ZERO shirt

From the Mellon Collie liner notes

The ZERO shirt or ZERO costume was the public persona of Billy Corgan while supporting The Smashing Pumpkins' third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. He was first seen wearing the iconic shirt during at the band's appearance at the Reading Festival on August 25, 1995, and more notably the "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" music video, which was filmed on September 27, 1995. He then continued to wear the costume at nearly every performance throughout the Infinite Sadness tour, and also occasionally in inverse colors during the 20th Anniversary tour.

The shirts were very popular in the 90s and available at store outlets worldwide. In 2011, one of the four original Zero shirts was auctioned off by Corgan to benefit victims of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, selling for around $6,500. Other artists also participated as part of the EMI family's charity auction.

Cotton reissues of the shirt have existed for some time, but on October 24, 2021, a near accurate replica made from 100% polyester was issued and quickly sold out.

Origins

Zero, sharing the name with the song "Zero", is a character within the broader story of Glass and The Machines of God. It was an unfinished story by Corgan of "a rock star gone mad" named Zero, loosely based on himself, who heard the voices of God and renamed himself Glass and his band The Machines of God. The story goes on from there, but this is reasonably where the concept for the Zero shirt and costume originated, with Mellon Collie being Zero's part of the story. According to former Smashing Pumpkins Fan Club chief Laura Ann Masura, the visual design was the work of Jimmy Chamberlin. Corgan once said:

“ The band had become such cartoon characters at that point in the way we were portrayed in the media, the idea was that we would sort of go out and pretend we were the cartoon characters. ” — Billy Corgan

A May 2010 write-up on FeelNumb.com claimed the design for the ZERO shirt worn by Corgan wore was originally produced by the Zero Skateboards company. However this claim has been intensely disputed. Their story suggested the company had stopped making the shirts before Corgan borrowed from the brand. However, Zero Skateboards states they first formed in 1996, while Corgan's first appearance in the shirt was no later than August 25, 1995. More notable publications such as the HuffPost shared the story, but explicitly stated it as FeelNumb.com reporting, thus lending no additional veracity.