For a few people, a T-shirt can be a comfy and easy choice of clothing, but to others it is a flag of honor, a symbol of something they love or something they experienced.

Musical artist T-shirts can be seen everywhere and contain a meaning for every individual.

Matt Donahue, instructor in the department of popular culture, said band T-shirts are important to both bands and their fans.

“For the fans, on a personal level it means a lot,” Donahue said. “For the band, it’s a way to generate money.”

Although T-shirts are important to artists, they may be more important to the fans.

Donahue said fans buy T-shirts at shows as a symbol of the concert they went to.

“If they buy a T-shirt at a show having the T-shirt is like a memento and something special that they can … have to capture that particular experience,” Donahue said.

Junior Sarah Bertsch said she bought a T-shirt from Eleventyseven from a concert because she likes their sound.

“[I have] a band T-shirt from the band Eleventyseven. I went to one of their concerts and I bought it,” Bertsch said. “They’re an amazing band and their music is really different and they sing a song making fun of Edward Cullen.”

Fans may find T-shirts more important, but for music artists it is a strong source of revenue.

T-shirt sales help bands get to where they need to be, when on the road it keeps the band traveling, Donahue said.

“For the band it’s important because it’s a way for the band to generate revenue,” Donahue said. “Bands are making most of their money these days from T-shirt sales.”

Revenue can help any band while to local bands their T-shirt is a larger part of themselves.

Donahue said many local bands have their hands in the idea for their T-shirts from start to finish.

“For the local artist … it’s a little more meaningful,” Donahue said. “That T-shirt was designed by the band. Whereas [a] mega superstar’s T-shirt somebody else … takes care of designing the T-shirt, printing them out and selling them.”

Junior Nathan Torres said he has a lot of T-shirts from Green Day because it is his favorite band.

“I have a couple Beatles [T-shirts], but my main plethora of T-shirts are Green Day,” Torres said. “They are my favorite band.”

Every genre has fans that buy and wear their products, Donahue said. It is a representation of who the fan is.

“[Meaningful T-shirts hold feelings] across the board whether it be heavy metal, punk rock [or] a country artist’s T-shirt,” he said.