REAL Vintage Tees

admin    T-Shirt Articles     pre-owned tees, retro, retro t-shirts, vintage t-shirts

‘Scuse the uppercase but I just wanted to make sure you got the message loud and clear. This quickie post is only for the eyes of true t-shirt fanatics. If your money is burning a hole in your pocket and you lay awake at night wondering how on earth you’ll find another t-shirt exactly like the Simpsons tee you had as a kid in the 80s (only in a larger size), or if you’re desperate to get another original 1981 Pac Man t-shirt after your dog ate the last one, then listen up!

VintagePimps.com has been selling vintage t-shirts since 2004 and enjoy every second of it, if anyone is in love with retro chic and cornball nostalgia, across the board mind you, it has to be these guys. They sell their finds at Ebay and remember these aren’t reprints, in fact they may be the last of their kind in the world, so you’re going to have to pay through the nose for a slice of T-history. Here’s one of theirs I’ve picked out…

Vintage Prince T-Shirt (1982)

Totally mad original Prince tee, way before he became ‘symbol’, you know, back when he knocked out stompers like 1999 and When Doves Cry. This ultra rare, and take it from me almost all of them for sale at Vintage Pimps are, excellent condition Prince ’1999′ Tour t-shirt will set you back a massive $200 and only in a small size!!! Yes for Prince fanatics and potential stalkers only. Okay maybe not, but he is open to offers, not sure how much anyone can knock him down, but I bet that in the next few years this one will end up at a retro/vintage store in a trendy quarter of a city somewhere with a price tag at double that amount.

I thought whilst I was roaming around Ebay land I’d check out what else was on offer there and realised it wasn’t so easy to find genuine originals. You have to watch out, the word ‘style’ is a big giveaway, it means it’s a reprint, some might be fakes too, if they include a photo of the tag and it looks genuine or you know your t-shirt history you might even snap up a few vintage bargains without the seller even realising what they had! For mere mortals you will most likely come a cropper from time to time, so many merchandise t-shirts have been reprinted time after time, still if it’s obscure you’re probably safer.

Still I did find another major Ebay seller who specialises in genuine vintage tees, their feedback is superb and they try wherever possible to include all the info they can on each shirt including photographing labels and any defects. Labels give you a big clue, it doesn’t take long to realise if a t-shirt printers was even established a few decades ago, let alone if they had a license to print at the time of the original license. Sounds tricky but if you do your research you could make a tidy packet from selling on used tees just like Black Rebel Vintage.

Vintage ‘The Runaways’/Joan Jett ‘School Days’ European Tour T-Shirt (1977)

This seems to be the real deal, especially when you look at tag and the price, which is a record-breaking $1,499! Yes it’s rare but I can’t ever imagine paying that much for a tee, and I have a horrible feeling that someone probably dropped it off in a local charity store without even knowing the value. The fact is there are people willing to pay this much, imagine what an original official 1950′s Elvis T-shirt in mint condition would for? Probably enough to buy a new car at the very least.

Vintage Harley Davidson/Evel Knievel Tee

Supposedly 30 years old, it looks new because it’s ‘deadstock’ as in stored in a box or crate for decades without being sold to the public. It’s an incredible $999, again a mad mad price, but obviously it’s real slice of  Americana. Who knows, you might see one like this crop up at your local thrift store one day. You know what to do if it does ;)

If you’re thinking of retailing genuine vintage tees through your own store or site you might want to check out the British fashion sourcing company The Vintage Clothing Company. They sell real vintage tees by the pound (as in weight) to vintage fashion shops around the world. They grade them by quality and rarity, essentially nothing new gets through. Well worth a think if you’re tempted to set up shop.

But as always when it comes to real vintage bargains, the first place to check out is TeeCycle.org – they donate $1 from every sale to charity and even if their tees aren’t as rare they’re cool and affordable!

Vintage Beastie Boys Tee (Ladies)

Original Beastie Boys tee for women in a large size for just $15 + $3 shipping here!

Here are a few more worthy mentions:

Thriftstore Cowboy

Ghetto Vintage

Stormcrow Vintage

But to be honest you’re better off popping down your local boot fair, thift store, charity shop, flea market, you name it, if it’s cheap and local the effort of finding a rare vintage tee is worth it!

