Vintage T-Shirt Collective
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Preppy Rugby
October 21, 2008 by defunkd · 1 Comment
In this section, we highlight the vintage shirts you simply must have in your poly-cotton arsenal. Some are hot commodities while others are speculation on a future trend.
Selection: vintage Benetton Rugby Shirt (Explore eBay’s Inventory)
Demand: High
Price: $75-$200
Info: In 1955, Luciano Benetton, at age 20, realized there was a market for colourful clothing. But without any green in his pants, there was little he could do to set-up shop. His first executive decision was to hawk his little brother’s bicycle, then invest the proceeds in a second-hand knitting machine. After a successful run of sweaters, he decided to include his sister and brothers in the venture, aka “The Benetton Group.” Two weeks later they had over 100 locations around the world. I’m pretty sure his brother has since forgiven him.
HOT: The various incarnations of their famous rugby shirt has been quite a hot commodity on eBay. In the late 1980s these shirts were totally awesome. I even wore one to my first day of high school. Granted, that was only two weeks ago, but it was still a special occasion. I’m not exactly sure what’s driving the trend, maybe something similar to the throwback preppy Lacoste phenomena, or the recent Polo Sport resurgence.
BUY LOW: Despite being in production for so long, strangely, not a lot of vintage Benetton has value. I expect this fact to change sometime soon. No, I’m not suggesting all of their old attire will be worth a fortune; it will be the similar shirts and sweaters which are unmistakably 1980s and branded with an obvious Benetton logo. To view additional Benetton vintage on eBay click here.
View the previous Essential Selection: vintage fantasy art t-shirt.
[phpbay]vintage Benetton shirt, 6, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “benetton”, “4″[/phpbay]
The Art of the Band T-Shirt by Amber Easby
October 20, 2008 by defunkd · 1 Comment
I finally managed to get my hands on all the vintage t-shirt books published in the last few years. Truth be told, I would recommend any book that contains photos of vintage tees, even if it was scribed in crayon by a two year old child.
Title: The Art of the Band T-Shirt
Meet the authors: Amber Easby has worked for bands such as the White Stripes and the Raconteurs as their merchandiser. Henry Oliver played in the band Die! Die! Die! and designed their album covers and T-shirts.
Number of shirts inside: 100+
Rating: 4/5
When it comes to vintage t-shirt books, this one screams KISS. No, I don’t mean it’s full of Gene Simmons merchandise; I mean, it keeps it simple, stupid. The fact that the book is only six by six inches is part of what makes this work – there’s no room for any B.S. And I agree with this approach; it’s a t-shirt, not the Mona Lisa. I don’t think it’s necessary to dissect every shirt like it’s art history class. Not to say that one day some of this schwag shouldn’t appear in the Louvre, but let people a few centuries from now worry about that. Until that day, I see vintage tee, I read blurb, I flip page, I happy.
If anyone is going to dissect the artwork and tell us what they were trying to tell us, it should be the designer or band. Well, in this book they do. It includes a handful of interesting blurbs that detail what they had up their sleeves: i.e. learn all about the Rolling Stones’ logo directly from the horse’s lips.
The intro to this one is tops amongst the five vintage tee-related books I have in my possession. A well-scribed mental time lapse of the origin of the t-shirt and its evolution into the band tee. Then we are treated to a few cool vintage photos of people wearing, you guessed it, tees.
Keep in mind the book doesn’t limit itself to strictly vintage, or original vintage at that. It does go beyond 2000 and has more than a few admitted reprints scattered throughout. There are plenty of Screen Stars, old Hanes and completely worn tags in there for the vintage heads out there. While I would have preferred these pages to be vintage-oriented, the book doesn’t claim to be vintage-centric, just band tee obsessed. The latter part is still worth a look; and something tells me that in 10 years from now I won’t be complaining about any of the shirts featured.
After writing this, I realize this book is as far from a KISS (the band) book as it can be, given that not a single KISS shirt appears in it. A little ironic, given that Simmons prides himself on being merchandise iconic. Are the authors sticking their tongues out at KISS? I say bonus points. I get enough of KISS merchandising when I’m flipping through channels and Family Jewels is on.
I fully recommend adding this book to your library.
Additional Vintage T-Shirt Book Reviews.
Vintage T-Shirt Gallery
October 19, 2008 by Jimmy J · Leave a Comment
Whoa, my eyes are bloodshot…and not in a good way. I just uploaded over 350 photos of the rarest vintage t-shirts we’ve had our hands on in the last four years. I created a vintage t-shirt gallery on our brand new Facebook fan page.
Relax, I’m not asking you join an annoying group! Hey, we understand if you want to say NO to web 2.0. but you can access the page without even signing in, it’s totally non-committal. Check it out by clicking the logo above.
Vintage Fantasy Tees Are a Reality
October 18, 2008 by defunkd · 1 Comment
In this section, we highlight the vintage shirts you simply must have in your poly-cotton arsenal. Some are hot commodities while others are speculation on a future trend.
Selection: vintage fantasy art t-shirt (Explore eBay’s Inventory)
Demand: Low – Moderate
Price: $20-$100
Info: The roots of fantasy art can probably be traced back to classroom doodles by bored students with over active imaginations. The other kids poked fun at them, while their parents were drawing conclusions about their drug use. If they were victorious in battling their outer demons, these days, demand is high for these respected artists.
Most fantasy art is extremely detailed and features scantily clad women versus magical creatures. Think Angelina Jolie battling Puff the Magic Dragon, that is, if he were freebasing cocaine instead of just smoking weed. These D&D style prints are geeky cool and will make you the dungeon master of vintage t-shirt collectors.
The art is easy to reckognize and the artist can be determined by their insignia below each shirt.
HOT: Boris Vallejo is the grandfather of fantasy art. He’s basically lent his hand to every form of print media that can make use of it – the covers of video games, magazines, movie posters, etc. Vallejo has a huge fan base of aging Napolean Dynamite types, so most of his art on t-shirts is sought after by those who may otherwise not wear vintage.
BUY LOW: John Pound has created tons of fantasy art that has been featured on fantasy and comic book covers. He’s also done work for Mad Magazine, various skateboard companies, and is the man behind The Garbage Pail Kids. Pound’s shirts are also a lot tougher to find, so if you do come across one, snap it up and stash it away.
[phpbay]vintage Boris Vallejo shirt, 2, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “”, “fantasy”, “4″[/phpbay]
Nike Air Huarache International (1993)
October 16, 2008 by Karl · 1 Comment
