vintage t-shirt tags

image from Bundlelovers

I'm a vintage t-shirt fanatic so this is like pornography to me. You would be surprised how little there is on the internet or anywhere for that matter about the history of t-shirts. Yes, there are some books out there, but they are more like coffee table books rather than what i'm looking for- a hardcore guide book for the hardcore vintage freak. My bud Jimmy at Defunk'd has put together one of the most useful guides out there.

Most of the companies that produced vintage t-shirts are long gone or have been purchased by much larger companies. Even the heavy hitters like Fruit of the Loom and Hanes have next to no records of when particular tags were used or when particular model numbers were produced. The raving vintage lunatic is left to stitch together the pieces of vintage t-shirt history through old catalogs, magazines, movies, and by sharing tips with fellow travellers. This kind of stuff really appeals to the historical archivist in me, so I've been working on putting together a cohesive history for the past year or so. Wish me luck!