Old Navy Brings Back 90s Favorite Flag Shirts in Time for July 4th

This holiday weekend brings back so many great memories for me. The summers of my childhood were so much fun. No schedules. No school. Just so much fun and the peak was the July 4th holiday. For our family, that meant a fresh "flag shirt" from Old Navy.

From the Archives: My Dad, my brother, and me at Magic Kingdom in 2000.

The design changed slightly from year to year, but the focal point of every design was the stars and stripes. We looked forward to the shirts every year. I swear my stepmom knew when they went on sale and she went as soon as they hit the shelves in early summer.

The good news is that the Old Navy flag shirts are still around. The new design was released earlier this year and as you can imagine, they are still selling fast.

Summer and Old Navy seem to go hand-in-hand as this vintage commercial from the 90s shows.

Here is a little backstory on the shirts that you may not know. Old Navy introduced the flag shirts in the late 1990s as a patriotic fashion statement. These shirts prominently featured the American flag, typically in a distressed or vintage style. The flag shirts became particularly popular around holidays such as the 4th of July and Memorial Day.

There was even some controversy around the shirts and if you should wear the flag. Old Navy addressed these concerns by promoting the shirts as a symbol of unity and patriotism. Post 9/11, when patriotism soared, those arguments seemed to go away.