The Official VINTAGE T SHIRT KNOWLEDGE THREAD.

[PLaydice]

WELCOME, i have a LOT to go over so Im going to jump right in. Before we even start into what's ON a shirt we are going to talk the actual physical properties of shirts you need to analyze and what knowledge you need to internalize to understand whats desirable. Here's a couple starter Jewells of info, Get your notepad. Ill elaborate more as needed.. And there will be pics to Illustrate what Im trying to teach added on as I continually add to the thread.

- OLDER is BETTER.
- A Thrashed "distressed" shirt is not something to stay away from.
- MOST good stuff is in the TRASH
- DONT fear stains!

To explain the first point is pretty easy, they don't make em like they used to. Also, older is obviously rarer. But age is tricky too, all the way up to 1999 shirts are desirable.
I know it's a whole different world just getting into Tee's for some, faded shirts with no sleeves and holes are one mans trash but another's treasure. A reality I can clue you into is that I have observed very sophisticated folks with booths at flea markets selling nothing but blank old clothes that had been worn in to extreme conditions. Think about a antique with its "PATINA" or a pair of good jeans and you will get it. That leads onto my next point, THE BEST STUFF IS IN THE TRASH. Or its wrapped around the old dishes in a box at the garage sale, or around old car parts at a car show ETC, basically most people view them as a shirt! And a shirt is shirt to them. BUT a shirt is NOT just a shirt. Its potential a pop culture collectible or a desirable piece of history. That being said, THE COOLEST shirts were almost ALWAYS WORN, and folks usually keep wearing em until they gain weight, stain em, or croak. Most often what happens is a stain gets on it and it gets tossed in a **** bag to marinate for a long time where it ages like a fine wine. Then it goes to the thrift store and guess what? they take the STAFFORD shirts that are semi clean from a few years ago from one bag and put those out, The BOMB ass shirt that was someones favorite with the stain? to the **** CAN Im not asking you to get a flash light and hit the alley. I simply ask them about the soiled donation's and they usually let me take what I want free or i just donate some money. Just take em home and clean em, Even if they don't come out perfect, people are not as picky as they seem trust me.

NOW, SOME REAL PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE. BRANDS and TAGS
Im going to Name Drop Some Brand's and Go over a little tag info for dating etc.

VELVA SHEEN: these are good, grab em even if its got something lame on it. Japanese folks and sophisticates love em more than usual shirts. Many University and military shirts printed on these.

SCREEN STARS: These are a common staple but very good quality all around, you almost ALWAYS want to grab these in good shape when they have some desirable property on them, and every single desirable property has been on one of these shirts, believe me.

HANES: These guys have a name everyone recognizes for a reason, they have been making the most shirts for the longest. the older blanks are desirable.
these guys also manufacture a ton of crappy shirts they don't put the "hanes" name on too.

Tons of other brands exist: CHAMPION, RUSSELL, STEDMAN for example are very common shirts. Vintage blanks are always desirable especially certain blends of fabrics by champion.
Also every NON T shirt brand makes a shirt, its similar to a fragrance because its cheap to produce with High markup.

Theres a freaking Brioni T shirt for example, not vintage but you get the idea.

Authenticity is really one of those things you have to be like water and know the flow. See that fake gucci? its good cause its OLD fake gucci. Don't kid yourself that some of these brands where not putting out free perfume shirts with there brand logo all over it before folks really stressed "brand image" At the same Gucci did put out Real shirts then, but finding one is like finding a dinosaur bone and you won't get much more than the FAKE one, oh the tragic irony.

NOW, we get into the "Flavor" so to speak. The "PRINT" The actual image on the shirt.
Let me get it straight, the value of a shirt can be subjective obviously but besides the actual physical properties of a shirt (condition, brand etc) you have to consider the shirt like art.
Now, you got to determine what sort of following your shirt has and just how scarce and in demand the print you have is. Teaching you this will be the most challenging aspect, and for now Im going to have to give a broad outline and get more in depth later. The best stuff is attached to Famous people and dates and has provenance just like any serious Antique or collectible. You want a old shirt worn by someone in a picture or movie. You want shirts you cannot get unless you were THERE, Concert tour shirts, Rodeo's, hot rod shows, whatever. DATES are a good thing, SIMPLICITY is amazingly good sometimes. The best Rolling Stone's shirt simply say's "THE ROLLING STONES" in flocked letters on the front. Check this shirt http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOHN-LENNON...036?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43dc259f94
Thats hitting major intersections of desirability. Remember THE BEST shirt's someone wants to keep forever and ever, maybe not to wear but to hang on a wall even.

END OF LESSON 1

 

[Stewie]

Can I play? Recent finds. Not really adding to the knowledge except giving some examples of what's out there and some labels. No home runs here, but still some decent eBay fodder when I ever get to listing them:

And yes, the Stussy is older, so I count it as vintage.

 

[jrd617]

Wrong sub-forum.

 

[PLaydice]



Wrong sub-forum.

Wrong sub-forum.

Whoops, Mod move it for me.

 

[JFST]

Subscribed Sensei!

 

[PLaydice]



Can I play? Recent finds. Not really adding to the knowledge except giving some examples of what's out there and some labels. No home runs here, but still some decent eBay fodder when I ever get to listing them:

And yes, the Stussy is older, so I count it as vintage.

