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A sleeveless shirt, tank top or singlet (or sometimes vest) is a shirt manufactured without sleeves, or one where the sleeves have been cut off. Sleeveless shirts can be worn by either gender, depending on the style. These sleeveless undershirts do not prevent sweat stains from showing through. Tank tops are often worn by athletes in sports such as track and field and bicycling. Tank tops have been popular warm-weather casual wear in the United States since the 1980s, and are regarded as acceptable public casual dress in some locales. They are mostly preferred in hot climates since the arm holes provide ventilation and the thin fabric provides comfort.
In American English, a tank top is a sleeveless T-shirt-like garment that can be worn by either sex. It is often worn under the shirt as underwear, though more colorful and well-designed tank tops are usually worn as an outer shirt. The term is also used in Australian English, although the term singlet is commonly used to refer to the garment. In British English, the term vest is used, while tank top refers to a sleeveless pullover. The name tank top, recorded in English since 1968, is derived from its resemblance to a tank suit, a style of one-piece women\'s swimsuit with shoulder straps. Its name derives from the 1920s term swimming tank, which is an obsolete term for what is now called a swimming pool. There is a female swimming version of the tank top, the tankini (a portmanteau of the words tank top and bikini)
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A woman in a tube top
A halter top is a backless, sleeveless shirt that ties around the neck. Haltertops are worn mainly by women.
A tube top is a shirt with no sleeves or shoulders, and is, basically, a tube that wraps around a woman\'s torso. In Great Britain and Australia, it is called a "boob tube".
A spaghetti-strapped shirt is a tank top with strings or thin material on the shoulders to hold up the shirt. It is thought to have originated in 1920s England, fashioned by rich upper class men[citation needed], but is now worn mainly by girls and young women.
A cutoff shirt is a shirt with the sleeves cut off. The original shirt is usually a t-shirt, but it can be any kind. They are most commonly worn by men.
"Sun\'s out, Guns out" is a saying made popular by the Elliot in the Morning radio show, referring to sleeveless shirts worn outside during warmer weather.
A T-back shirt tank top that is much narrower in the back than the front. It is similar to a male variant of the halter tops.
Also known as a wifebeater or muscle shirt, an A-shirt is usually worn as an undershirt, although it is also commonly worn as a single outer layer. It gained popularity as worn by men, but is now often worn by women, as well. The neck is usually similar to that of a regular t-shirt.
Muscle shirts can be worn as an undergarment or as a single outer layer. It is generally tight and made of ribbed cotton or other fiber. It usually has large armholes and a neckline that can reach down as far as mid-chest. The neck and armholes are generally reinforced. They are also sometimes made long to make tucking easier. However, over-sized muscle shirts are often used as nightshirts and, when loose, are generally considered to be a fashion faux pas.
The build of a muscle shirt is simple, but efficient. The neck and armholes (or ends of sleeves) are often reinforced for durability. In almost all cases, they are buttonless, collarless, and pocketless. The fabric is traditionally a stretch cotton or cotton mesh. Calvin Klein is one of the more well-known muscle shirt designers.
The shirt\'s nickname, "wifebeater", could originate from its frequent depictions in many movies and TV shows of aggressive American men, usually living in poor conditions (such as living in a trailer) and having low income, beating their wives and/or children while wearing this shirt. In UK English usage, this is known as a vest (cf. American usage of vest). Another theory is that the name comes from the fact that Marlon Brando wore one in the movie A Streetcar Named Desire, in which he famously hits his wife.
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