Date posted: July 3, 2009 By: Jimmy J
A glimpse of paradise through the beautiful designs of countless vintage hawaiian shirts.
Item #2: Vintage McGregor Rayon Cabana Hawaiian Shirt
Availability: Explore eBay for Vintage McGregor Shirts
Decade: 1940s
Label: McGregor, USA
Fact: The coconut was first brought to the Hawaiian islands from the South Pacific homelands of early Polynesian travellers. Florida and Hawaii are the only states in America that coconut palms can be grown without irrigation.
Approximate value: $500-$800
Photos coutesy of: owtbyd
View our previous Hawaiian Haven entry: vintage Duke Kahanamoku shirt.
Date posted: July 2, 2009 By: Jimmy J
An ongoing project to document all of the exquisite vintage Harley Davidson clothing.
Item #7: Leather Vest With Harley Davidson Patches
Availability: Explore Vintage Harley Leathers on eBay
Decade: 1970s
Label: Brooks Leather Sportswear
Harley Fact: Leather patch jackets were worn with pride by serious Harley riders to showcase their travels. This DIY fashion statement influenced the punk and heavy metal scenes who created their own denim versions of these battle jackets.
Approximate value: $250-500
Check out previous vintage harley davidson leather jackets and clothing.
Date posted: June 30, 2009 By: Jimmy J
My Vintage T-Shirt is a section written by our readers. Thanks to vintage tee seller Don over at corinalarks for sharing this shirt and great story. If you have a rare vintage t-shirt and a great story please contact us.
Stanley Mouse is an American artist who has had two distinct phases in a career that’s influenced pop culture for decades. As a teenager, he and guys like Ed “Big Daddy” Roth were part of the emerging hot rod art movement of the late 1950’s. Stanley would travel to custom car shows selling air-brushed t-shirts and sweatshirts featuring his crazed hot rod jockeys. Eventually, he opened Mouse Studios in Detroit and sold air-brushed hot rod shirts via mail order.
In the late 1960’s, Stanley moved to California and become a giant in the San Francisco pop art scene. He’s best known for creating the iconic Grateful Dead branding art and the now classic ‘60s concert poster look. He also created artwork for many famous rock album covers. Today some of his original pieces sell at auction for six figures.
At a recent flea market in rural Illinois, I came across a seller who had an original Stanley Mouse custom hot rod shirt hanging from the back of his van among his boxes of old books, car parts and tools. I was amazed when I saw it. I didn’t know quite what it was, but it was obviously a vintage sweatshirt and the hip use of colors made it really stand-out. It was unlike any shirt I had ever seen. I could tell it was air-brushed, not silk screened and my first thought was “Big Daddy Roth”.
The seller was in his early 60s and proud of the shirt. In fact, he wanted to show me another custom Stanley Mouse shirt he had in the box where they’d been stored all these years. He lit-up as he told me the story of how, as a kid, his family took a trip to Michigan in 1963 and stopped at Mouse’s studio to buy sweatshirts because they had seen his ads in Hot Rod magazine.
This vintage “Mouse” sweatshirt is a self-portrait caricature by Stanley Mouse. It was air brushed and signed by Stanley at the original Mouse Studios as the kid watched. The flea market seller was happy to sell it and I’m even happier that it’s now my vintage t-shirt.
View the vintage Gary Numan t-shirt previously featured on My Vintage T-Shirt.
Date posted: June 26, 2009 By: Jimmy J
In honor of the man in the mirror we riffled through our photo galleries to find the coolest vintage Michael Jackson t-shirt we’ve ever sold. No we’re not trying to profit from his misfortune, we sold this shirt over two years ago, it’s long gone. We do, however, always preach that going throwback is the best way for any fan to show respect.
After a quick browse through eBay’s inventory, I’m amazed at the number of vintage designs emerging that I have never seen before.
Check out our targeted eBay search for vintage MJ shirts by clicking here.
Everyone always remembers where they were when something of like this happens. I was at a Wendy’s restaurant when I overheard the news of his cardiac arrest from a few employees while they prepared my Baconator combo. I was so disgusted with my poorly timed choice of unfriendly heart food that I threw my burger in the garbage.
Just kidding, it was delicious. I didn’t start feeling guilty about it until the coincidence dawned on me while scribing this post. Forgive me Michael.
Modern meltdown aside you have to be foolish not to respect vintage Michael. When I was 12 I completely idolized him. I even wore MJ buttons and here’s an embarrassing photo of me at the height of my fanhood to prove it.
The buttons are long gone but my support for the Billie Jean bassline as the best one ever created, remains. Yes, even better than Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust. Oops, forgive me again, Michael.
RIP vintage Michael Jackson.
Date posted: June 20, 2009 By: Jimmy J
Every few weeks we scour through eBay’s vintage clothing auctions and report which relics are fetching top dollar. More reasons to raid your grandpa’s closet.
Click the links below to view the full eBay listing or the seller’s current inventory.
- 30s vintage Black Bear Sanforized jacket sold for $3050.00 by velvet-brown
- 30s vintage Reunion engineer work shirt sold for $950.00 by bugthug
- 40s vintage Head Light chin strap work jacket sold for $850.00 by blackbearpaw911
- 80s vintage Vans Madrid skateboard shoes sold for $600.00 by auctionittoday
- 40s vintage Carhartt engineer work hat sold for $520.00 by mothfood
- 30s vintage Hanes Hawaii surfer t-shirt sold for $356.00 mothfood
