If you’ve ever examined your clothing closely, you might have seen that certain items have a loop on the back. Men’s dress shirts usually include this loop. If you chance to find it, you might not have known about its possible application until lately. Button-down shirts are usually worn casually.
One further use for the loop has been to display an individual’s relationship or single status. Indicating that the wearer is in a committed relationship and doesn’t need to hang the garments somewhere else, the shirt’s loop should be removed. The original meaning of the loop has been lost; it is now just an extra piece of material sewed into clothes.
Over the past century, American design has seen tremendous transformation, and it’s usually enjoyable to take a journey down memory lane and discover a little bit about the past. You’ll discover that, in actuality, some things haven’t altered at all.
This particularly holds true for men’s clothing. The back-of-the-shirt loop is one indisputably true but subtle piece of information that you might have missed. It’s there, daring you to grab it or use it to spin the t-shirt around on your finger, staring back at you from the middle yoke.
Frequently called a “locker loop” or “fairy loop,” it is a sewing detail found on numerous button-down and oxford t-shirts. The intention? As you might have guessed, the loops are intended to be used for hanging the t-shirts up. The origin story of the locker loop is sometimes connected to American sailors who hung their t-shirts from them while on board ships.
Ultimately, they became a typical part of popular menswear in the 1960s, worn by college students as part of their “preppy” ensemble. Clothing company Gant claims that this button-down got its start on Ivy League yards across the nation. After the company’s founder presented Yale’s training program for men the design for the t-shirt, word ultimately spread.
