PROJECT f/s phys-ed like prints on found t-shirts
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Topic: PROJECT f/s phys-ed like prints on found t-shirts
Posted By: Bob Dale
Subject: PROJECT f/s phys-ed like prints on found t-shirts
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2012 at 6:26pm
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I recently was talking with fellow avid thrifter/junker/vintage afficianado El_Gato_Scott about vintage t-shirts. You know the kind that you wore in boy scouts or during Phys Ed? Those great t-shirts that were designed and manufactured to be disposable, but are anything but. Because they were thought of as disposable often what turns up is either in shoddy shape, or far outside my reach (upwards of 200$ on certain pieces). Knowing my ability to find blanks, and Scott's as well I'd like to source between 15 and 30 vintage t-shirt blanks. Obviously Made in USA, 100 cotton, and so on. I am still looking at graphics. But once I've found the blanks I plan to invent a fictional town, or a fictional team of some kind and utilize some vintage logos/typography to create the shirts. I am not looking to make any real sort of profit for Scott and I, but obviously we'll be sourcing the t-shirts and designing them, etc. At this point I am thinking 20-35$ tops, but obviously if it is possible to produce them for less I will. Here is an example from a shirt I've been lusting over on Ebay:  Obviously this is still up in the air, and none of it is 100% as we still have to source the tees. Just looking for a show of hands of those who might be interested should we be able to go forward with it. |
Replies:
Posted By: mr randal
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2012 at 6:33pm
| Me. |
Posted By: Rivet Head
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 7:50am
| I'll take one of each please! Can't have too many t-shirts.... |
Posted By: Maynard Fried-San
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 8:01am
| I'm interested BobDale! |
Posted By: killer b
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 11:29am
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in theory yeah. in practice, i'd have to like the design... great idea though: i met a guy from a manchester collective last year who buy vintage t-shirts and do crazy art screen prints on them, they looked awesome. this might interest some of you: a huge archive of mainly 70s & 80s aftrican activist t-shirts i found a week or so ago. would really like to repro some of these designs... http://africanactivist.msu.edu/browse_results.php?category=media&member=T-shirt" rel="nofollow - http://africanactivist.msu.edu/browse_results.php?category=media&member=T-shirt |
Posted By: cash
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 11:58am
| Put me in the "in theory" box. |
Posted By: erk
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 1:37pm
| i'm game |
Posted By: dkatz
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 2:29pm
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I'm with killer b and cash
It would be fun to do a series: camp, team and cause, all somehow pertaining to our little corner of the internet and esoterica.
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Posted By: Maynard Fried-San
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 3:34pm
| I don't want to look too camp though, they won't be pink or anything will they? |
Posted By: rnrswitch
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2012 at 6:52pm
| The Jersey City Salamanders |
Posted By: Happy Hooligan
Date Posted: 06 Feb 2012 at 10:23am
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I like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/boobob92/5348221410/lightbox/" rel="nofollow - old photo of some guys wearing these shirts... simple yet cool. the address http://www.flickr.com/photos/boobob92/5348221410/ ------------- http://www.MachineCollector.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.MachineCollector.com http://www.DAEdenim.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.DAEdenim.com |
Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2012 at 4:22am
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I'd be in!
------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2012 at 9:44am
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Then this morning when I woke up a thought popped into my head. "Didn't Wards have a ton of cool brands back in the day? I think i remember seeing some kind of conestoga wagon on one of their logos, or maybe it was one Penney's did." quick google search 'wards sanforized' and VOILA  so, the shirt will be as follows the 'team' will be the PIONEERS in the same font as 'PIONEER' above. Below the 'team' name will be some rendering of that conestoga wagon logo similar in size/style to vintage phys-ed tees. I am still debating between using the red and blue seen in the picture above for the text and logo. It will be a simple one color print so we can go with a show of hands style vote and move forward with whichever is a majority. Still working out the kinks as we want to print these on found t-shirts. they turn up on ebay, but that would increase the cost per shirt exponentially and being a poor bastard I'd like to be able to keep this affordable for myself as well as all of you. We're gonna shoot for a 'limited' run of somewhere between 10 and 15 because we've been struggling to find CLEAN, vintage 100% cotton blanks that were made-in-USA. My thought is to just use white but this is obviously open to discussion. Not looking to profit on this beyond a couple dollars to cover El_Gato_Scott and I's time and gas searching for the tees. So, what do y'all think. nothing is set in stone but I feel like that's a decent sounding t-shirt. If I am way off, lemme know.
