One of the most iconic visuals featured on Denim Tears shirts is the cotton wreath. Positioned boldly across the chest or back, it references the cotton fields worked by enslaved Africans—a direct acknowledgment of the labor and suffering that built much of America’s wealth. By placing that symbol on a shirt made of cotton, Emory forces wearers and viewers to confront the painful irony of how something so integral to fashion has such brutal historical roots.