The Zen Of T-Shirt Design

admin    T-Shirt Articles     abstract t-shirts, abstract tees, geometic t-shirts, pattern t-shirts, patterned tees, shapes, stripes

Not everyone loves illustrated graphic t-shirts, I can’t think why, but it’s true. I suppose it might all be part of a plan to live a simpler less cluttered life, sporting stylish modular and expressive abstract tees might constitute part of training to be a Zen master these days. Who knows, I know Tibetan monks wear Nikes these days? So get ready for a glimpse at a few labels that try to eschew the mainstream t-shirt graphic scene and focus purely on the calm trance-like shapes and patterns of the abstract t-shirt deign. Yes… The Zen of T-Shirt Design.

Kenzo Minami has to be one of my all-time favourite abstract artist/designers, he’s worked with some very big names such as Nike, MTV, Reebok and the Sci-Fi Channel. Murals, backdrops, graphic design, packaging and of course t-shirt design are just some of his talents. Here’s what he has to say about his astounding work. “It makes sense that I studied both philosophy and industrial design, one is ergonomics, the functioning of humans in a physical environment, and the other is the functioning of humans in the social and metaphysical environment. As much as they seem to be polar opposites, there is a place they can coexist and cooperate.”

Prism T-Shirt by Kenzo Minami

This incredible piece of t-shirt design comes at a price, not only is Kenzo Minami’s work very popular but it’s usually very expensive and hard to get hold of too. The beautiful Prism tee is available at Blackbird in black in a large size for $118.99 and this was reduced from an incredibly pricey $199! Not something I can afford but at least I can admire it from afar :/

Symbolika are old friends of Buy Tees, a French t-shirt label that’s heavily involved in meditation and trance. Their designs are sketched and then rendered in beautifully precise detail using CAD. Here’s one of my faves by Symbolika.

Time T-Shirt

Here’s what Symbolika have to say on the design… “a thirteen moon phase inside a flower of life grid with a skull and a foetus, representing the passage of time.” I think I’m having one of those 2001 moments, definitely worth wearing if you think you might be attaining Nirvahna in the near future (not the band btw but the transcendental state) then this is probably the t-shirt to wear. Before you sneer at my hippy ideals take a look at the back!

Wowzers. Anyway get this tee for €25 here.

Pattern and Shape t-shirts do exactly what it says in the logo, they create abstract pattern and shape tees for those looking for something simpler yet iconic. Check out this one:

Parallelogram T-Shirt

Definitely not a word to repeat quickly when you’re drunk, you’ll probably something similar when you see this tee. I’m sure that Pattern and Shape’s Parallelogram t-shirt could be used to test for 20/20 vision, or some form of mild psychosis, but I love it. It frazzles my brain, and unlike certain illicit substances, you pay once and can trip out forever. Lol. This superbly simple Andrio Abero t-shirt is available for $23 here.

Jiménez Jurado – Tijuana based designer and illustrator has a great style, I particularly like this tee for the girls available in Volcom‘s featured artists collection.

Foi Jiminez F.A Sheer T-Shirt

Volcom Sliders Jersey Tee

Nope this one has nothing to do with the awful 90s US TV series, loving the 80s pixelated graphic style, oh so retro. Cleverly the design is based on their logo – ooh sneaky. Volcom’s Sliders Jersey Tee is available for girls in XS-XL black for £16.42 here.

Rain Drops & Rhombuses T-Shirt

Here’s a cool tee by Plink Design, reminds me a little of the wallpaper we used to have in the 1970s, it was nice wallpaper, not at all cheap. Probably from Habitat. I miss that wallpaper. Get this superb abstract shirt for $20 in all sizes here.

Red Valentino Ribbon Bow Jersey T-Shirt

I was in two minds about including this tee, the thing is the embroidery is actually an abstract representation of embroidery, or at least that’s the theory from the part of my brain that can remember art college. It’s quirky and according to the nearest females of the species in my vicinity, “gorgeous!” Ah well, we’ll say this one crosses the boundaries of decorative and abstract, still, cute. Get the Red Valentino Ribbon Bow Jersey Tee at Net a Porter for a ridiculously whopping £85. Ouch.

Richard Altman is a designer that believes that “the closer we live our lives in harmony with our innate creative abilities, the happier, healthier and more productive we will become”. Who knows, he could be right, still his shirts are nice and jazzy.

