The Shirt Off Your Back

Ed Iskenderian is credited with inventing the branded T-shirt, handing them out to promote Isky cams in the ’50s.

David Freiburger

I guess I should send him some thanks, or a royalty check, because I have a decent side hustle selling my own shirts and hoodies. That got me thinking about the T-shirts that impacted my life, because in the gearhead world, that’s an actual thing.

The first shirt I coveted at an unreasonable level was a hand-me-down from my brother, a green shirt with the now-classic, then-current Suzuki S logo. I wasn’t into dirt bikes, but my bro was, so therefore the shirt was cool. I wore it until it was loaded with holes and nearly transparent.

I never had a real Ed Roth monster shirt, but poured over the ads in the back of the mags. My mother thought they were too lowbrow and tasteless. I eventually had a Rat Fink shirt, and she somehow liked its awfulness.