Do you ever think about how a cool cheap R99 branded tee could have much more meaning to it?

“Wine, Dine, Sixty-Nine” is just one example of the kind of tee’s sold at Sportscene. Some would buy this tee because, it’s funny and attention grabbing. Others, buy it for the trend. Are you one of them?

Exploring the topic of my article, I did a youth take on the streets of Cape Town. I saw a guy wearing a printed tee with ‘Elmo’ from Sesame Street and ‘Tickle This’ written on. Harmless as it may seem, grown men are wearing cartoon characters with evocative words. When seen by kids, what messages are we portraying?

A stall owner displayed a tee with a married couple – the guy is sulking and the girl is happy. Printed on the tee, ‘Game Over’. Is this the kind of messages that we as the youth hope for the future?

Many of the youth-targeted stores like Mr.Price, Markhams and Jay Jays stock such tee’s mainly for guys. Are girls more sensitive to provoking tee’s? A few girls commented that they would only wear branded tee’s if they believe in the message. One foreign girl wore a tee that promoted efficient use of electricity. Sportscene’s girl range focuses more on using celebrities to brand their tee’s. If you a conservative person, would you wear a tee with Lady GAGA’s face printed on? We all know how liberal she is. It’s called idolising.

Imagine a 13 year old child wearing a “PHOTO OF MY COCK” tee by David & Goliath? I don’t think there is any appropriate age for wanting to wear that over your body. Are we so consumed in fashion that our values and morals are forgotten? Colours, designs and size are always trendy. But, should that be exploited. How aware are you of what is put on what you wear?