Hypercolor Heats Up… Again.

Posted by Nostalgiaholic | on July 6, 2008

One of the shortest-lived fashion blips of the early 90s is back with a modern vengeance. I’m serious… Hypercolor shirts are back baby!

Yeah, the title pretty much says it all… This morning I was bombing around online with my usual coffee’n'jazz-colada in hand and I ran smack into a brick wall of disbelief. It seems clothing giants American Apparel have decided that it’s high time to re-live the heat-reactive clothing trends of the early 90s. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Hypercolour Clothing is back! Again!

Hypercolor Shirts

Originally created by Generra Hypergraphix (now known as PCC) the Hypercolor line of T-Shirts were normal cotton treated with a pigment that changed from one colour to another when exposed to heat. Neato !!! Released upon an unsuspecting public in 1991, this phenomenon hit it’s target demographic (children) as hard as school yard pavement and made millions within it’s first few months of sale. I had a blue one that changed pink when I mashed my open, sweaty palm into it… wait… I really wore pink…?

American Apparel Shirt Every kid in school had, and I mean HAD to have a Hypercolor shirt, it was one of the early 90s most indispensable pieces of pre-teen fashion. Check out the Hypercolor Commercial if you still don’t “Get It”.

Of course an obvious flaw in the shirt’s design became apparent the minute gym class began. Heat reactive shirt right ? Sweat is both sticky and hot right ? I think you can follow where this is going… As my good buddy Charlie once said : “The moment I witnessed the horror of technicolor armpit stains, I was glad I was the only kid in class without one of those damn shirts !” I, sadly, did not escape such a fate.

Nor could Generra escape a horrendous plunge in Hypercolor sales when the public realized that the colour-change effect was destroyed if the shirts were accidentally thrown into a warm/hot washing machine. Only a couple ‘o cycles was all it took to change my light blue miracle of modern science, into a tye-dyed runny pink mess. All that was leff untouched by the pink bleaching process was the Dark, mocking font of the “Hypercolor” label.

Shortly after making such a huge splash on the adolescent fashion scene, Generra filed for bankruptcy. Could American Apparel be revisiting tragedy as well as the past ? If so, then they aren’t alone. Custom sneaker pimps Puma have released a “Colour Change” line of kicks that change depending on interior heat levels (hopefully not odor levels), and Change Me Clothing has gone completely back to basics with Hypercolor-inspired designs of their own.

Get ready for those sexy technicolor pit stains on the basketball courts this summer !!! Much love.

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