Art and fashion are merging like never before. In the 1960’s people used t-shirts to express political opinions, and artists began screen-printing their work onto shirts to create ‘wearable art’. Today however, it’s not uncommon to be able to buy tank tops and wallets online and also see arts prints from Australia on the same website. T-shirts, tank tops, and wallets are fashion and art statements: they’re all basic items that everyone needs and that most people buy. Naturally they’re a great vehicle for getting a statement out or for impressing an image of beauty onto it.

Many artists license their unique artwork out to clothing companies so that their works can be imprinted onto clothing like t-shirts, tank tops, and accessories like wallets. But some people just don’t want their favourite artwork by their favourite artist on an item they wear or carry around with them: such items will inevitably experience wear and tear over time, and sometimes they get lost. Therefore artists have realized that selling art prints of their works on the same website that carry their tank tops and wallets online will bring them in extra revenue and make their name more widely known. Think about it: if you see a cool tank top with an eye-catching drawing or painting on it, are you more or less likely to remember the artist’s name and follow their work if you knew their name and saw their work in its original forms?

Tank tops are a great way to put artwork on because they’re cheaply produced to begin with. The same goes for t-shirts. Wallets can also be produced en masse and are always huge sellers: money never goes out of style! There is a certain spark to flashing your favourite piece of art whenever you pay for something at the counter. Tank tops and tees are also ideal because people’s eyes will gravitate towards whatever you’re wearing on top when they pass you by on the street. What you wear tells strangers and people you’re meeting for the first time a lot of what there is to know about you.

While traditionally art prints have been very expensive and outside the buying range of young adults, times have changed. The accessibility of art is no longer confined to the rich. A new generation of artists wanting to make names for themselves amongst their own generation and the appreciation of art amongst the 20 and 30-something middle class means artists have an audience available to them that wasn’t there even a decade or two ago. Add onto that the current generation’s need for fashion-forward clothing: with art prints imprinted onto fashion items, people are getting their fashion and art needs satisfied in one go.