telephone

NAME: Cody
LOCATION: house party, Wicker Park

[Cody's shirt was given to him for free by the apartment complex he lives in, called "The Automatic Lofts". Allegedly, the building was formerly either a telephone company or a telephone factory of some kind. Cody had a lot to say about wearing a shirt that was on the one hand an advertisement for a company he has no stake in but on the other hand is a very cool-looking shirt that doesn't necessarily appear to be an advertisement for anything. Unfortunately, a very loud argument was taking place in the next room and completely drowned out our voices on my recorder. The interview was then cut short by that argument escalating into a spectacular fist fight. It was a very exciting evening but an unfortunate loss for the T-Shirt Project. Thanks, Cody, for your time.]

Madison Regatta!

NAME: John [with Alexis]
LOCATION: house party, Avondale

Are you from Madison?

Uh, my folks live there. Yeah, Madison, Indiana.

Oh! Okay.

Yeah, Indiana. The other Madison.

And were you in a regatta?

Nah, it's this, this big thing they do every year around the Fourth of July, yeah? It's this speedboat race, it's, uh, right on the Ohio River. Right on the Kentucky-Indiana border. So, they do it there, and I picked it up at a thrift store. My parents, they work for the Salvation Army, yeah? And, they run the thrift store - that's part of it - so I got a family discount. It worked out pretty good.

How much of a discount do you get at the Salvation Army?

It's like fifty percent, man, it's pretty good.

So how much did this shirt cost?

About a dollar fifty.

And you've never been in the regatta.

No, never been in the regatta. Never actually even been in the same state as the regatta was going on. So it's not quite legitimate. But I like the shirt, right? So what are you gonna do.

DISMANTLE

NAME: Erin
LOCATION: Parrots Bar and Grill, Wellington and Halstead

I didn't know what to do with my life and I was graduating from college and my sister bought me a ticket to see my favorite band for my birthday. So I came here to visit for the first time in a lotta years and we went to the concert and I bought this t-shirt and it's kinda embarrassing because it's a U2 concert t-shirt but it means more to me because it's the color it is and it says "dismantle" and it appeals to my, like, leftist politics, but - and it's, you know, protest-y.


But it also has this really great memory that like my sister and I connected for the first time in a really long time and I came here for the first time in a really long time and it was that weekend that I decided that when I graduated from college I would move here. And I graduated from college and I had no job and I had nothing and I moved here and I'm still here three years later, so. Every time I wear this t-shirt I feel a little, like, liberated, and I believe in myself a little bit more.

So, normally I ask a lot of questions, but I'm tempted to just write down everything you just said and leave it at that.

It sounded completely geeky!

No, no, it sounded really good.

In Good Company

NAME: Ben
LOCATION: The Firkin & Pheasant, Orchard and Diversey

They gave it to us for free at the video store I worked at. So, I stole it. We were supposed to wear it in the store, but I never wore it in the store, I wore it everywhere else. And it's comfy!

Are you a fan of the film?

I don't hate it. Any movie where Topher Grace gets to bang Scarlett Johansson, I'm all for.

Do you wear it, though, as an advertisement for the film?

No. I wear it as an advertisement for comfortable maroon shirts. And Topher Grace. And Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson, but not the movie itself.


But you told me that it's your favorite shirt.

It is my favorite shirt.

What makes this your favorite, as opposed to a shirt advertising a movie you actually like?

I got it for free. Um, it's the most comfortable shirt I wear. It doesn't wear out no matter how many times you wash it. I've probably washed it ... at least more than once, hopefully. It doesn't fade. When it's hot out, it feels cool, when it's cool it feels warm. And it's ironic enough not to be hipstery, but it's also not a hipster shirt because I actually got it where I worked, I didn't buy it in a second-hand store or anything.

Is there irony in your wearing it because you don't think it's a very good movie?

No, I don't hate it. I mean, I think I have a burned copy of it somewhere, from the video store. But I don't watch it a lot. If it was on TBS when I go home right now I would probably watch it. They order Domino's because their dinner gets ruined and then Topher Grace hits on her by playing ping pong in the garage then the lovable little sister comes in and it ends - well, I'm not gonna say how it ends because it's really cool. And then she goes to school and lives in a dorm even though she's like 29 or something. And then Topher Grace bangs her... I haven't watched it a lot, I swear to god.