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Posted By: devilish
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2012 at 2:59pm
| I'm in if they are white T's. |
Posted By: El_Gato_Scott
Date Posted: 15 Feb 2012 at 5:14pm
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Shoot...I'm not looking to make any dough, just cut me in on one of those shirts. I'm still roaching around looking for made in USA blanks. Bob has been busy working odd hours lately, so hopefully we can at least get a prototype out soon. I like the "Pioneers" idea, Bob! ------------- If it's covered in rust or dust...I dig it! |
Posted By: mr randal
Date Posted: 15 Feb 2012 at 7:38pm
| I like the logo and text idea, and am definitely in. |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 8:45am
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I hope I am not becoming bothersome with any of this but I just wanted to keep anyone interested in the loop. Got a message from the local screen-printer here in town: '... an order of 15 or more one color print tees should run you between 4 to 5 dollars each if you're providing the shirts and any of the graphic properties'. Obviously The more orders the lower the cost. He was also curious why i'd be providing the t-shirts. I explained I wanted both 100% cotton and made in USA. He said he typically just buys Gildan and AAA as most people are concerned more with cost per shirt than where the shirts were made but that he can source American Apparel and other domestic brands . That isn't the route I want to go but I fear sourcing 15 tee shirts is going to create a myriad of challenges, especially in terms of fit and cost. I wear a medium in the vintage Hanes i've managed to pick up and the last few 3-packs of vintage white Hanes tees have gone for over 100$ + . Just kind of stuck, none of my usual spots are turning up any vintage blanks at all even called some of my friends at shops in OK, and they're having a hard time getting them and when they do they can't keep them in stock more than a few days. I know that Ebbets Flannnels does team-outfitting but that seems like a costly route to pursue. I know that this is technically a project I spear-headed and all but I think I under-estimated the complexity of doing it the way I wanted to and am certainly open to and could certainly benefit from any ideas or suggestions y'all might have. (holy run-on sentence batman...) bdF |
Posted By: Maynard Fried-San
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 9:15am
| Bob, are American Apparel t-shirts decent quality? If so, then just get them. You don't want to turn this into a burden for yourself. |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 10:07am
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The printer called me back and told me to try calling a friend of his in Kearney,NE who he thought might have some old stock by Jerzees or Russell Athletics that was Made in USA so I could avoid doing a special order. . . 'ahh, I wish you'd called sooner.I bought this place 6 years ago and just last month I got around to donating about 6 boxes that probably hadn't been opened or moved since the 80's' (!). I just got tired of looking at them.If you Gimme a sec I can run down and check if I have any of that stock left. I told my husband to get rid of any it we had on hand because it all ran small and there were only 13 or 14 of each size. Would have made you a hell of a deal on 'em (laughs)'  She said given the limited demand of 'Made in USA' the distributor she uses (same distributor for the guy here in Elwood) requires her to make an order of 12 dozen, and given her high cost she requires a minimum that is much larger than what I was looking to do .
