Matt Groening believed Bart would be the star. That’s why the majority of the first season focused around Bart with episodes like Krusty Gets Busted and Bart the General. This started Bart Mania. It brought a sling of Bart stuff like Do the Bartman and Butterfinger commercials. This also brought a sling of Bart merchandise including t-shirts. Bart was always in the same pose with the same background. He’s popping out of the shirt. The only difference was that they all were different in what the theme was. A notable one was Black Bart and it sold well despite the racism. There were a few other Bart shirt styles. There was literally a shirt about anything as I prove below.
I remember the profusion of Bart shirts from that period, including those bootleg black Bart Simpson ones. Around that time, I recall that a local bar even used Bart as a sort of a mascot on the sign hanging outside their establishment, which, even as a kid, seemed to me to be really suspect from a legal standpoint, as I was certain the bar hadn't gotten permission from Fox to use the character on their logo.
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