If you had to flip through your closet right this very second and save the one item you treasure the most, what would it be? Whenever I hear this question, the first thing that pops into mind is my vintage leopard print coat, but then I get all flustered because I would also really want to save my collection of band t-shirts. T-shirts are so simple and iconic they are almost boring, but when they are printed with your favourite band’s artwork, or came from the best concert of your life, a good band t-shirt can end up being the most treasured item in your wardrobe because of the wicked memories associated with them.
A concert t-shirt is not just a token of an experience, or a simple memento; it’s the act of broadcasting your music taste to the world around you. A great band t-shirt is the sartorial equivalent of How to Win Friends and Influence People, it can become a talking point and invite conversation with like-minded people. Someone you’ve never met wearing a Bad Brains shirt has the potential to become your best friend for life– if you’re an 80s hardcore fan, that is. Conversely, wearing a Nickelback concert t-shirt may guarantee that no one will ever respect you again, or an invitation to Stephen Harper’s next barbeque. Wearing your favourite band on your chest is truly wearing your heart on your sleeve.
T-shirts actually started out as underwear, and were not socially acceptable to wear as outerwear until the late 1950s. I think James Dean probably had something to do with this. In 1956, printed t-shirts were sold as souvenirs at an Elvis Presley concert, and ta-da, the rest is history. By the 1970s, concert t-shirts were almost ubiquitous as a way of making extra revenue for the touring band. This shouldn’t surprise you considering we live in the age of digital music, but musicians hardly make any money off of record sales, because hardly anyone buys albums, and must rely on sales of merchandise to help recoup some of their costs.
Buying concert t-shirts at concerts is probably the most authentic way to acquire a rock t-shirt, but what if the concert you’re attending is a post-millenial Rolling Stones one? If that’s the case then, no offense, but sometimes vintage band t-shirts are way cooler than brand spanking new ones. Mary-Olsen spearheaded the vintage rock t-shirt look during her “boho” phase, and the appeal of a worn-in tee hasn’t faltered since. Just think about this: a “collector” was willing to spend $10,000 on a Led Zeppelin ‘backstage pass’ t-shirt from 1979.
That’s not even the worst of it. The Run DMC “My Adidas” shirts are valued at up to $13,000. I had assumed that the Sex Pistol’s “God Save the Queen” t-shirts designed by Vivienne Westwood and worn to shreds by the punks who owned them would be the most expensive band t-shirts of all time because they were designed by a now-legendary fashion designer, but they rank on the lower range of obscenely expensive t-shirts at only $2000-plus. I guess punks just aren’t loaded with dough they can be spending on a janky old t-shirt.
While spending thousands of dollars on a vintage shirt seems excessive (but what do I know?), there’s just something about old rock tees. It’s the combination of authenticity, look, and feel that place them head and shoulders above the rock t-shirts that are manufactured today. A properly worn-in vintage tee that has withstood decades of washing should be so thin that it’s almost transparent, and buttery soft to the touch. So soft it fees like a shirt made out of fuzzy Cottonelle kittens (not literally). Back in the day, run-of-the-mill t-shirts were made from a 50/50 cotton-polyester blend. Nowadays, concert t-shirts are printed on thick, heavy 100% cotton t-shirts that are most definitely cheaper, but feel nowhere as nice as an old school shirt.
Authenticity is also a huge part of the appeal of vintage band shirts, transferring the feeling that you were somehow part of the phenomenon the first time around. Anyone can buy a Nirvana t-shirt with the smiley face logo at a crappy t-shirt stand at their local shopping establishment, but not everyone has an original Nirvana “Come As You Are” t-shirt, full of holes from excess wear. It’s not necessarily a rare t-shirt worth a lot of money, but it does make me feel a little closer to the grunge phenomenon I love that swept North America in the early nineties.
This Saturday, I’m going to see my favourite band that didn’t break up before 1995 and actually sells t-shirts (I’m looking at you, Fugazi), The Black Keys. I’m not yet sure if I’ll purchase a t-shirt to commemorate the experience, but I’ll definitely brush up on those sacred rules of the Concert T-Shirt Etiquette Guide, so as not too look like an asshole by accidentally wearing a Coldplay t-shirt to the show.
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Isabel Slone is a Toronto-based fashion blogger and writer. Follow her on Twitter at @isabelslone.
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