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.
It was in 1907 that Jack London and his wife Chairman went to Hawaii and was introduced to the joy of surfing by Alexander Hume Ford and together with George Freeth, breathed life into the Sport of the Kings. This was further followed up by duke Kahanamoku, a Polynesian known for his prowess on the waves. It was Duke who introduced it to the Californians in 1912 and since then the sport has never looked back.
Meanwhile, as stated previously, the T-Shirt had come into its own rights and everyone, man, woman and child, people from all walks of life and all ages - from the youngest to the oldest - were wearing t-shirts. It had graduated to a National Phenomenon. Printing on T-Shirts had boosted the popularity of the T-Shirt to such heights and it had become a medium of expression of just about anything and everything.
But it was only in 1961, about half a century since its induction as an undergarment that the t-shirt became a “Surfing T-Shirt”. It was then that Gordon & Smith, the manufacturers of surf boards hit on the notion of printing the symbol of their company, free of cost, on to white shirts, as an advertisement gimmick. It isn’t surprising that everyone had to have this fad on their t-shirts. It did not matter if they surfed or not.
When Dave Sweet, the inventor of the foam surfboard followed it up with a print of his arrowhead insignia on the t-shirt the surfing t-shirt took off on its flight to fame and left an indelible on the world of fashion. In tandem with the growing popularity of the sport of surfing, also grew the fame of the surfing t-shirt. The popularity gained to such heights at an international level that some 300 million surfing t-shirts were made in 2002.
Hollywood’s adoption of the surfing t-shirt in 1973 when Mackenzie Phillips was seen sporting a Dewey Weber Surfboard Surfing T-Shirt in the movie “American Graffiti” and Robert Duval in “Apocalypse Now” as Colonel Kilgore further boosted the reputation of the t-shirt.
So it is time to get yourself a surfing t-shirt and wear it. Whether you know how to surf or not, you might be looked at with awe if you come back wearing it from a vacation to one of the coasts where surfing is practiced. Get yourself photographed in one, and you can boast about your prowess to your grandchildren, they won’t know.