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Hindustan Times
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
T is brewing: See why fashion is suddenly obsessing over the humble T-shirt
For years , it was all about jeans. The fit mattered. The label on the back meant everything. We obsessed over the right kind of blue, how high it rose, where it frayed, and where it faded. Now, jeans have been shoved to the back of the shop floor, they're at the back of our minds. A long-ignored garment is front and centre: The T-shirt. And fashion is only part of the story. Remember Hailey Bieber's Nepo Baby tee? It was a stylish clapback at trolls. It's back as a symbol of activism. All this year, Pedro Pascal and other celebrities wore T-shirts that read Protect the Dolls, drawing attention to transpersons' rights. It's the IRL status message of our time. At IPL 2025, MS Dhoni wore a T-shirt bearing Morse Code that fans quickly translated to read One Last Time, suggesting that this might be his final season. It's prime real-estate for a micro-trend. H&M's DIMES SQ T-shirt sold out in two days last week. In-the-know cool hunters snapped it up because it referenced a much-memed NYC neighbourhood that is popular with Manhattan's right-wing incels. Pedro Pascal's 'Protect the Dolls' T-shirt draws attention to transpersons' rights. It's broken into political spheres too. Rahul Gandhi rocked a plain white tee all through his Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022-23 (even when it was freezing). His party, the Indian National Congress, has a White T-shirt Movement in support of marginalised groups. In February, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House in a T-shirt, a reporter asked him why he hadn't worn something more respectful. Zelenskyy's response, 'I'll wear a suit when the war is over' went viral so hard, supporters around the world printed it on (what else ) their own T-shirts. And it's how celebrities are clapping back at trolls. Karan Johar and Hailey Bieber have worn Nepo Baby tees with cheeky nonchalance. Victoria Beckham wore one that said My Dad Had a Rolls Royce, referencing her statement in the documentary on the Beckhams. 'It's fast fashion in the literal sense – fast to respond to what's happening,' says actor Hamid Barkzi. 'The T-shirt isn't just a basic item of clothing anymore, it's a cool, versatile piece that even high-fashion is obsessed with. You see it on runways, styled with suits, layered with pearls, or worn oversized. It's everywhere.' Quiet-fashion brands such as Loro Piana are selling out of their silk styles ($900 and not even a logo to show for it). Even fast-fashion brands have been putting out premium T-shirts in silk blends, Supima cotton and heavier fabrics. As for Mark Zuckerberg, who wore only plain $400 Brunello Cucinelli tees, he's been designing his own oversized versions, featuring corny Greek and Latin aphorisms. All this fuss over something that was, until 100 years ago, mostly an undergarment. Here's how T-shirts got a glow-up in 2025. During IPL 2025, MS Dhoni wore a Morse Code tee that spelt out One Last Time. Was it a hint? Comment threads Sukh Dugal, one of four co-founders of the T-shirt brand March Tee, saw the demand for elevated basics building up roughly a decade ago. In 2016, the Pune-based brand started shipping its first T-shirts, using a new combination of yarns and weaves to offer the durability of a heavyweight tee, along with the luxurious pliability of a lighter cotton one. 'We source our Suvin cotton [for one of our high-end ranges] from a single farm in Tamil Nadu, which otherwise exports exclusively to Japan,' he says. The cotton was high-quality, the T-shirts logo free, the price ₹1,500 and up then. It seemed like a gamble. But India eventually caught up. The online-only brand is currently valued at ₹97 crore, with T-shirts that cost up to ₹4,900. The decade in the business has taught Dugal a fair bit about turning a generic garment into a premium one. 'People want a story,' he says. 'They need to know where the T-shirt came from; how it's made, technical details such as its weight.' It may look like a T-shirt, but what people are really seeking is a crafted garment. Designer Dhruv Kapoor's tee design — We Were Lovers in a Past Life — went viral in 2024. With the crew Designer Dhruv Kapoor tapped into the inherent power of the T-shirt when he made his We Were Lovers in a Past Life version, which went viral in 2024. They also appeared at his Milan Fashion Week, Spring/Summer 2025 show. Slogan T-shirts have long been a personal billboard, he believes. 'They speak volumes about the person.' In March, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal showed up to the final hearing of his divorce to Dhanashree Verma in a T-shirt that read Be Your Own Sugar Daddy. The moment went viral – fans and critics broke down what it means to be a be a rich athlete, have a dependent spouse, and be publicly petty in 2025. H&M's DIMES SQ T-shirt references a NYC neighbourhood that is popular with right-wing incels. In 2020, when she was summoned at a hearing connected to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Rhea Chakraborty, his former partner, made her stand clear without saying a word. Her T-shirt read, 'Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue; Let's Smash The Patriarchy, Me And You.' In March, Jay Graber, CEO of the micro-blogging platform Bluesky, attended the SXSW festival in a T-shirt that parodied the ones worn by Mark Zuckerberg. Where the Meta billionaire's tee read Aut Zuck Aut Nihil, a riff