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The shirt being referenced to can be found here, here, and here; the light blue shirt with the dark blue collar that has been used in multiple movies.

Harry has been noted wearing this shirt on an innumerable amount of occasions during the movies, and is almost never seen without it. Personally, I've seen Harry with this shirt primarily within action scenes (such as the Forbidden Forst in HP:DH, when Harry hears someone in his Uncle's house, in OOTP etc.). Does this pattern have any relevance with the action scenes at hand?

I am mainly looking for a history on why Harry is countlessly seen wearing this shirt, and why? Where does it come from (in-universe), and who gave it to him?

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  • What does "in a Scifi manner" mean in the context of t-shirts? Nov 7, 2015 at 0:34
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    @JasonBaker "Accio Blue Shirt" ? Nov 7, 2015 at 0:35
  • @JasonBaker In regards to the story, not in the real world.
    – Jake
    Nov 7, 2015 at 0:36
  • Ah, that makes sense then. I've edited to make that clear Nov 7, 2015 at 0:37
  • Maybe wizards and witches don't need to buy new clothes as often, unless they want to for fashion reasons (and Harry doesn't seem like much of a fashionista), since they can just magic away any holes/stains/smells in old clothing?
    – Hypnosifl
    Nov 7, 2015 at 0:46

2 Answers 2

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This is a movie-only occurrence, so you're not likely to find an explanation in the books. All we know from the movies is what's in them, and the shirt is never mentioned. In-universe, in movie canon, there's no known history.

We can use the books to make inferences. We see in this answer about Harry's wealth, that Harry is still poor in the Muggle world, and thus can't purchase Muggle clothing. The Dursleys have no reason or inclination to buy him anything other than what he needs.

One can surmise then, that Harry has a limited amount of Muggle clothing, and wears the same outfits all the time because he has no other options.

As far as where the shirt came from, I can only speculate that it was one of the few things the Dursleys actually bought him, or perhaps someone with access to Muggle money, such as Hermione, gifted it to him.

It's possible Harry could exchange his Wizarding money for Muggle money, but that would require Harry to come up with an explanation to the Dursleys as to how he's getting the money, or the things the money buys.

An aside: The t-shirt you see in those three images are not the same, although they are all ringer tees with a light-blue base and dark-blue rings. The style is common--I've personally owned two such shirts, no connection to Harry Potter--and cheap--I got mine from Old Navy, a known low-cost clothing store in the USA.

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  • I feel like it's probably possible to swap Wizard Money for Muggle Money the same way that the reverse is true. Also If anything the Dursleys wouldn't have bought it him it would be an ill fitting Dudley shirt. See the CoS image for it's baggyness. I'd be interested to see if he wears it in PS. Nov 7, 2015 at 1:20
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As far as i know there is no significance or story behind Daniel Radcliffe wearing the same t-shirt for so many movies but i think the constant appearance of this t-shirt was a way for movie markers to remind the audience that despite all the magical money, Harry lived the same hand-me-down life in the muggle world. Dursleys used to give Harry Dudley's clothes and considering Dudley's size, it's not far-fetched to think that Dudley's old t-shirt could have easily fit Harry for years.

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  • Hello and welcome to SFF.SE. Please consider taking the tour. While this a a nice answer, it lacks sources. Do you have any ? Enjoy browsing the site :)
    – Kalissar
    Aug 22, 2016 at 16:16

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