Some great choices, all look to be in shape and have desirable stuff on them. That "1800 rent a kid" is a awesome piece as is the Celtics champ shirt. Solid all around

 

[noob in 89]

Man, this thread is gold and I am pocorning hard for part 2.

As far as fabric content goes, did anyone catch that HBO series How to Make It In America? They touched on that pretty heavily. I remember a 50/50 cotton-poly split was considered ideal as far as that vintage feel and re-sellability goes. IIRC, they were always looking for batches of these to strip of their ink and imprint with something new, which always sounded like a lot of fun.

I also wonder, from a buyer's perspective, where the best places are to hunt for all your specific vintage needs online. I know eBay and etsy for sure, but beyond that, nothing. And all Google seems to lead to are sites with hopefuls trying to unload unremarkable clothing that is technically from a particular decade, but lacks the spirit and distinction of what anyone would be searching for.

 

[Ace_Face]

Thanks for putting this together playdice. I am gonna start hitting the tshirts a little harder and will post my finds for some feedback.

 

[PLaydice]



Man, this thread is gold and I am pocorning hard for part 2.

As far as fabric content goes, did anyone catch that HBO series How to Make It In America? They touched on that pretty heavily. I remember a 50/50 cotton-poly split was considered ideal as far as that vintage feel and re-sellability goes. IIRC, they were always looking for batches of these to strip of their ink and imprint with something new, which always sounded like a lot of fun.

I also wonder, from a buyer's perspective, where the best places are to hunt for all your specific vintage needs online. I know eBay and etsy for sure, but beyond that, nothing. And all Google seems to lead to are sites with hopefuls trying to unload unremarkable clothing that is technically from a particular decade, but lacks the spirit and distinction of what anyone would be searching for.

A lot of dope stuff pops up in weird places like instagram or pinterest. Even forum message boards like the one we are on have stuff, im on here and I sell tons of vintage for instance.
Im working on part 2 prob going to drop it late tonight, im busy with my daughter now.Until then, a small demonstration.

See this? this was picked from a sports guy vendor who just buys up all the sports stuff he see's and does pretty well at the swap meet. he scored this but he was not able to grasp what it is. What is it? its a adidas shirt from the 1978 world cup nederlands team with flocked writing. still i have not learned if this was a team issued garment, but i seen one sell for 500 euro on german eBay years ago.

 

[cadmonkey]

All the GWs here have done us the favor of moving all the t shirts to the middle of the floor so I've been checking them out a lot lately and this thread is very timely. Subscribed!

 

[PLaydice]

Alright dudes, I decided since most of you guys are going to be checking standard thrift store racks looking for wayward gems that beat the odd's and ended up on a rack with a bunch of crap, im going to focus on practical knowledge for your scenario.

Here's what your hoping for, you need somebody that was a part of something, a sub culture or group, to have a upheaval (death, moving cross country etc) and for there stuff to show up at your store and hope something makes it past the filter. Once you catch that gem you need to figure out just how hard you need to scrape the store. Here is a couple of hypothetical situations, First a Metal head guy named Steve passes away, Steve's sister is the only close family member and is in charge of figuing out what to do with his stuff since he has no wife and kids. Steve's sister is not a metal head or into clothes, She's more concerned with what to do with substantial worldly belongings, she's going to bag up all his clothes and its about 50/50 chance if she even takes the time to donate the clothes or trash em. these shirts goto a processing center, and the good stuff gets taken out and sent to a "rag house" a place where they literally turn these awsome shirts into rags or ball em up for refugee's. The ones making it to the Thrift are shirts deemed clean and modern enough to wear. They simply want the cleanest newest shirts at the thrifts and thats not what we want.
THAT BEING SAID, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Going to thrift store's that actually sell clothes to poor people in run down areas is a start, they are much less picky about donations.
Going to small time thrifts that sort their own donations is huge, If you find one of Steve's metal shirts, you can ask if any more of Steve's shirts came in too dirty or messed up to put on the rack.

Here's a tip to find good shirt's fast. Head to BLACK tshirts first, and look for faded shirts. BAND shirts are black more often than not and worn and faded as well.

Here's some stuff that manage's to make it out despite thrift filters

Nike seem's to pass the filter because folks got no damn idea how to age clothes so they assume they are fairly recent.

this is gold.

MADE IN USA = GOOD and probably old.
CRAPPY TAGS good sign of age.
LOOK FOR A DATE = DUH

KNOW YOUR ****.

I got this one off someone very sophisticated, But he thought it wasn't very special. Let me tell you something, You had to run a marathon in hawaii in the 80'S to get this shirt. Notice the nike logo? Its on a hanes tag, Nike didn't print a million of these in a factoty. I see shirts like this in Japanese magazines and stuff.


Let me give you a easy little catalog of the big dog's you wanna find.

Biker and Harley stuff golden. Its a subculture with a large following thats part of the fabric of America.

 

[cadmonkey]

^Superb info. Would it be okay to assume m/l are the most optimal sizes in terms of level of desirability?

 

[PLaydice]

for the most part, But don't discount how hard it is for larger folks to find clothes they like. XL is pretty desirable. Small is not bad either, Asian's tend to be small and tend to pay the best for this stuff.
So in all honesty its ALL good lol

 

[Stewie]

And don't think that since it has shrunk that it loses value. Sizing has changed anyways...that large shirt from the sixties is more like a small medium nowadays. Girls wear smalls too.

 

[Ace_Face]

Only one grab today. 70s? 80s?

Spoiler