on the Latin phrase Aut Caesar Aut Nihi (Either Caesar or nothing), Graber's read Mundus Sine Caesaribus (A World Without Caesars). Bluesky sold those tees -- the revenue made them more money in one day than they'd made in the previous two years. Who knew a casual tee could wield so much power? Indian brands such as HUEMN are hoping that the T-shirt becomes a symbol of homegrown quality. Elevation points Because everyone's zooming in on T-shirts, manufacturers are paying more attention to what's going into them. Designer versions, in previous decades, simply meant limited-edition, knit with finer threads, or garishly embellished with jewels. Even eight years ago, it was OK for designers to be tone-deaf. For Spring 2017 Dior showed a white cotton-linen T-shirt that read We Should All Be Feminists. It was the most Instagrammed item in the show – not because it marked the debut of Maria Grazia Chiuri as Dior's first female artistic director, but because it was priced at $710, hardly the power move Chuiri was going for. Jay Graber trolled Mark Zuckerberg with this lookalike T-shirt. Kapoor says that a luxury-label T-shirt works much like a Chanel lipstick – it allows customers to own a designer brand at a lower price. Sahil Nandal, founder-CEO of streetwear brand Free Society, says that it reflects how much casualwear has become a status symbol. 'With streetwear becoming synonymous with luxury, T-shirts are at the forefront. Balenciaga, Loewe, Fear of God and Amiri drop T-shirts priced more than ₹25,000,' he says. 'There are tees that cost more than jackets now.' Indian brands such as Almost Gods, HUEMN, Jaywalking, Bhaane, NorBlack NorWhite and Bluorng are hoping for some of that money too. They know that being endorsed by the right celebrity, at the right moment, can make or break a brand's cachet. Some are strategically treating T-shirts as collectibles. 'Some streetwear drops sell out like sneakers. It's a whole scene now,' says Barkzi. Dhruv Kapoor's extended label, Kapoor 2.0, views T-shirts (both graphic and slogan types) as a prime category and includes them in every drop. Others, such as Dugal at March Tee, are hoping that the T-shirt becomes its own symbol of homegrown quality. Quiet-fashion brands such as Loro Piana are selling out of their silk styles. What to wear now Dugal recommends T-shirts from the German brand Merz b. Schwanen (Hey, if it's good enough for Carmy on The Bear, who are we to question it?). Ralph Lauren's Purple Label is also the name of the moment. Kapoor's picks include COS, Ambush, AMI Paris, Sunnei and Acne Studios. Nandal likes the Indian brand No Area Code for its limited drops of meticulously created pieces. This year, Inditex (the parent company of brands such as Zara and Bershka) decided to ditch BetterCotton, the industry's biggest sustainable cotton trading standard, in the wake of a deforestation and labour-abuse scandal. It has pledged to support methods that are kinder on the environment and workers. Locally, Nandal says that T-shirt makers are learning from our handloom industry. 'Some brands are tapping into local artisans and lost techniques.' It means that those T-shirt drops and viral slogans might finally have a conscience too. From HT Brunch, August 09, 2025 Follow us on
Forbes
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Protect The Dolls: How A $99 T-Shirt Redefined The Power Of Fashion
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Pedro Pascal attends the "Thunderbolts*" UK Special Screening at ... More Cineworld Leicester Square on April 22, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by) On the eve of his London Fashion Week runway show, American fashion designer Conner Ives grabbed a deadstock white T-shirt, stamped the words Protect the Dolls onto it with transfer paper, and pulled it over his head. No brand strategists. No marketing campaign. Just raw instinct — the kind I feel leaders need to adopt more but rarely do. The Dolls? Transgender women — a community facing escalating attacks on their rights, visibility, and safety. In queer communities, 'doll' is a term of affection, pride, and belonging — a coded word that speaks volumes without explanation. The next night, as Ives took his bow at the end of the fashion week catwalk, the Dolls T-Shirt didn't just land — it detonated. It tore through social media, dominated fashion rankings, and hijacked global headlines. Conner Ives hadn't just designed a T-shirt, he had triggered a marketing movement. And within 24 hours, over 2,500 orders flooded in — each one supporting Trans Lifeline, a community-driven organization providing crisis support to trans people in need. If you've read The Kim Kardashian Principle, you already know where I stand: Leaders who win are the ones brave enough to create more of these moments — unvarnished, emotional, and unapologetically true. LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 18: Designer, Connor Ives walks the runway at the Conner Ives show during ... More London Fashion Week February 2022 on February 18, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/BFC/Getty Images for BFC) For years, slogan tees were dismissed as slactivism — easy gestures without real substance. So how did Protect the Dolls hit differently? It wasn't just a statement, it was a shield. A visible call to arms at a time when trans woman visibility is being ripped apart — in courts, in legislation, and in public discourse. The Dolls T-Shirts weren't selling fashion, they were selling solidarity. When I wore a "Orban Love Wins" message across the back of my Gucci