Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
In American English and Australian English, a tank top is a sleeveless shirt that can be worn by either sex. The name derives from its resemblance to a tank suit, a style of one-piece women's swimsuit with shoulder straps; tank suit in turn refers to swimming tank, an obsolete term for what are now called swimming pools. Tank tops are often worn by athletes in sports such as track and field and cycling. They have been popular summer casual wear in the United States since the 1980s and are regarded as acceptable public casual dress in most locales there. Elsewhere, the term singlet or vest may be used.
Tank tops are often worn by athletes in sports such as Track and field and bicycling.
Tank tops have been popular summer casual wear in the United States since the 1980s and are regarded as acceptable public casual dress in most locales there.
Elsewhere, the term singlet or vest may be used.
In British English a tank top denotes a sleeveless pullover.
Learn more about tank tops.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tank_top). 10/20/04 |
The tank top is a standard trap in clothing vocabulary, like suspenders and jumper. The American sleeveless shirt and the British sleeveless pullover share a name and nothing else: one is a light warm-weather top worn on its own, the other a knitted layer worn over a shirt, closer to a sweater vest. Catalogues, patterns and second-hand listings cross the Atlantic constantly, so the context words matter: fabric, season and what the garment is pictured with tell the buyer which tank top is meant. Singlet, the term used in Australia and in athletics for the racing top, avoids the ambiguity for the shirt; vest does not, since vest means an undershirt in Britain and a waistcoat in America.
The athletic logic of the tank top is heat and freedom: no sleeve to bind the shoulder, maximum skin exposed for cooling, and a close fit that does not flap at speed. Racing singlets in modern technical fabrics are the refined version of that logic. Casual tank tops keep the same cut in cotton jersey and its blends, with variations in strap width, neckline depth and body length that move the garment between gym wear, beach wear and layered street style. As a layering piece under open shirts and jackets it does the opposite job of the athletic top, adding a finished edge at the neckline while staying invisible at the arms.
Buying checks are simple and worth making. Straps should sit flat without digging in or slipping, the armholes should be cut high enough to look neat and allow movement, and the body length should reach well past the waistband so the shirt stays tucked when worn as a layer. Cotton jersey is the default fabric; ribbed knits hold their shape longest; technical blends suit training. Because the garment is small and inexpensive, quality shows quickly in stitching that stays flat and hems that do not twist after washing.
The name derives from the tank suit, a one-piece women's swimsuit with shoulder straps that the sleeveless shirt resembles. Tank in that name refers to the swimming tank, an obsolete term for a swimming pool.
Elsewhere the same garment may be called a singlet or a vest. In British English, tank top denotes something different: a sleeveless pullover, usually knitted and worn over a shirt.
Tank tops are worn by either sex, as athletic wear in sports such as track and field and cycling, and as summer casual wear. They have been popular casual dress in the United States since the 1980s.