American Apparel has brought back everyone's favorite 80s relic (other than prom, of course): hypercolor t-shirts. Except now they're calling the shirts thermochromatic, because that seems classier--just like calling it "employment" instead of "skeezy exploitation"!

If you don't remember hypercolor shirts, we feel (bad) for you. They're basically shirts that can change color--how cool is that? The shirts change their color in different heat settings--so when you go out in the sun, your shirt can change colors, which was what so excited us when we were young. From American Apparel's perspective, the shirts seem to be a way to track where people have touched you. Creepy.

The shirts' color-changing ability is enabled by thermochromic (not thermochromatic--sorry, Dov) chemicals that change color when a solvent melts or solidifies. The chemicals are usually contained in microcapsules, not applied directly to product.

Visit American Apparel in Back Bay or Harvard Square to touch the shirts yourself. Be careful when wearing them; they seem to scream "hands on."