The fabric tab on the back of the shirt is called a locker loop, and hanging the shirt is precisely what it was designed for.

Origins & History

• Utilitarian Beginnings: Originally used by sailors to hang shirts on wall hooks on ships where space was tight and clothes hangers were scarce.
• Ivy League Popularity: Popularized in the 1960s by menswear brand Gant, which added them to button-down oxfords for Ivy League students to hang their shirts inside gym lockers without causing wrinkles.
• 1960s Dating Code: On college campuses, the loops doubled as a relationship status signal. A student would cut or remove his locker loop to indicate he was “going steady,” while interested classmates would sometimes pull on them to show interest.

While hangers have made the feature mostly obsolete today, brands keep it as a traditional design detail.