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 write about Retro Campaigns since before my break, and Christine over there has been super cool about the whole deal. Retro Campaigns makes some coolest new-old shirts I’ve come across. Their prints are all made to look like campaign t-shirts from presidential races of bygone days.

In an interesting twist though, you’ll see t-shirts from FAILED campaigns. I think that’s pretty sweet. These shirts get bonus points in a Dewey Defeats Truman sort of way. Nobody usually remembers the guy that didn’t win unless you pull a Dukakis and have an absolutely ridiculous photo of yourself floating around.

Retro Campaigns is one of the few places out there that can pull off politically-themed t-shirts without being…well, political about it. This isn’t about left or right, conservative or liberal, nothing like that. It’s about a whole lot of t-shirt love, right?

Those of you old enough might date yourselves wearing one of their tees, I have to admit. If it’s someone you voted for, then that’s excellent, more power to you! Thankfully though, I was born during the Reagan Administration, so I can wear these tees purely for their cool factor. Does that make me a poser? It might, but at least not in a Vanilla Ice sort of way.

The first tee Retro Campaigns sent me was lost somehow in transit, but Christine was cool enough to send another. When I opened the package, I’ve got to admit that it wasn’t the shirt that first grabbed my eye, but the rest of the material included.

There was a beautifully designed one-pager on the candidate’s history, career and political beliefs. There was also a gorgeous glossy flyer, business card and a note (on RC stationary, no less). I’ve got no idea if the note and business card are part of every shipment or just mine because I’m a reviewer, but it’s all very impressive nonetheless. I’ll try to get a picture of the materials to post back here.

The shirt itself is a classic ringer, printed on a super-soft American Apparel tee. The water-based inks and faded design really contribute to the vintage look and feel. I get the impression that most, if not all of these designs are from the actual campaign materials, which is sweet since I’m a geek for historical accuracy. If any are the original creation of Retro Campaigns, I’m doubly impressed.

It’s really neat to see some of these shirts purely because it reminds you of a time when the things that were important to the American public were much different than they are now. Values were different, and the price of oil wasn’t even a blip on the radar. People were worried about civil rights, the Russians, Vietnam..all things that have since become background scenery for films.

Since I first spoke with RC they’ve added a bunch of new designs as well. It’s really an impressive collection, definitely check it out. Here’s a hats off to Christine and the team at Retro Campaigns, and thanks again for the shirt.

The shirt I’m wearing is Willkie – Wings for America and it’s $19.99.

Check out Retro Campaigns to see the above shirt and many others. As t-shirt company websites go, it’s very well done.

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!

 Here’s another from the funny file. The retro style really stands out to me, and makes it feel like the image came from an old campers guidebook or something. If you pride yourself on being captain obvious, you’re sure to feel at home wearing this. I liked the description as well: “Do not feed the bears. Unless you are a mother bear. In which case, please feed and nurture them.”

Consider yourself proud to be doing your fellow humans a favor, delivering this public service announcement.

Bears Are Dangerous is $20 and is available from Busted Tees.

When you can’t have a beer in front of you, you might as well have a beer ON the front of you. I came across a small collection of Guinness shirts that celebrate everyone’s favorite “meal in a glass.” They’re done in a vintage style, and some of them are adult slim fits, meaning they’ll be a bit snug unless you order a size up from your usual.

I like the pale colors on this shirt. The drab greenish sort of color is a bit unusual and will stand out both in your closet and in a crowd. I have a M*A*S*H 4077th shirt in a similar color, and whenever it’s clean it grabs my attention, being the only shirt close to that color hanging up. It’s printed on the back too, so when you’re hunched over the bar everyone can tell you’ve got a pint of Irish motor oil in front of you.

This one’s my favorite of the bunch. It’s sort of a rusty brown, and I love the way the logo has been faded and beaten up. It looks less like a shirt that’s been through wash cycles (some faux aged shirts just look like old shirts) and more like a clean new shirt with a faded image. I think you’ll get a bit more life out of it this way. Pretty fitting for a 249 year old beer.

This is probably my least favorite, but it does have a few good things going for it. It’s the only shirt that actually clearly shows a perfect pint on the front. The larger text makes Guinness easier to read from farther away as well.

If you’re going to get a Guinness shirt to wear for St. Patrick’s Day, this is the one. Not only do you not get pinched, but it shows that you came prepared for the official beverage of the evening. If you’ve got an Irish background like I do, you’re showing a bit of heritage at the same time. Who would have figured one shirt could do so much for you? The toucans with the Guinness on their bills used to be part of Guinness advertisements.

All these shirts are available from t-shirts.com for $20. They have SEVEN other Guinness shirts, one on sale for $10, and one at an outrageous $28. There are also shirts there for Schlitz, Stroh’s, Jack Daniels, Patron, and Molson as well as non-alcoholic beverages like Pepsi, Coke and Sprite.

This shirt feels to me like a Scooby Doo cast reunion. In fact, I’d challenge anyone to pick out one of the sterotypical super-villians plastered on the front that wasn’t at the center of a Scooby Doo plot at some point. Designer Joshua Kemble was inspired elsewhere though: “I got the idea to do it by looking at a bunch of old cheezy comic books, by none other than Jack Kirby, then busted out the trusty pencil and inking pens, and made the characters.”

I was never a comic book kid, so I’m left to relate this to the boomerang cartoons I remember watching when I was little (which were likely based on comics anyways). I really like the colors and the way it captures a little piece of your youth. It’s available from Threadless for $15.