It’s a pretty safe bet that you’re wearing a tee shirt right now as you read this, even if it is only as an undershirt. After all, these informal pieces of apparel are all the rage nowadays. Companies give away free, cheap custom tee shirts at promotional events. Grocery stores sell them. The shirt printing industry has grown by more than 24% between 2009 and 2014. Yes, tee shirts are all the rage nowadays.

What you might not be aware is just how popular they are, a fact that might actually surprise you. Consider the facts.

About 24 Million Tons of Cotton Gets Consumed Per Year.

Each year, the world consumes about 24 million tons of cotton, using about half a million of it to make custom tees. To help put this in perspective, 24 million tons is 48 billion pounds, or the weight of 600,000 fully loaded big rigs, or about 6,857,143 male African elephants.

Virtually Everyone in the U.S. Has a Tee Shirt.

About 95% of people in the United States have at least one tee shirt, while about 62% of people claim to own more than 10 tee shirts. What’s more, about 2 billion custom tees are made and sold each year.

People Get Emotionally Invested in Tee Shirts.

Believe it or not, nine out of 10 Americans have a tee shirt that they refuse to toss because it has sentimental value, and about 91% of Americans claim to own a favorite tee shirt. This all means that people love tee shirts so much that they get emotionally invested in them.

Custom tees are a big deal. Not only does just about everyone in the United States own a tee shirt, but they love their tee shirts, too. So the next time you think they’re just a junky sort of fashion, you may want to keep that thought to yourself lest you offend anyone.

If you know any other weird things about custom tees, feel free to share. Get more info here.