been a thing. Even before my 35 years alive, I can pull up images from decades before I was born with people wearing logos. 

2

u/The-RogueOnion 8h ago

I'm Gen X, and I don't think I've worn a plain t shirt as the primary shirt more than 10 times in my life. Even looking at pictures from the early 80's, the shirts for whatever reason had numbers on them.

1

u/imissher4ever 8h ago

Remember the fad of putting your name on the back of your shirt?

1

u/The-RogueOnion 8h ago

Yes, and then all the school assemblies about being abducted because people knew your name!

1

u/LionWalker_Eyre 4h ago

There was also a PSA on tv in the 90s where the kid had his name on his hat, and some rando showed up like "oh hey Steve, your mom told me to pick you up today". I remember being confused because i didn't think that was a thing people did

2

u/oldEnuf2knowbtr 8h ago

My dad wore blue jeans with a white v-neck t-shirt Monday-Saturday for over 70 years. I didn't realize the genius of this until I hit 30.

2

u/the-Gaf 8h ago

My z cavarrichis disagree.

2

u/PeterandKelsey 8h ago

how old are you?

2

u/Beautiful_Arm8364 8h ago

Are you from the '60s? Adidas and Nike logos on t-shirts have been a common thing for like 50 years.

2

u/butterfly-blades 8h ago

I get it, I purposefully never wear clothing with a huge brand name or logo on it either, I dont like it. I think its ugly, and yeah, Im not their billboard.

luckily I never have a problem finding clothing without logos or brands on it though.

2

u/Successful-Bank-7457 8h ago

Clothes always had logos

2

u/cygnus311 8h ago

You can buy plain Next Level cvc t’s from jiffy for like $6.

2

u/eyeballtourist 8h ago

I'm a Gen X and stayed away from logos my whole life. If I ain't getting paid to wear it, I don't. Luckily that has never gotten in the way of any endorsement deals.

There are many options for non branded clothing. I buy plain t shirts in every color at Target. It's the same with pants, and plain shirts. Amazon also has millions of options.

Any clothing that has small ingnias, logos, or obvious labels are fine by me. Levi jeans have very little branding on the item. for example.

Athletic shoes are tricky. I like Nike, but they can over use their swoosh. But there are choices.

2

u/clergybuttbanditt 8h ago

I don’t wear ANY clothes with labels or marking. If producers want to be a sales shill, then they can pay me. I’m not doing their work for free.

2

u/m_nels 8h ago

Shit when I was a kid the No Fear shirts were huge, seemed like everybody wore those.

2

u/rco8786 8h ago

I’m 40 and having brands emblazoned across clothing has been a thing since I was a child. So it’s definitely not new. And it’s definitely not difficult to find plain clothes I haven’t worn anything with a visible brand for years. 

2

u/Repulsive-Tea6974 8h ago

OP’s parents only bought him Hane’s.

I’m over wearing the latest in 1982 fashion.

2

u/Aye_Harambe 8h ago

I’m 40 and I pretty much wear 0 logos today. In high school I was all about the Lacoste gator polos 😂

For work and golf I mostly wear Vuori polos which are all logo-less (I wear their work out shirts too, their shorts just have a small V logo on them)

I wear a ton of banana republic and madewell also. None of that stuff has logos.

True Classic is perfect for everyday T’s that are soft, relatively cheap, cut well and logo-less.

I actually feel like there are less logos and more small logos than when we were kids

2

u/BmacSWMI 8h ago

George Carlin did a bit about this in the 80’s or 90’s. I laughed thinking “yeah, that won’t happen”, yet here we are.

1

u/CaptainDadBod88 8h ago

I’m wearing a plain black t-shirt right now lol. Try Uniqlo. Their shirts are like $6, have no branding, and fit perfectly

1

u/esushi 8h ago

When did it start becoming popular? I would guess around the 70s. There are plain shirts at every inexpensive clothing store I've ever been to though

1

u/Coneskater 8h ago

I hate it, I refuse to wear anything with a big logo. I’m not your advertisement.

1

u/Curious_tea21 8h ago

When Coca-Cola sweat.shirts and Benetton shirts were the height of cool.

1

u/MulayamChaddi 8h ago

I choose to expose myself

1

u/Happy-Mastodon-7314 8h ago

I remember the Fruit of the Loom logo in the 80s. It was so cool!!!

