The Most Iconic Tees of the 1990s

The 1990s were a time when you could buy cigarettes from vending machines and scalding hot metal  ̶s̶k̶i̶l̶l̶e̶t̶s slides were considered standard playground equipment for kids.

It was a fascinating era in style when the psychedelic LSD hallucinations of the 1980s cross pollinated with parachutes to inspire what is now sheer shame, and was then fashion flash.  

Procuring iconic tees in the 1990s most definitely involved a trip to Mervyn's, May Company or the mall to purchase whatever social signaling badge of popularity Teen Bop, Sassy or ABC's TGIF lineup showcased.  

If you were a slap bracelet wearing, Capri Sun drinking, Fruit-by-the-Foot jonesing American kid in the 1990s, you owned one of these iconic tees.

While this may be a source of dispute, for us, there were only two shirts that defined the 1990s with such iconoclast cult status, they're now stuff of legend, and our list doesn't need to be any longer than it already is. 

1. HYPERCOLOR T-SHIRTS

 

The granddaddy of must have tees, the Hypercolor shirt was untouchable from its early 1990s apex.

To influence the color of your shirt with heat was a thing of alchemy to 1990s kids. It meant nonstop touching and mouth to mouth material resuscitation of your sleeve for all the thrills.

 

 

Unbelievably, the Seattle-based company that manufactured the apparel, Generra, pocketed an astonishing $50 million between February and May 1991, but then declared bankruptcy as oversaturation and too much, too soon, tanked the company. 

 

2. HIP HOP LOONEY TUNES T-SHIRTS

When Bugs Bunny and Taz got baggy jeans and Kris Kross vibes, undecided if it was hip hop or Looney Tunes that landed the pop culture cred. No matter, either you, or someone in your class, absolutely rocked this. 

  

 

Regrettably, while the Looney Tunes franchise still rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars, tragically half of the duo Kriss Kross, Chris Kelly, passed in 2013 from a drug overdose.