Bipolar T-Shirt

Bipolar by Richard Altman (no relation to Robert I suppose?) is cool, crazy but cool… daddio. Get it for $22 here.

Two lovely isometric t-shirts from Babble Tees.

Isometric Green T-Shirt

Isometric Orange T-Shirt

Here are a few more to keep you going ;)

http://www.thegrandsocial.com.au/das-monk/t-shirts/mount-hexx—white

http://www.daviddavid.co.uk/t-shirt/index.html – London based fashion designer who makes a mint in Japan.

A Spongebob Tee …but a little bit Picasso too!

Planning a Clothing Photoshoot

admin    T-Shirt Articles     catalogue, fashion, fashion business, fashion photography, t-shirt business advice, t-shirt photography

Photo shoots are a fun experience from your first to your 100th (if you are to be so lucky) so you should treat it as such, and plan for it to be a good time that results in great photos for promotion of your collection. This document has bits and pieces that can be used for “monthly release” photo shoots although the approach is gear more towards seasonal releases. Topics 1-4 can be completed in almost any order although the listed order is recommended. read more

Boiling Down A Brand With Cubicoola

admin    T-Shirt Articles     Cubicoola, Cubicoola.com, UK t-shirts, UK tees, advice on t-shirt design, illustrated t-shirts, starting a t-shirt label, t-shirt branding

I was recently approached by a young and enthusiastic t-shirt label Cubicoola, they seem like a great bunch, happy in their work, determined in their creative vision with plenty of ideas for the future, and that’s when I know I have to tread carefully, the fact is I felt there positives and negatives in their brand, their store, designs and label in general that would need to be tackled. read more

Fera Fera – What Could Be Fairer?

admin    T-Shirt Articles     Fera Fera, FeraFera.com, T-Shirts

OK, OK, it’s very very early days for Fera Fera, they have a very limited range of tees on offer, but we’ve had a very friendly email from Shawn who runs the label, and Christina likes at least one of their designs so we think it only fair to give the company a boost and feature what is currently their best t-shirt on offer.

We’d like to feature more of them but in all honesty we think the label needs a little work all round, starting with the site/store/shop – it’s a real plain Jane and it’s crying out for some graphic finesse. That asides there are at least a few t-shirts that need to be abandoned pronto, it’s hard for every designer to get off the ground, but take a look around our blog, you can all see what the competition are up to, and for the main part they are masters of the tee universe. Essentially great fashion design (which is in all honesty what t-shirt design is) relies on two main factors. Concept and Conception. You can’t just have a good idea, you have to deliver it too. That is most likely why at least one of their designs has some appeal. read more

Can You Love A T-Shirt Too Much?

admin    T-Shirt Articles     club t-shirt, college t-shirt, company t-shirt, old shirt, old t-shirts, old tees, second-hand shirt, sentimental t-shirt, t-shirt survey, university t-shirt

Sometimes a t-shirt can be too good, it seems according a recent survey that 4 out of 5 Americans hold on to at least a couple of their favourite tees for donkey’s years. I’ll show you the graph soon in case you want to get technical, but rest assured, science aside, this is a well known fact.

I know from personal experience exactly what t-shirt obsession can mean, as do a lot of t-shirt bloggers, designers and fans in general, the funny thing I’ve noticed with myself and friends with a similar penchant for tees, is your fave shirts aren’t necessarily your best ones.

As one designer recently told me they’ve been wearing their old High School tee on and off for years, I used to wear a couple of rather corny Marvel Comics tees until they practically died on me, I remember in my late teens wearing a particularly groovy Indian t-shirt I picked up dirt cheap at a flea market so many times, that I had a mini-depression when it finally fell to pieces in the wash.

I’ve always wondered about the psychology of t-shirt obsession, not the usual kind, those who collect them by the hundreds, or those (like myself) who can’t help writing about them, but rather the strange attachment one can form towards one single tee. Perhaps it’s an associative effect, for instance, maybe you pick up a t-shirt the day you fall in love, or on a great holiday, or some other happy memory that subconsciously you attach to the t-shirt in question. read more

Top List of Recycled T-Shirt Sites

admin    T-Shirt Articles     old tees, recycled cotton t-shirts, recycled plastic t-shirts, recycled t-shirts, second hand t-shirts, used tees, vintage t-shirts

The t-shirt industry or rather the t-shirt retailing industry (as opposed to a vast majority of the t-shirt manufacturing industry) has finally begun to fall in-line with many other markets in regards to our planet’s environmental issues and their own responsibility to help reduce its own impact on the future of our ecology. Apart from the positive publicity and pr recycled t-shirt sites have received over the last year, it also makes great economic sense for everyone concerned.

