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It's nice to have money, I doubt they recycle in their homes. I wonder which they replace more their cell phones or tee shirts.

JennyMayla, I had a teen work for me years ago when this whole thing started and I questioned him on how they were able to keep the t-shirts so clean and looking brand spanking new. He said to me that they buy lots of them. They wear them once or twice then throw them out. Crazy right?

Just to reinforce the serious answer someone else gave calling it urban camo:
The large baggy white shirt and jeans look has its roots in thug/drug dealer culture. Giving the description of "Black male in baggy white tshirt and jeans" loses a lot of power when there is an entire group of them wearing that outfit.

Its trickled down to impressionable youth, suburban and urban.

Gang or no gang...to be or not to be...

That is the question.
WHATEVER!!!

Come to my block yr. round and you'll see white t-shirts BLUE JEANS watching out for the po-po, riding bikes, up and down da block at all hours, nice cars with super chrome, all ages, male female, coming and going, Fri-Sun , most popular time (it's the weekend baby , time to party!)

Yes, and sometimes they have tag day no white tees and jeans.

And,

Along with that people that come over that seem to be out of place and lost on this street, that go directly to these kids, YA's, adults, some guide them to another to get their candy (CRACK, WEED???), they go straight to the bodega on the corner of Chapel and Rutgers and buy a soda, loosie, or what have you and leave, immediately like as if the MARTIANS are coming.

44 Rutgers is a popular place at 1,2,3 AM
find the bald guy or the skinny guy with the long sleeve shirt they seem to have a whole lot of friends visiting coming and going on the first floor.

So what do you think this is?

Oh, and they NEVER wear white t-shirts

for all you posters trying to write something insightful or cultured or knowledgable about the subject, just stop it.

they see the guys on TV wearing it, so they wear it, just like anything else. as for your theories on the origin of the style, whatever, the kids don't care, they just want to look like Jay Z.

i always found it interesting how rappers sing about drive by shootings, pimpin', doing drugs, stealing, and poppin' caps.....and at the same time, these kids dress and immitate them, but cry racism or unlawful profiling when they are harrassed.......

If i wanted a clown for my son's birthday party, i would approach the guy wearing the green wig, purple nose, and big red shoes.

It started out being a neutral alternative to colors, but rappers have made the shirts popular in recent years. In short, white tee shirts offer young people an alternative to the potentially confrontational blue, yellow, red or gray T-shirts associated with different gangs.

An ode to the shirt by the rap group Dem Franchize Boyz sums up the feeling held deep within the movement of the crisp, clean white tee wearers:

"I slang in my White Tee. I bang in my White Tee. All in the club spitting game in my White Tee. I bling in my White Tee."

Yeah, those lyrics took a lot of thought.

I can't believe that those XXXL shirts go for 40 dollars.

The white shirts are not representing inmates! It's a style..just like when I was in high school it was cool to wear 3 pairs of different colored socks. Does it look stupid, yes! But I didn't think so when I was that age. Gang colors to watch out for are pink, red, blue...white shirts are just a fad! PEOPLE RELAX! And yes, they are inexpensive and obviously JC students cannot afford Lacoste! DUH

It's summer time. Plain and simple.
It's not even a teenager thing...Old guys are in on it too.
Wearing a white tshirt is much cooler than wearing a black one, temperature wise. They always look clean because you can buy 3 packs for like 5.99...So you wear them a few times and then toss em. So yeah, they are cheap and comfortable.

Welcome to summertime in the city, standard equipment: White tshirt and a yankee fitted.

It's no big mystery. They are immolating rap stars and prisoners, they cost nothing and imagine trying to identify one out of a group of kids wearing the same big white t-shirts. It's like urban camouflage.

Sorry, i am from rural NW canada and we don't have such cultural phenomena there.

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They steal new ones every day!

Here's my question: how do they keep their t-shirts so white and crisp? Never see any yellow pit stains or anything. Remarkable!

This is a inner city look specific to a certain demographic society. It's been around for quite some time and has spilled over to some suburban communities.

I keep seeing medium-large groups of kids all wearing white t-shirts. What's up with that? Is there some kind of sports league or something that requires this? It seems strange, especially since school is out.