There’s a new way teens are remembering the dead that is gaining a lot of attention. By wearing picture T-shirts, teen mourners are memorializing those who have passed. But in an odd twist, many teenagers who wear the apparel find it difficult to discuss their loved ones’ passing.

Katherine Pinto is a junior at Mott Hall V High School in Soundview who recently lost her grandmother. Coping was difficult for Katherine, who was briefly raised by her grandmother, forming a bond that stretches years back. Shortly after, Katherine ordered a custom-made T-shirt showing a photo of her grandmother.

“Her death had a big impact on my life. She raised me,” said Katherine. She has a very hard time discussing her grandmother’s passing, a reason why her way of grieving over this important death is by purchasing and wearing this shirt. “I have pride in wearing it,” she said, remembering a Mother’s Day in Guatemala when she was six and felt most connected to her grandmother.

When Katherine’s mom saw her own mother memorialized in a shirt, she remembered her mother in tears. “[Mom] has a picture of her hanging in the living room and she cries whenever she sees it,” Katherine said.

These memorial tees have gone around publicly within schools in Fordham and 183rd Street, where some students wear them anywhere from daily to almost every two weeks. In some cases, there have been times where students’ memorial shirts are representing the death of another teenager.

Some social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, show custom-designed memorial necklaces that glorify the deceased. In many instances, websites often show several memorial shirts from members belonging to gangs.

And while teens have embraced the trend, communities outside the borough have not welcomed it.

At a middle school in Battle Creek, Michigan, memorial T-shirts were banned since it conflicted with the school’s crisis management plan. Melinda Jackson, the mother of the deceased child who the shirts memorialized, told the Battle Creek Enquirer, “It hurt me to the point where I thought I couldn’t be hurt anymore.” Her daughter Caitlyn had gone through a long battle with leukemia and her school peers were confused about being unable to wear them anymore and were told to wear the shirts inside out or cover it up with something else, according to the article. Several days later, after much outcry, the school reneged on its policy and allowed students to wear the shirts.

In the Bronx, the policy has not been much of an issue. Bronx Youth Heard attempted to reach out to a T-shirt company that specializes in memorial shirts, for an interview, but the company declined.

Greg Faulkner, chief of staff to Councilman Fernando Cabrera, was also impacted by memorial T-shirts and the idea of how it’s spreading through the Bronx. Faulkner stood on the sides of school officials in Battle Creek, believing the T-shirts shouldn’t be around. According to him, the memorialization of their deaths indicates how horrible things are getting for this generation.

“It’s shocking that so many died,” Faulkner said. “This demonstrates exactly how many teens die and it’s somewhat becoming an everyday thing. It’s sad because it represents someone who died. A young person died maybe through drugs or sickness,” he said.