The economic and environmental costs of all raw materials is shooting up. Be it the oil crisis, ongoing natural disasters, levies on pollutants, war, or the growing demand from developing countries, more and more t-shirt companies are turning the tables and making positive gains both in public credibility (including fair trade issues) and price, by recycling/reclaiming cotton for t-shirts and promoting the fact as a key selling point to their customers. read more

The Downfall of the V-Neck

admin    T-Shirt Articles     deep v-neck, feminisation, feminization, male fashion, plunging v-neck, v-neck, v-neck t-shirts

In fashion everything rises and falls, be it skirts, shorts, or even plunging v-necks, but when I came across this article recently I realised it’s happened, women have got their way and now heterosexual men have become so feminised that they’re buying t-shirts from women’s clothing stores. So what happened to man, why is he so terrified of looking male? Because women, or rather those he desires, demand it.

It’s a sad sad sight to see, there’s even a Flickr page dedicated to the phenomenon, and most conjecture points to the trend as yet another sign that woman has finally superseded man in the sex wars, there aren’t any men left, or rather, we’re all too embarrassed to admit it. Yes I’m male, I’m straight and I don’t use a pantheon of specialised beauty products (including eyeliner these days), and I don’t wear plunging necklines, if I was female, if I had a decent cleavage, perhaps I would, but why would I want to reveal that particular part of my chest anyway? If I had decent pecs I’d make sure that people got an eyeful at the beach perhaps, i.e stripped to the waist and lazing in the sun. But not on the way to work, or on a night out with the lads, or in most situations I can possibly think of, plunging isn’t necessary.

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An Interview With T-Shirt Industry Expert ‘Profits’.

admin    T-Shirt Articles     bad taste tees, funny t shirts, how to make it in the t-shirt industry, how to sell tees, retro vintage tees, t-shirt article, t-shirt biz advice, t-shirt business, t-shirt industry, t-shirt interview, t-shirt rater, teefeeds

The name ‘Profits’ aka Anthony Marsh maybe familiar to some of you in the industry, I’ve seen his name associated with many t-shirt related sites whilst researching for the Buy Tees blog,. He’s almost everywhere these days, be it t-shirt design, printing, whole, promotions and marketing, he’s even included my news feed at his popular t-shirt news site TeeFeeds.com. However I felt that Profits deserved a little more attention than he’s received so far within the industry. He has a great of experience in the field, and can teach us all, beginners and professionals alike, the mysterious art of forming a popular t-shirt network of must have resources and products that have ensured his prolonged success for quite some time now.

For the best part of a decade Anthony sunk his teeth into the food concession business, spending intermittent periods of his early career as a property manager for an office park and an IT manager. However with the 90′s boom in Internet use, he spotted an opportunity to provide online services resulting in his final decision to capitalise on the humorous t-shirt market, which has since burgeoned into a successful network of t-shirt related sites and resources. read more

Ultimate Top List of T-Shirt Fulfilment Sites

admin    T-Shirt Articles     cafepress, custom printing, customink, fulfilment sites, shipping t-shirts, shirtcity, spreadshirt, t-shirt fulfilment, t-shirts fulfilment, warehousing, zazzle

T-Shirt fulfilment sites offer anyone the chance to buy or create and sell custom t-shirt designs to friends, family or the general public. There only used to be the one, CafePress.com, a behemoth of the t-shirt industry, although it has since expanded into all kinds of promotional merchandise, much of which makes me despair if the truth be told. I took years to hop on to the t-shirt design, partly out of laziness, but mainly due to the expense, inconvenience, mess, endless hours slaving over a silk-screen or screen-printing machine, the mess (I’m repeating this for my partner’s sake, she knows I’d have ink all over the house in a day), plus the now over-inflated rate of GBP means I can’t really compete with all the USA designers, many of whom can be found charging as little as $9.99 out there, I must be the only man in Britain who’s urging the recession on lol. read more