Over 64 metres in length and 43 metres wide (excluding the sleeves), the T-shirt is taller than the Statue of Liberty, has enough material to run the length of Robben Island twice; is big enough for 152 average-sized elephants to stand on; and can hide 245 minibus taxis.
A staggering 2 782 square metres on one side, the T-shirt covers the same area as 10 tennis courts and is big enough for 16 692 people to stand on.
Made from more than 7 000 running metres of fabric and home to some 6 500 000 stitches, the hot pink T-shirt took a team of tailors and seamstresses three weeks of working round the clock to sew together.
Vanish tasked Sound Contact, a below the line activations agency, with the responsibility of bringing its vision to life of making of the world’s biggest T-shirt. The actual manufacturing of the T-shirt was managed by National Flag and Branding.
After making the T-shirt, Vanish decided to put its reputation as the best fabric stain remover to the test by allowing a group of exuberant school learners to stain the gargantuan garment. The shirt was soaked in a Vanish solution and the enormous stain disappeared in front of onlookers.
Twice as long as the blue whale (the largest creature on earth), South Africa can be rightly proud of the imposing T-shirt, which dwarfs previous record holders and is a billowy 10% larger than its nearest rival.
The enormous garment - which weighs 1 500 kilograms and has the capacity to park 647 Classic Mini Cooper cars - joins other South African world records set during 2010, including the most successful World Cup soccer tournament ever, the largest trumpet (vuvuzela) and biggest soccer ball.
To find out more about the world’s biggest T-shirt, visit
www.facebook.com - New SA World Record, or
www.twitter.com/SAworldrecord.