You cannot hate me for thinking this was a truly great piece of design! Something so simple that actually worked. I mean there is nothing difficult about it, it is not rocket science or some amazing technology?! Just a loop of fabric on the back of a shirt. However, on a rocking ship when space was a premium and storage was a complete mess, that little loop was just a tiny bit of ease.
source: GANT
Apparently, it stuck.
Now this is where the story turns from practical to preppy. A couple of decades later and suddenly this loop is no longer a Navy thing—it is on campuses, especially Ivy League campuses. And the students there—who certainly were not living on boats—begin wearing shirts with loops.
Their reason for having the loop was not for a locker hook; it was for fashion!
There’s a big story that Ivy League dudes liked the look and maybe even the symbolism; it was like they projected some subtle maritime, classic Americana something or other.
And from there it just… took off. The loop became a THING. It became a hallmark of a particular type of style: clean, polished, and somewhat nerdy in an endearing way. You know, all those spiffy Oxford button down shirts with khakis and loafers.
