Fashion - HyperColor

We have seen the future, and it changes color with heat.

Really, you practically couldnt afford not to buy a HyperColor shirt. I mean, it changed color, right? That was like getting two shirts for the price of one. So that price tag you saw? Remember, that was 50% off what it should have cost you. You should probably buy two then, since youre such a great bargain shopper.

What wasnt to love about HyperColor shirts? Well, a few things, but well get to those later. For now, lets talk about how rad they were. Introduced by Generra at the tail end of those color-crazy 80s, HyperColor promised a t-shirt revolution. A patented Metamorphic Color System caused the shirts color to change when it came in contact with heat. Press a warm hand onto your belly, and your purple shirt would have a temporary pink handprint. How cool was that?

Body heat, hot breath, blow dryers any heat source was enough to change green to yellow, blue to green, and so on. It was like a Mood Ring for the body, and matched up with acid wash jeans or Body Glove bike shorts, it made you the most outrageously outfitted fashion plate in your school.

Unfortunately (and heres the whats not to love part), there were some drawbacks. Like the fact that wearing a HyperColor shirt seemed to give everybody the right to put their sweaty palms all over you or breathe on you. Or the way your shirt reacted to all heat, including the kind produced by your armpits (no volunteering to answer questions in class on HyperColor t-shirt day). Suddenly, the idea of a heat-sensitive shirt just wasnt all you had dreamed it would be.

The HyperColor craze faded like a bad tie-dye by the early 90s, and Generra had to lay off one-fourth of its staff by the spring of 92. Apparently, the world just wasnt ready for odd-colored sweat spots and rampant personal space invasion, even for the sake of a chameleon fashion statement.