Hanes (PPAI 191138, Gold) – the No. 66 supplier in the PPAI 100 – is celebrating 50 years of its most iconic product: the Beefy-T.

A staple of the promotional products industry, the T-shirt knitted from heavyweight 6-oz. ringspun cotton has been the canvas for countless designs over the past half century. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company is paying homage to the shirt – and the designers who’ve used it to create branded merchandise – all year long.

“It’s not us that made the Beefy-T iconic,” says Chris Guard, director of product management at Hanesbrands. “We want to highlight all the decorators. If you get to the heart of why people love T-shirts, they’re a vehicle for self-expression. It’s a way to commemorate experiences in your life.”

If you get to the heart of why people love T-shirts, they’re a vehicle for self-expression.”

Chris Guard

Director of Product Management, Hanesbrands

‘Great Foundation’

The celebration started at The PPAI Expo 2025, where Hanes built a giant booth adorned with vintage T-shirts, upcoming designs and a movie reel of various images displayed on a 22XL Beefy-T. Guard says the projector idea was inspired by a 2018 exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art called “What Is American Fashion?”

“It’s a great way to show what a T-shirt can be,” Guard says. “Whatever the decorator does is what makes that T-shirt. People buy T-shirts not so much for what it is, but for what’s on the front. However, you have to start with a great foundation, and the Beefy T is the perfect foundation for decoration.”

Expo attendees who stopped by the booth had the opportunity to receive a free Beefy-T in their desired size. They could choose one of four design options and watch Hanes workers heat press the shirt right in front of them. Each shirt also had the 50th anniversary logo on the sleeve, serving as a commemorative piece.

“Screen-printing has existed for thousands of years but putting it on a T-shirt was a relatively new thing back in 1975,” Guard says. “Our marketing manager was trying to figure out why so many T-shirts were going to California and Hawaii, so he flew to both states and spent a week learning that people were buying T-shirts just to decorate them.

“But it wasn’t the best solution. They were too light, and the color selection was limited to white, black and maybe gray. He decided we should make a T-shirt that’s meant to be worn on the outside and meant to be decorated. So, the Beefy-T was born, and it really kicked off this 50-year love story we have with the T-shirt.”

Projecting classic designs onto a 22XL Beefy-T at The PPAI Expo 2025.

The Next 50 Years

Guard estimates that Hanes has produced over a billion and a half Beefy-T shirts since 1975.

“It’s the only T-shirt that people ask for by name,” he says.

As the celebration continues, Hanes will be doing a monthly sampling of Beefy-Ts with a seasonally appropriate design. For example, you may see a heart embroidered on the classic shirt in honor of Valentine’s Day. Expect some similar designs for St. Patrick’s Day, football season and, of course, Christmas.

The original tag for the Hanes Beefy-T.

“We have a lot of partners near and dear to us working on the designs,” Guard says. “We’ll continue to listen to decorators and the promo space, understanding what people want and then adapting.”

Guard says Hanes is currently developing extensions in other categories, such as the Beefy fleece. “We think the Beefy-T can be a brand that lives on its own,” he says. “We’ll keep paying attention to what consumer trends are and what customers demand from us and go from there.”