One of the largest collections of vintage-style tees I know of is at t-shirts.com. Their vintage and 80′s sections include more than 400 vintage designs, which is really a staggering figure. Some designs are faux vintage all the way, with fading and aging crafted into the design. Others appear to use new print, just with retro subject matter.

Sometimes it’s for a band (Allman Bros ’73 Tour, anyone?) and others for a product or beverage that’s no longer made or has since changed logos. Cartoon characters and classic television seem to be popular subjects as well. Even if vintage isn’t usually your thing, it’s worth checking out their tee collection. You may just come across something you like. You may recognize a few, particularly the Guinness tees as having been featured here before.

Most tees are $20, and the ones on sale are usually $10, which is an absolute steal. Be sure to check them out at t-shirts.com.

There are an awful lot of tees that seem to be tagged “vintage” these days that probably shouldn’t be. Some are reprints of actual old designs, and some are completely new designs using fabrics and printing methods to emulate a vintage look and feel. There’s nothing wrong with faux vintage per se, but you can’t always take these kinds of shirts at face value. There are a ton of clever fakes out there, and that just doesn’t jive with the purist in a lot of people.

To get the real deal, you’ve usually got to scour the racks at Goodwill and the Salvation Army. You’ve got to know what you’re looking for. You’ve got to get up on a Saturday morning and comb through a lot of crap clothing in the hopes that you may find a gem or two. Thankfully, Defunkd takes all the work out of it. I first read about Defunkd on TshirtReview.com about a month ago. Defunkd is an all-eBay t-shirt store specializing in REAL vintage t-shirts.

Defunkd has taken the time out to write up a few guides to help you identify and locate vintage t-shirts. There’s all kinds of background information that you could only gather yourself after years of trial and error, sifting through thousands of tees. You’ll be spotting fakes left and right after reading this. You’ll learn which brands were popular when and find out how to use the tag to make sure you’re getting an authentic tee.

Aside from the guides though, Defunkd sells a ton of t-shirts right there on ebay, many starting at just a penny. You can check out the Defunkd store here.

I’ve been meaning to do a few theme weeks for a while now. This week I want to focus on vintage and vintage-styled t-shirts. Whether it’s for the nostalgia value, the looks you’ll get or that super-soft feel, there’s something about an old t-shirt (or an old t-shirt wannabe) that’s got a little bit of something for everyone.

I’ve got some neat things lined up this week, but I can’t keep my eyes on everything…so let me know about anything vintage on your radar! Hit “Submit a Shirt” in the upper-right corner of the site or email me: reviews at tshirtreviewblog dot com. Send me a photo of you wearing your favorite vintage t-shirt…tell me about your t-shirt company’s vintage designs… tell me where you get your REAL (old!) vintage t-shirts.

You’ll still see some non-retro content throughout the week as I play catch-up after my break, but I’ll be filing all the vintage things into a special category anyways. Let’s get it on!