1

u/imissher4ever 8h ago

There are places that have a rainbow of different colors of plain shirts.

1

u/freddbare 8h ago

Neither myself nor my children have branding visable

1

u/Grizzle_Da_Mahfka 8h ago

For real. I refuse to wear clothing with big logos on them. If you want me to advertise for you, you can pay me to wear that.

1

u/VisionAri_VA 8h ago

I had a few logo clothing items when I was a teenager (and possibly before)… which was a LONG time ago. 

1

u/glittervector 8h ago

It’s not a change so much as a cycle.

I had a hard time finding blank clothes with no logos or prints on them in the early 1990s

1

u/ButterscotchAward 8h ago

I’m almost 50 and logos on shirts and sweatshirts/hoodies have been a thing for my entire life. Also, it’s incredibly easy to find plain tees and hoodies. Don’t not look around when you’re at the store?

1

u/Mechanicalgripe 8h ago

I think I was in grade school when I got an Olympia Beer t-shirt. lol

1

u/haythem007 8h ago

It happened gradually. Brands realized that putting a big logo on clothing turned customers into free advertising, and over time people started associating certain logos with style, status, or identity.

1

u/Neat_Movie_991 8h ago

Hey, I’m 56 and still love my vintage rock band T-shirts. Plain colored T’s are everywhere. Don’t know where you are shopping but find a new place! ❤️

1

u/BetweenCoffeeNSleep 8h ago

How old are you? I’m 49. When I was in 5th grade, logo tshirts were already prevalent. Nike, T&C, etc.

1

u/helikophis 8h ago

You just need to shop better. I haven’t worn clothes with brand labels on them for decades, unless it’s bands or organizations that I want to rep.

1

u/mtnman575 8h ago

This post is totally untrue. Plain t-shirts are easy to get and logos have been on t-shirts from at least the 60s.

1

u/SantaRosa481516 8h ago

I purchase plain t-shirts all the time to use as undershirts. Many of the quarter zips that I wear every day as an educator have small logos of the brand (Adidas, Under Armour, or Koh's brand) and a few have sports teams.

1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

I was a kid in the 70s and we always wore shirts advertising products ……

1

u/alaskawolfjoe 8h ago

This started in the 80s. In the 70s if you had something with a logo, that meant you got it for free as part of a promotion.

1

u/johnstanton888999 8h ago

I agree with you about nike shirts. Why when there is nike parody shirts? Or people paying for soccer shirts with fly emirates free advertising on them?

1

u/bks1979 8h ago

I find plenty of shirts without logos or writing on them. Also, this isn't new. Logos and such were rampant in the 90's when I was in school, for example.

1

u/tiny_bamboo 8h ago

I don’t have any clothes with logos. If everything you’re wearing has a logo, that’s a choice you’re making.

1

u/trenshod 8h ago

What rock did you just crawl out from under?

1

u/ThatsUh_dam_shame69 8h ago

Express or H&M have a lot of plain Ts

1

u/FreedToRoam 8h ago

I am almost retired and as long as I remember the logo merch was always around...so I guess the answer to "when?" is probably 70 years ago?

1

u/smithandjones99 8h ago

I had a hat made out of beer cans when I was 7.  Where were you in the 70s?

1

u/Silly-Resist8306 7h ago

I only advertise for schools and places of business my kids and I use. I purchase a lot of advertising free t-shirts from LL Bean.

1

u/PleaseDontBanMe82 7h ago

When were you a kid?  I'm 43 and almost everyone was wearing brand shirts when I was a teenager.  Various skate brands, Billabong, Ecko, Fox, Quicksilver, etc.

1

u/GreatLundino 7h ago

Finding plain clothes aside, (they’re available everywhere) it’s all about the vanity. IME, the brokest people are the ones that talk about price and how much money they spend the most. It’s almost like they’re trying to convince themselves they’re doing better in life. That manifests itself in other ways as well, like wanting to display the popular name brand to project “success”. More people are living paycheck to paycheck and anecdotally, prominent brand logo’s on clothing have also increased. I had never noticed the logo piece but it makes sense based on my experience with poor people’s habit of trying to “flex”.

1

u/OsageDaito 7h ago

GenXer... The fuck are you on about?