jacket on the red carpet at the MTV EMAs in Budapest, Hungary, in 2021, it didn't just generate support from the local LGBTQI+ community — it made global headlines. At the time, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had recently pushed through legislation in 2021 that banned the depiction of LGBTQI+ content to minors, part of a broader crackdown on LGBTQI+ rights. In a country where state-sponsored discrimination was becoming law, the message wasn't just a fashion choice — it was my act of protest, a show of solidarity, and a public stand against political repression. What I learned then — and still believe now — is that context matters. When the world feels the sharp edge of peril, fashion choices stop being choices and they become cultural flashpoints. Today, amongst our most savvy Gen Z audiences, brands don't get a pass for lazy signaling. As a McKinsey study shows, consumers demand authenticity that cuts deeper than words. They expect brands to put real skin in the game — especially when it comes to defending the rights of transgender women, trans men, and non-binary individuals facing systemic threats. Troye Sivan (left) at Coachella with Lorde, Charli xcx and Billie Eilish. It wasn't just what Conner Ives said. It was how he said it. Protect. The. Dolls. Short. Direct. Familiar, yet radical. In queer communities, "doll" is a term of endearment — a private language of affection and solidarity. But in the wider community, the word can sound flippant or even objectifying. From this standpoint, the slogan is polarizing but Ives didn't care as he chose authenticity over universal approval. As research from the Journal of Business Research shows, linguistic precision in branding isn't decorative; it's transformative. The right words create movements — and sometimes, they divide before they unite. When Ives chose "Protect the Dolls" over safer slogans like "Support Trans Rights" or "Love the Dolls," he made a statement of solidarity as he didn't aim for consensus or the safer more palatable version. He made a statement that was emotional, not clinical. Protective, not patronizing. I've said it before and I'll say it again: some of the most powerful brand ideas are no longer afraid of hate. In fact, hate is a status symbol — proof that you've struck a nerve deep enough to matter. And in my experience, brands that understand the emotional weight of language always win bigger than brands that chase clarity at the expense of feeling. Tilda Swinton wearing the T-shirt. Photograph: Twitter The ripple effect was immediate — and electric. Pedro Pascal, beloved not just for his acting but for his visible support of the LGBTQ+ community (and brother to Lux Pascal, a trans woman herself), wore the Dolls T-Shirt alongside DJ Honey Dijon. Pop stars, Troye Sivan wore it during his Coachella set and Addison Rae wore hers on Instagram. Actor, Tilda Swinton reportedly ordered several for herself and her friends. In fashion, often times this kind of celebrity endorsement feels choreographed, but ut here, it felt urgent — and real. The intersection of celebrity influence and grassroots activism created the perfect storm. Meanwhile, across the pond, the UK Supreme Court handed down a regressive ruling on gender definition, excluding trans women from parts of the Equality Act protections. It felt like a slap to the community of people already fighting for basic dignity. The Dolls T-Shirt wasn't just a fashion choice anymore; it was armor. A recent study in the Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice shows how fashion activism is no longer fringe. It's now a recognized force in building socio-economic resilience, particularly among marginalized groups. The experiences of transgender people — too often erased or politicized — were now stitched into the mainstream conversation. In today's world, the brands — and the leaders — who will shape the future won't be the ones hiding behind aesthetics. They'll be the ones brave enough to take sides, to build brands with purpose, to defend marginalized communities, to fight for transgender women, to challenge regressive gender stereotypes, and to recognize that preferred gender is no longer an opinion — it's a human right. The world has changed. Leadership must catch up. Protect the Dolls reminds us that fashion is always political, whether we're ready for it or not. I have no doubt that American designer Conner Ives will, in part, be remembered for the night he turned a DIY graphic T-shirt into a weapon of beauty, resistance, and solidarity. Protect the Dolls wasn't a whisper. It was a roar. And for leaders who bristle at the Dolls T-Shirts — who roll their eyes at yet another political statement on a fashion week catwalk — maybe it's worth asking a harder question. Is the real discomfort not about the cause itself, but about what leadership demands today? That you must change again. That you must put yourself — your brand, your reputation — on the line. That leadership now means confronting culture, not just selling into it. Because in a culture that still debates the validity of gender recognition certificates, silence isn't neutrality. It's complicity. And if you're not brave enough to wear your beliefs on a deadstock white T-shirt — I have to ask you — are you really brave enough to lead at all? Named Esquire's Influencer of the Year, Jeetendr Sehdev is a media personality and leading voice in fashion, entertainment, and influence, and author of the New York Times bestselling phenomenon The Kim Kardashian Principle: Why Shameless Sells (and How to Do It Right).
