A teacher in the US turned wearing the same clothes to the school photos has turned it into a tradition

EVERYBODY had one teacher who came to school dressed in exactly the same outfit every day.

You’d spend hours laughing with your friends about whether he bought five pairs of trousers, shirts and vests, one for every school day or whether he simply threw everything in the wash overnight only to be reworn the next day.

Or did he even wash his clothes at all?

Plus why, when he’d been free from the constraints of a compulsory school uniform since his late teens, did he choose to don a uniform of his own? What did he wear on weekends?

Well, a school teacher from Dallas, Texas has answered all these childhood questions. Dale Irby wore the same polyester shirt and vest for his yearbook photo for 40 years.

Irby said what started off as an accident became a running joke that never got old.

A sports teacher, Irby usually wore athletic clothes suitable for exercise.

He picked the vest and shirt combination in order to look presentable for his first yearbook photo in 1973 and accidentally repeated the outfit the following year.

“I was so embarrassed when I got the school pictures back that second year and realised I had worn the very same thing as the first year,” he told the Dallas Morning News.

Irby’s wife, Cathy dared him to repeat the outfit for a third year. In the spirit of one-upmanship Irby continued the joke for a further five years, after which he thought “why stop?”

Sadly, Irby retired this year after 40 years of teaching. Whether he plans to retire the running joke is unknown.

Watch the slideshow of the entire 40 year ensemble below.

Mashable via Dallas Morning News