A Brief History of Junk Food in Clothing

For years, junk food never really got the respect it deserved. Parents, teachers and dentists all told us to steer clear of anything sugary, salty or delicious, and those of us who wanted to show love to our favourite foods had to do it in secret.

But these days, it seems like something’s changed. Maybe it’s the rise of websites that let us order forbidden snacks with the click of a mouse. Or maybe it’s the popularity of monster creations like the cronut, which is less like a food and more like a crazy postmodern sculpture you can put in your mouth. But whatever the reason, the truth is clear: we’ve all gone from turning our noses up at junk food to loving it so much we want to (literally) wear it on our sleeves.

It all started, as most things do, with pizza. As this (super-scientific) graph shows, interest in pizza has been on a steady incline since the early 2000s. As we’ve all become more comfortable with revealing ourselves on the internet, we’ve also gotten more and more comfortable with letting our junk food fiend flags fly. First there were shirts with pizza on them – and then there were shirts that turned you into a pizza. Then leggings, shoes, and even sleeping bags. (After all, nothing says “comfort food” like literally tucking into a giant all-dressed slice.) It wasn’t long before lovers of other foods were taking matters into their own hands with burger sweaters and French fry leggings, cake fashions and more. Now, junk food fashion, housewares, and collectibles are everywhere.

When you think about it, combining your taste in clothing with your taste in junk food makes sense. Fashion is all about having fun and expressing yourself, and there’s no better way to do that than by turning the foods you love into your favourite new outfit. With that in mind, here are some of our favourite junk-food-based clothes, accessories, trinkets and toys:

Lazy Oaf Pizza Death shirt

Verameat Sprinkles the Donut necklace