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If the T-shirt is a ubiquitous sight on summer streets, fashion loves nothing more than changing up something very familiar. Enter, this summer, the rise of the ringer T-shirt.
A T-shirt shape but with contrast colour on the collar and ends of the short sleeves, the garment has been spotted at brands ranging from Marks & Spencer to Ganni, Hush and Levi’s.
There are examples at the luxury end of fashion too, at labels such as Versace, Miu Miu and Coach. Levi’s and M&S have used the design on World Cup-themed T-shirts, which have gone on to sell out.
Frida Tordhag is a fashion analyst at Luxurynsight, a company that uses AI to predict trends based on social media posts. It pulled out the ringer T-shirt as a trend on the rise for spring, predicting the garment’s popularity would increase 9% among 16- to 25-year-old women and by 11% among men over the next 12 months.
“It aligns with several wider shifts in consumer behaviour,” says Tordhag, noting the recent colour-blocking trend and the interest in vintage aesthetics as relevant to the ringer T-shirt. “It is a classic wardrobe staple that carries references to different eras and subcultures – from sportswear and music culture to the casual Americana aesthetic.”
There is a bounty of retro references here, ones that feel almost designed to post on social media. John Lennon and Goldie Hawn wore ringer T-shirts in the 70s. For those more inclined to look toward the noughties, there is young Paris Hilton’s “Bite Me” version or Jon Heder’s “Vote for Pedro” offering in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite.
The fashion historian Emma McClendon says the ringer T-shirt dates back to the 50s, when it was first worn by schoolchildren in the US to play sport. Its colours – often those of the school – marked itself out from the T-shirt which, at the time, was still largely associated with underwear. “There is this very clear sense of it being a garment that’s to be seen,” says McClendon.
If its beginnings were wholesome, the adoption of the ringer T-shirt by rock’n’roll adds to its lore. “They simultaneously make me think of a very candy-coloured nostalgia of American summer and 70s rockers,” says McClendon. “It’s a really interesting mix and maybe a reason that they continue to have relevance.”
Tordhag agrees the ringer T-shirt covers a lot of bases, pointing out that the garment sits in the “sweet spot” of what people want from clothes now.
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“It has a timeless appeal that makes it easy to wear, but the contrast neckline and sleeve details give it enough character to feel current,” she says. “In a market where consumers are becoming more intentional with their purchases, pieces with longevity and character tend to resonate.”
Rather than it be seen as boring or played-out, the constancy of the ringer T-shirt – an item now familiar to consumers for more than seven decades – could be precisely why that appeals now. “When there are moments of intense political instability and economic uncertainty and anxiety, we naturally tend to search for things of comfort,” says McClendon. “They remind us of childhood, of youth, of the summer, of times when things were more fun.”
The Ganni designer Ditte Reffstrup, who features the design in a new Disney collaboration, has a similar take: “A ringer T-shirt is like finding your favourite childhood T-shirt again. Familiar, comforting and impossible not to love.”
