Vintage T-Shirt Collective
Featured Content
Halloween Costumes for the Lazy Person
October 29, 2009 by Jimmy J · 3 Comments
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.
Halloween Selection: Vintage Novelty T-Shirts
Looking for a last minute and inexpensive Halloween costume? There’s a vintage t-shirt for that. You want to experience the high of being a pilot or pharmacist? There’s a tee for that. Want to be the fan of a really bad team or have a slim physique with a nice rack? There’s a tee for that too.
Demand: Low-High
Price: $5-$5,000
Info: The novelty tee is a deceptive t-shirt design which mimics the appearance of clothing, skin, internal organs or bones. The fad began to flourish in the early 1970s and was invigorated when rock tee designs followed suit. Countless new designs were released throughout the 1980s when printing and graphic innovations improved the realism of the effect. The fad fizzled quick while manufacturers were still trying to release the newest and greatest novelty design ever. The massive overstock was then re-purposed and customized for tourist shops and other related businesses. Eventually the novelty design found a niche amongst specific industries as promotional schwag, ie pharmaceutical or sports. In modern times these silly gems have became a staple in most collector’s closets.
HOT: If you want to spend an arm and a leg there’s the sought after 1970s Love You Live Rolling Stones tee designed by Andy Warhol. The simple black and white design features the bands faces across a faux neck-tie. Good luck finding it – the shirt is a limited print that was a promo party giveaway. Next in line is Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits t-shirt that has an over the shoulder gun holster. You’ll have better luck tracking this one down on eBay, but it wont come cheap. Due to rarity we don’t have photographs of either but if you’re curious they are featured in the Vintage Rock T-Shirts book we reviewed.
If you’re feeling a little more risque there’s the rare Seditionaries tee that features bare breasts. Just make sure they’re real because Seds t-shirts have been counterfeited as of late. If you don’t mind dropping a few hundred bucks and wearing yellow the Neil Young suspenders t-shirt from his 1978 Rust Never Sleep tour makes regular appearances on eBay.
BUY LOW: Any shirt that isn’t rock related you’ll most likely score for the opening bid. The most classic and classy of all novelty designs is the tuxedo which has been an indie rocker favorite for years. The skeleton shirt saw a resurgence a few years back when Jake Gyllenhaal went skeleton in film Donnie Darko. Neither shirts will ever sky rocket in value but the savings from renting a tux alone makes it a wise investment.
We think the more ridiculous the theme the better, especially if there’s lots of attention to detail that would never actually occur in real life. Check out this veterinarian’s coat novelty t-shirt:
View the previous Essential Selection: vintage lightning bolt t-shirt.
Vintage Lightning Bolt Shirts Are Electrifying
May 15, 2009 by Jimmy J · 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 Lightning Bolt Shirt
Demand: Moderate – High
Price: $75-$150
HOT: Lightning Bolt shirts are the bi-product of a Hawaiian brand of surfboards that began to take shape in the late 1960s. By the latter part of the 1970s the surf board was being ridden by the top names in the sport and the company extended their brand to apparel. Their shirts usually featured a beautifully detailed surf inspired landscape across the chest or back (above left) or refined details for prints on terry cloth material (above right). These shirts can also be easily identified by an embroidered outline of a lightning bolt on the fabric at the base of the buttons (which were made of wood). The popularity of the brand was mainly indigenous to California where it became the brand of choice for surfers and skateboarders and then became trendy leisure wear for the masses. In recent years their vintage shirts have made waves as one of the most sought after polo style t-shirts around.
BUY LOW: Vintage Ocean Pacific shirts featuring similar landscape chest designs are fast becoming popular vintage polos. Waves (left) and Pipeline are two of the more obscure vintage polo brands that share the same design inspiration. The generic tourist Hawaiian polo (right) also utilizes the cross chest design.
View the previous Essential Selection: vintage Hypercolor t-shirts.
Vintage Hypercolor T-Shirts Are Tie Dye For
November 15, 2008 by Jimmy J · 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 Hypercolor T-Shirt
Demand: Moderate
Price: $30-$75
Info: We all remember the legendary Generra tee that changed color when exposed to heat, but how did it do that? Well, sit on my lap and let me explain. The regular color of the shirt is a combination of two different inks, a base color that the fabric was dyed with, and a heat sensitive or “thermochromic” ink that’s sealed in a transparent shell and bound to the fibers of the fabric. When exposed to heat, a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo takes place: the periodic table of elements is involved, square roots, pi, and at the end of it there’s even a dreadful remainder. So in laymen’s terms, heat causes the thermochromic portion of the color to become transparent which exposes only the base color of the fabric. Take that, Mr. Wizard!
HOT: All of the incarnations of the tee from the late ’80s to the early ’90s are attracting bids. Those fetching the higher prices have maintained their ability to change color. You see, improper laundry care, like hot washes and drying, hamper the shirts technology. Sadly many of the shirts around today are just ugly-colored shirts that don’t do anything. Pitty. However, I do suggest these defective shirts for people who tend to have arm pit issues, as active Hypercolor highlights this problem.
BUY LOW: Hypercolor couldn’t have flourished if tie dye hadn’t already set the stage in previous decades. So whether you like it or not, there will come a day that tie dye shirts will be cool again. There’s already been a huge increase in value of Grateful Dead‘s 90s tie dyes. Most tie dyes are obnoxious, but some of the more subtle ones have quite nice colors, and can be snapped up for next to nothing.
View the previous Essential Selection: vintage Pushead t-shirts.
Pushead Has Bones to Pick
October 25, 2008 by Jimmy J · 2 Comments
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.
Halloween Selection: vintage Pushead t-shirt
Demand: Medium-High
Price: $20-$200
Info: In the 1980s, Pushead (aka Brian Schroeder) rose to fame for for two types of artistry, both of the hardcore persuasion. A skull-obsessed artist who was the cornerstone of Metallica’s branding, he also designed skateboards for Zorlac, and imagery for Thrasher magazine. During this time he moonlighted as the frontman for a punk band called Septic Death too.
HOT: The most expensive vintage Metallica tees are Pushead designs; and they’re going to run you quite a few bones. If you’re really looking to shell out some loot, try to find an original Septic Death shirt. They’re super rare, so you’ll probably end up looking like one of Pushead’s designs before you get your hands on one.
BUY LOW: In the early 1990s Pushead created artwork for Rush’s “Roll The Bones” album and subsequent tour. All bones aside, this combination made for quite the odd couple. Rush was trying to harden their soft, high-pitched, prog-rock image and Pushead wanted more than Metallica in his portfolio, since they’d worked him to death the previous decade. The strange pairing makes this tee all the more cool.
View all other Pushead t-shirts on Defunkd.
View the previous Essential Selection: vintage Benetton rugby shirts.
and guess who was named #3 on our top 5 list of vintage thrash metal t-shirts.
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
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.
View the previous Essential Selection: vintage fantasy art t-shirt.