Episode 500: The Humble Innovation At The Heart Of The Global Economy

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The container carrying the Planet Money women's T-shirts is loaded onto a ship in Cartagena, Colombia.

Eric Helton for NPR

The shipping container completely transformed commerce over 50 years ago. It's part of the reason the Planet Money women's T-shirt comes from cotton grown in Mississippi, spun into yarn in Indonesia, and sewn together in Colombia.

On today's show, we meet the captain of a giant container ship bringing our women's T-shirt home to the United States and challenge him to a game of ping pong.

View our T-shirt's journey at planetmoney.com/shirt.

And listen to more of our T-shirt podcasts here.

Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in December 2013.

Music: Jon Lemmon's "Exodus I." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Spotify/ Tumblr.

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