Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A tennis shirt, also called a polo shirt or a golf shirt, is a T-shaped shirt with a collar, two or three buttons down a slit below the collar, two small slits at the bottom of either side, and an optional pocket. Common fabrics include pique cotton, jersey cotton and pima cotton, and the names for the shirt come from the sports it is associated with. The 1929 design by tennis player Rene Lacoste called for a thick pique collar that could be worn turned up to block the sun from the neck. The shirt is worn by tennis, polo and golf players, by caddies and sports professionals, and widely as informal uniform and business dress.
This type of shirt is made in several colors and patterns. Wide horizontal stripes are common, as are solid color shirts. Due to the outdoor nature of the sports they are associated with, the shirts are often colors associated with nature, such as brown, dark blue, green, and orange. Tennis style shirts are usually of brighter colors and often feature much more white. Tennis shirts can be little more than T-shirts with buttons to quite thick and substantial shirts for heavy wear.
Sometimes a tennis shirt's cloth is cut so that the back hangs a few centimeters lower than the front. This is called a tennis tail. The original 1929 design by tennis player Rene Lacoste called for a thick pique collar that one would wear turned up in order to block the sun from one's neck.
As is implied by the name, the tennis shirt is worn by tennis, polo, and golf players. This style is also worn by those merely associated to the sports by work, such as caddies, golf professionals, and sports announcers. It is also a favored shirt for those working outside, such as groundskeepers and construction workers due to its ruggedness. During the 1990's, the tennis shirt became the standard informal business attire for the high tech industry. In the People's Republic of China, most younger government officials wear a tennis shirt (sometimes made of silk) as standard business attire. In many schools with a uniform, especially junior schools, polo shirts are compulsary wear for both boys and girls. However,in almost every school, uniform or not, polo shirts are compulsary for PE (games or gym.)
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/polo_shirt). 4/26/05 |
The polo shirt succeeded because its few details each do a job. The knitted collar frames the neck and takes a tie-less open neck from sloppy to deliberate; the short placket lets the wearer adjust ventilation and fit at the throat, most commonly worn with the top button undone only, sometimes over a T-shirt for warmth; the side slits stop the hem binding when the wearer sits or swings; and the knitted construction moves with the body in a way a woven shirt cannot. Colours follow the sports: wide horizontal stripes and solid colours generally, nature-associated shades such as dark blue, green and orange in golf and outdoor use, brighter colours and much more white in tennis, where all-white traditions shaped the palette.
Those same qualities made the shirt a uniform. Groundskeepers, construction and outdoor workers wear it for ruggedness, caddies and golf professionals wear it as the dress of their workplace, and schools with uniforms, especially junior schools, specify polo shirts for ordinary wear and for physical education in schools with and without uniforms alike. In the 1990s the shirt became the standard informal business dress of the high-technology industry, and in China it serves many younger government officials, sometimes in silk, as standard business attire. Care is knit care: wash inside out, reshape the collar while damp, and fold rather than hang heavy pique, which stretches on a hanger. Fit is deliberately easy through the body with the tennis tail at the back, and the shirt is sized by chest in ordinary clothing sizes, a sport garment that ended up as one of the most widely worn shirt patterns in the world.
The names come from the sports the shirt is associated with. Rene Lacoste designed it for tennis in 1929, and the same collared, placket-front shirt was adopted for polo and golf, so all three sport names attach to one garment, differing mainly in colour and trim conventions.
Pique is a knitted cotton with a small raised geometric texture, the classic polo shirt fabric. The texture makes the cloth breathable, durable and resistant to rolling at the collar, and Lacoste's design specified a thick pique collar that could be turned up against the sun.
A tennis tail is a back hem cut to hang a few centimetres lower than the front of the shirt. The longer back stays tucked in or covers the waistband when the player bends and reaches, a practical detail from the shirt's court origin kept on many modern versions.