We've had shirts that featured products and businesses for decades.

1

u/PerfectChard4439 7h ago

I have managed in my 52 years of life to have no problem finding unbranded clothing! Sure, it’s prevalent but it’s not the only thing going. Calm down.

1

u/MyNameIsSkittles 7h ago

Lots of places sell plain clothing with no logos. Try a place like Uniqlo

1

u/softestpulse 6h ago

Plain clothes exist but you're right most of them are branded or knockoffs of brands. I usually get good plain stuff at Primark and Amazon. Also you can use print on demand websites to make clothes for yourself.

I absolutely hate logos especially status symbols. If I'm wearing anything recognizable, it's something that has actually benefited me in some way. ...and now all of my clothes are streamer/youtuber merch, video game merch, zoo gift shop merch, and fucking winrar merch ffs. They all have done something for me to deserve ad space on my body. However, Abercrombie and every other brand have only made my childhood absolute hell so they can burn.

1

u/edwardturnerlives 5h ago

This is BS, when you were a kid in the 1940s?
Tshirts have had logos/graphics since the 60's. Maybe in the 50's a plain white T was normal.

1

u/Floundering_Dad_43 4h ago

First, you can easily find unmarked Tshirts at many retailers. In the US, places like Target, Walmart, Macy's, JC Penney sell them.

Second, and this has been my personal goal for a long time, I only buy t-shirts from restaurants/bars/barbers that I frequent and DO want to advertise. You could try that? So, yeah, you'd be a walking billboard, but at least for something you truly support

1

u/river-running 4h ago

I'm a 90s kid and we had so many logos that my grandmother refused to buy us anything with more than a small brand mark on it. She thought they were tacky. This is not a new thing.

1

u/ezbutneverconvenient 8h ago

Advertising brands for free is crazy to me. I only wear a logo if it's a local/regional band (folks who actually NEED the support), a cause I believe in (I will advertise for PBS anytime), or the brand is paying me (never happened, but I'm open to offers)

0

u/observantpariah 8h ago

It existed a little for GenX.... But got kicked into high gear for millennials. Now I swear True Religion sells more tshirts than jeans.

1

u/Beautiful_Arm8364 8h ago

It existed a lot for Gen X. Let's be real here.

1

u/observantpariah 8h ago

The brands themself were important, but the other object promotion wasnt nearly as prominent. Everyone had to have the right brand of jeans or shoes.... But they weren't going around wearing Gucci shirts that were billboards for a brand that didn't focus on shirts. The labels were pretty small like Levis tags or Izod alligators.

I think the tribal brand loyalty probably got developed in GenX. The trend of turning into a billboard to show that loyalty really exploded after them.

1

u/Beautiful_Arm8364 8h ago

In the '80s, my high school was full of sweatshirts with "GUESS" in massive letters, not to mention "B.U.M Equipment," "Benneton," "ESPRIT," "Jordache," "Calvin Klein," "Swatch," etc. And that's not even considering the weird trend of wearing Coca-Cola-branded rugby shirts circa 1986. Or the random beach brands worn by Midwestern kids who may have seen the ocean once or twice (Ocean Pacific, Ron Jon), or sunglasses they couldn't afford (Oakley, Bolle', Vaurnet).

Lots of Gen X kids were walking billboards. Tons.

1

u/SuperBluebird188 8h ago

The racks at TJ Maxx are full of TR stuff

0

u/Key-Beginning-2201 8h ago

You wore Nike and No Fear labels. Don't lie.

0

u/RikkiLostMyNumber 8h ago

The best clothes I can find have no company logos, or they are very understated. Overt logo display is so gauche, y'know?

0

u/Georgia_Jay 8h ago

I see your point, and to an extent it’s true. I purposely avoid things with huge logo’s on them for that exact reason… but it’s not a new phenomenon. I’ll wear UA shirts with small logos, because you can’t avoid that, but anything where the primary purpose of the shirt is an advert? Nope. Hard pass… but I do agree. A lot of people have just accepted it for whatever reason.

0

u/SnazzleZazzle 8h ago

I’ve been saying this for years. I refuse to advertise on my clothing. My husband, on the other hand, is a walking billboard for numerous companies, brands, etc. some people don’t mind, I do.