The T-shirt must surely be one of the most iconic clothing designs of the 20th century. Originally created back in the early 1900s for the US Navy, the first tees were intended as soft, comfortable undershirts to be worn beneath itchy wool jumpers and work-shirts.
These crew-neck jersey undershirts quickly caught on beyond the military world to become a favorite with farmers and factory workers, and by the 1960s, thanks in part to the rise of counterculture, they were liberated from their undergarment status—worn in their own right rather than hidden away.
Since then it’s safe to say the T-shirt has well and truly earned classic status, and even in today’s age of technical fabrics, a well-made cotton tee is still hard to beat.
As well as our long-standing pigment dyed t-shirt collection, this season we’ve made a wide-range of graphic tees printed on organic cotton. Here are a few stand-outs…
The G-Logo Tee
Starting things off nicely, the G-Logo Tee is an organic cotton jersey T-shirt with a subtle logo on the front, a big ol’ letter G on the back. For anyone wondering about why Gramicci is called Gramicci, it all started when founder Mike Graham and his friends decided to attempt the first ‘All Italian’ ascent of the huge chunk of granite known as Half Dome, despite the fact any of them were actually Italian. To make things sound more official, Graham became ‘Gramicci’, and the rest is history.
The Running Man Tee
Over the years a few different logos have adorned our clothes—often woven into the belt of our shorts and pants. There’s the simple ‘G’ logo (which doesn’t really need explaining), there’s the ‘Hiking Man’ (a dynamic depiction of a climber scrambling up a wall), and then there’s the Running Man—a full-speed stickman with dreadlocks flowing.
This is perhaps the brand’s most well-known logo—a super-simple yet seriously-effective embodiment of the freedom you get from Gramicci gear. No prizes for guessing which logo is on the back of the Running Man tee…
The Dawn Wall Tee
Originally known as ‘the Wall of Morning Light’, the Dawn Wall is a notorious climbing route up Yosemite’s El Capitan that’s often regarded as one of the hardest big wall climbs on the planet. For many years it was deemed unclimbable due to its smooth surface, but in 2015 it was finally conquered by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson after a grueling 19 day battle.
The Dawn Wall Tee is our tip of the hat to this infamous route, and also a nod to our roots in the Yosemite Valley climbing scene. Even if you haven’t climbed the Dawn Wall yourself, you’ll surely agree it looks pretty majestic on that full-color graphic.
The Short Tee
The Short Tee pays homage to our much-loved G-Shorts with not one, not two, but twelve pairs of ‘em on the back. We’ve been making our trademark shorts since right back in the early 1980s, and, if we may say so ourselves, they’re a bit of an outdoor classic—worn far beyond the climbing wall. If you’re rarely out of yours, then here’s the tee to match.
Keep on Hiking Tee
The Keep on Hiking Tee takes inspiration from vintage outdoor t-shirts prints from the 70s and 80s. Seen by some as the golden age for hiking gear, this was a free-spirited DIY era for outdoor clothing, as hikers, climbers and mountain bike pioneers took it upon themselves to start their own brands (Gramicci included) and make the clothes and equipment they needed.
Whilst t-shirts themselves didn’t need much re-thinking, the outdoor brands would use them more as a place for expression—a blank canvas for big logos and wild graphics. This Tee takes cues from a few designs of the era, with a full color version of our seldom-seen Hiking Man logo on the back. Grab one and get hiking.