Buzz Feed
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Pedro Pascal Called Out J.K. Rowling For "LOSER Behavior" Following Her Celebration Of An Anti-Trans Ruling
Pedro Pascal really is protecting the dolls. The actor has been outspoken on trans rights before, especially given that his sister, Lux, is trans herself. He's previously called out the Trump administration's treatment of trans people, writing earlier this year, "I can't think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorizing the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist." As you may have read, things recently took a turn for the worse in the UK, where its Supreme Court essentially ruled that trans women aren't legally women (within the context of equality legislation, but organizations like the British Transport Police have already jumped on the ruling and said that male officers will strip-search trans women). Following the decision, even supposedly left-wing Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that he doesn't think trans women are women. Protests have ensued. One person who was seemingly thrilled about this outcome is J.K. Rowling, who gave a hefty donation to the group that brought the case to the Supreme Court in the first place. She even posted a photo of her drinking and smoking a cigar after the news, captioned, "I love it when a plan comes together." I love it when a plan comes together. #SupremeCourt #WomensRights — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025 JK Rowling Some have subsequently called for further boycotts of Harry Potter media. One such person was activist Tariq Ra'ouf, who said in an Instagram video, "It has become our mission as the general public to make sure that every single thing that's Harry Potter related that awful disgusting shit, that has consequences." As well as "liking" the video, Pedro hopped into the comments to write, "Awful disgusting SHIT is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior." Pedro then wore a "Protect the Dolls" shirt by Conner Ives to the premiere of Marvel's Thunderbolts in London. All proceeds from the sale of the shirt are set to be donated directly to Trans Lifeline.
News.com.au
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Pedro Pascal champions trans rights with statement T-shirt at Thunderbolts premiere
The Last of Us actor, who has been a longtime advocate of the transgender community, wore a white T-shirt bearing the message "Protect the Dolls" in a black font. American designer Conner Ives debuted the T-shirt during his London Fashion Week show in February to show support for trans women, who are affectionally referred to as "dolls" by the LGBTQ+ community. It has since gone viral and is currently out of stock. All proceeds from the sale of the shirt go to Trans Lifeline, a charity that offers trans people support and resources.
Hindustan Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Pedro Pascal shows support for transgender rights at Thunderbolts London premiere days after UK Supreme Court ruling
Actor Pedro Pascal reaffirmed his support for transgender rights at the London premiere of Marvel's 'Thunderbolts', making a powerful statement through fashion. Appearing at Cineworld Leicester Square, the 'Last of Us' and 'Game of Thrones' star donned the now-iconic "Protect the Dolls" t-shirt, as per Deadline. (Also read: The Last of Us kills off major character in 'shocking, devastating' scene; reeling fans say: 'This will haunt forever') Designed by Conner Ives, the shirt first gained widespread attention during Pascal's 50th birthday celebration earlier this month. The phrase "Protect the Dolls" holds deep meaning within the LGBTQIA community, with "Dolls" referring specifically to trans women. The garment was part of Ives' recent London Fashion Week collection, which aimed to highlight ongoing threats to transgender rights worldwide. According to Deadline, in an earlier interview, Ives explained the motivation behind the design and said, "It was very reactive. I knew I wanted to say something, given what we've observed in the last few months with the U.S. government and the current political regime." Pascal's choice to wear the shirt comes shortly after the UK Supreme Court ruled that legal definitions of women must be based on biological sex, effectively excluding transgender women from several legal recognitions. The ruling sparked widespread criticism from human rights groups and advocates for trans inclusivity, as per Deadline. A vocal supporter of trans rights, Pascal has frequently used his platform to advocate for the LGBTQIA community. His advocacy is also personal as his sister, Lux Pascal, publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2021. Since then, Pedro has shown consistent support for her and the broader trans community. Recently, many artists, including Lady Gaga and Madonna have come in support of trans gender rights, particularly during the administration of Donald Trump, who introduced policies limiting transgender military service through an executive order titled "Prioritising Military Excellence and Readiness." (via inputs from ANI)
