Megan PellegrinoAlong with ripped jeans, distressed clothing and UGG boots, graphic tees are a growing trend for both men and women’s fashion.
Graphic tees are technically considered to be any t-shirt with a cool design, logo or graphic displayed on the front or back of a shirt or even a sweatshirt.
Companies such as Hollister Co., Abercrombie and Fitch, Urban Outfitters and Aéropostale have changed the designed tees into a must-have for every teen and young adult.
Sayings such as ‘Blondes have more fun,’ ‘I’m single’ or ‘I only date models’ are displayed across t-shirts around the world.
Not only are these t-shirts made with sayings or jokes but even a t-shirt with the company’s name across the front or back of the shirt are extremely popular as well.
More and more people are buying these shirts as they become even more popular than they already are.
Amanda Marquisity, a sales associate at Abercrombie, is thrilled and amazed by the success of graphic t-shirts.
“Personally, I sell about 50 graphic tees on an average day. We have hundreds in the back and we are always bringing more out on the floor,” Marquisity said.
As the t-shirts vary from jokes to words to logos, Marquisity said that A&F’s graphic t-shirts consist of funny sayings or just “Abercrombie” across it.
“The shirts with just our logo or company name across the front sell just as well, if not better than the actual sayings.”
As Abercrombie sells hundreds of graphic tees, Hollister Co. is also selling out of these popular shirts.
“Hollister’s graphic tees seem to be more inappropriate than Abercrombie’s shirts,” Greg Dobbs, a sales associate at Hollister, said. “Our tees are sold just as well but it is more common to see the mothers say ‘no way’ to their son or daughter at the register than at Abercrombie.”
As Abercrombie and Hollister are actually owned by the same company, usually the crowds are partial to their favorite store.
“Someone who walks into Hollister on a weekly basis to shop will never be seen in an Abercrombie t-shirt. Abercrombie is in a weird way the competition when it comes to fashion. That is why having our name across the t-shirts is so great. They grab attention,” Dobbs said.
With Abercrombie and Hollister being the two major graphic tee selling stores, other companies such as Aéropostale, which also carries these t-shirts, are often forgotten.
With the competition of Hollister right across the walkway at the King of Prussia mall, Aéropostale’s sales associate Chrissy Ronoun said, “When someone wants a graphic tee they most definitely go to Hollister or Abercrombie. But, in my opinion it is mostly men who buy the graphic t-shirts. Women tend to like their clothes plain.”
Agreeing with Ronoun, sophomore English major Corrine Grasso said, “I never wear graphic tees. I feel like that is a guy thing.”
While Grasso never wears them she does admit that some are “definitely amusing.”
There are hundreds of different sayings walking around on people’s backs.
Jennifer Powers, junior graphic design and communications major, said, “I don’t wear the sayings but the funniest one I’ve seen is one that says, ‘are we friends on Facebook?’ I thought that was clever.”
It is clear that Abercrombie and Hollister rule the graphic tee selling contest.
Junior business major, Nick Ilisco said, “I always go to Abercrombie or Hollister first. They have the largest selection with new ones all the time. The best graphic tee I’ve seen is ‘wham bam thank you ma’am’.”
