I Just Learned What The Loop On The Back Of Shirts Is For, And I Had No Idea

You might already know that the buttons on suit jacket sleeves have a surprisingly medical past, or that the teeny-tiny pockets on the front of jeans were actually for timepieces. 

The “V” under the collar of sweatshirts has its roots in college sports, meanwhile. All of which to say, your clothes might carry more meaning than you realise. 

And, I recently learned, another such example is the loop sometimes found on the seam at the back of some men’s shirt collars.

I was always confused by this, because it’s not where you’d usually hang a shirt. But it turns out this is called a locker loop, and it has a surprisingly romantic past.

What is a “locker loop” on shirts?

Unlike broader shirt trends like button-up sleeves, which have existed for goodness-knows-how-long, we can trace the popularisation of locker loops to a single shirt company: Gant. 

Though some credit the invention to sailors before their on-land launch, Gant’s site said it “invented and introduced the hanging locker loop” in the ’60s, and they are certainly credited with making the add-on a staple. Gant, at the time, had a very popular line with the Yale Co-Op.

While the sleeves or collar loops of regular shirts were designed to prevent creases in regular wardrobes, the “locker loops” were “designed to keep shirts wrinkle-free in Ivy League locker rooms”.

Because of the thin loop design, students in those universities would be able to hang their shirts on a locker peg rather than a regular hanger.

But over time, the addition became a form of romantic currency in Ivy League colleges. 

Not only did students reportedly tear the “locker loop” off the shirts of men they were interested in, but, per Gant, “a guy would remove his loop to announce he was going steady with a girl. She, in return, would wear his scarf!”.

Interesting… but why do they exist now?

The design quirk has persisted, despite the fact most of the shirts they appear on aren’t destined for locker rooms.

A little like the original V-neck, the trend seems to be more of a throwback than a genuine design function: nowadays, it’s largely just a nice touch. 

But hey, at least you now know why it’s there!