She said she'd be more than happy to print any shirts that I brought in. She seemed somewhat intrigued by the project too and of course that she wished there was a demand for made in USA but her bottom line yadda yadda yadda. |
Posted By: dkatz
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 11:32am
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What about just leaving this on the back burner for a while? You've put the feelers out a bit, so perhaps if/when some dusty old box of old tees does show up on one of these peoples' radars, they'll think to call you. Similarly, each of us can keep our eyes and ears out - maybe I'll stumble upon a couple in a thrift store some time and can mail them your way. This sort of thing seems hard to force while staying in budget, and we really don't have a time constraint (other than the fact that I'd love to be rocking this tee now!), so I say wait and see if it happens a bit more organically. I would guess this is not a within-budget option, but it would be cool if, alternatively, there was some company one of us is buddies with that makes new good-quality tees and had a bunch of samples or overstock or funky seconds that they were willing to dump on us. Tender, Left Field... probably ain't realistic though.
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Posted By: Maynard Fried-San
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 1:51pm
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Bob, I have some Camber t- shirts I bought years ago that are great quality www.camberusa.com Apparently they're trade only but one of your contacts may be able to order from them. They also have a link on their site to www.allseasonsuniforms.com which seems to have a number of made in USA items. Worth a shot? |
Posted By: ranonranonarat
Date Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 7:56am
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i'm in on this. echoing daniel's sentiments, i don't think any of us are really in a rush to get this out so if it's going to be cumbersone and take up too much of your time, (i think) most of us are ok with waiting it out.. ------------- faithless, the wonderboy |
Posted By: illumin8em
Date Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 9:37am
| This sounds great, I imagine the search could take awhile. Just a thought, what if folks were able to provide their own shirts? It would have to meet some specifics, but it may be more feasible and may save you some money which could mean compensation to your wallet |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 9:55am
| If folks wanted to provide their own shirts that would certainly speed things along. The printing is a minimal cost so within the US this shirt would be incredibly inexpensive and actually probably less than 10-12 to ship internationally given its only a t-shirt. |
Posted By: El_Gato_Scott
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 8:15pm
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I've got a buddy here in SA that runs a silk-screening business called "Streamliners". He does great work. If it's a single color screen, easy peasy. He does multi-color screens too. Did you get the artwork put together, Bob Dale?
------------- If it's covered in rust or dust...I dig it! |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 12:17am
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Thanks for the heads up Scott. I feel like I heard/saw/read somewhere that http://www.homage.com/store/tees-tops" rel="nofollow - HOMAGE will do custom runs too. i am gonna email that guy sometime this week. |
Posted By: dkatz
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2012 at 11:14am
| Made in 'merica mil-spec undershirts. Worth looking into? https://www.camapp.com/cotton.cgi |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2012 at 3:52am
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That's great! 10.50 for a three pack! WOWSA! ^^^ Made in USA. |
Posted By: misterh
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2012 at 6:28am
I love this idea. Please count me in if there's still room. A friend of mine used to throw a cottage party every summer and inevitably someone would make a t-shirt in celebration of it. The shirts were always in the theme of a fictitious high school that a bunch of my friends came up with. The name of the school was Rice Point High, it being the community where the cottage was, and we were the Fighting Manatees. I still have some of the t's. I'll post more pics if there's any interest.  |
Posted By: dkatz
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2012 at 10:32am
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Shipping is a mofo though - I think it was like $16.50 to CA - so it's only worth it if you're gonna buy a bunch. Too bad, too, 'cause I could use some damn undershirts! Wish their shipping wasn't so crazy. Actually I'm going to send them an email and see if cheaper shipping is an option. Will let you know. |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2012 at 1:44pm
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Dkatz, Was going to email them this evening about Sizing, bulk discounts, discounted shipping, et cetera. I can't imagine it being that much for domestic shipping; that's gotta be priority mail or something. Hopefully it is a typo and these babies fit so we can FINALLY say we've found our shirts. |
Posted By: dkatz
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2012 at 10:04am
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I shot them a note right after I posted asking about shipping. No word yet. Let me know what you hear! |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2012 at 9:18pm
| no response so far from Cam App... |
Posted By: Joseph Hill
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2012 at 8:30am
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I don't know how I missed this thread so far. Count me in as well. I wouldn't mind throwing a little extra in the kitty just to help the project.
How much more is it for a two color print? The combo of the blue and red on the Wards tag really pops it up.
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Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2012 at 9:07am
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every printer I've talked to has a one color print at like 5-6 if we provide the shirts. I can't imagine it being too much beyond that for a second color. I think we can still have at, or just above 20, well... if those folks ever call me back about the t-shirts. I am half tempted to just call a surplus shop and see if I can't just buy 5 smalls,5 mediums, and so on. |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 17 Mar 2012 at 9:56pm
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I emailed someone at Everlane. The produce some decent looking goods in LA, might be promising, we'll see. The Military supplier folks still haven't responded. |
Posted By: illumin8em
Date Posted: 18 Mar 2012 at 1:59pm
. I have yet to inquire with the like and receive a timely reply about anything... ever. |
Bob Dale wrote:Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 18 Mar 2012 at 6:16pm
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everlane responded, they do small runs but were willing to combine shipping and cater to a more wholesale type order for us if we had a smaller order of around 15. At this point we have 10 yes' and 5 maybes. I have a friend working on the design for me. I've decided to go whole hog and do the two color print. American Apparel is still an option, but their quality control has never been a strong point of theirs. I feel incredibly unorganized, and wish I'd have waited to get anything going until I had everything concrete and prices and so on. |
Posted By: MC HEMMER
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2012 at 10:44pm
| I can't be bothered to look back and see if I said I'd be in for this, but I'm in. |
Posted By: Joseph Hill
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2012 at 7:00am
| Don't worry Robbie, take it as easy and mellow as it suits you. If anyones got a problem, youse gots friends what'll 'take care' of 'em for ya. |
Posted By: Dr_Heech
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2012 at 9:48am
Count me in Robbie - like the way this thing is developing 
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Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2012 at 3:02am
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Count me in too. Good work all. ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2012 at 9:36am
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El Gato Scott put me in touch w/ a guy who knows his stuff. If folks could PM me their size info it would help a Great deal in putting our order together. Thanks guys. |
Posted By: illumin8em
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2012 at 6:09pm
| If your current contact doesn't work out, I may have someone. I got together a bunch of friends yesterday for frisbee and found out one of them has expanded his business to doing t-shirt. I will ask him about it in the mean time to see what is capable. Sorry I didn't think of it at the time or would ave asked him, I was havin' too much fun |
Posted By: AmericanArcheologist
Date Posted: 13 Apr 2012 at 3:07am
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First time poster, long time lurker! I am definitely down full-tilt on this project and truly hope it does transpire into something....really cool, y'know? -Archer
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Posted By: badseed
Date Posted: 17 Apr 2012 at 10:42pm
| http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/38af78197b567094_large |
Posted By: Medine
Date Posted: 05 May 2012 at 2:07pm
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Hey robbie, count me in. I got a similar project in mind, i got designs, printers and t sources. Prolly getting stuff printed in a few weeks myself. PM me if you wanna shot shop
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Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 29 May 2012 at 5:06am
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How about a ringer tee or baseball type shirt? Just came across these peeps. I was actually looking for short sleeved sweatshirts but would something like these do? US made http://www.modestapparelusa.com/men-and-boys/men-s-ringer-t-shirt-us-made.html http://allusaclothing.com/a.s._tees_2214_3/4_sleeve_baseball_tee_made_in_usa.aspx ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 29 May 2012 at 8:10am
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I am currently moving, and about to start school. I need to get re-settled before I am able to do much with this project. If someone wants to take the reigns and make this happen, PLEASE do. -rF |
Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 10:18am
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Reviving this very old thread, an acquaintance of mine is printing up and selling some rather nice camp/team tee’s. Standard quality tees but good prints. Certainly worth a punt for the money. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/715342549/women-girls-1950s-1960s-retro-vintage?ref=shop_home_feat_2&pro=1&frs=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/715342549/women-girls-1950s-1960s-retro-vintage?ref=shop_home_feat_2&pro=1&frs=1 https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/654015100/mens-camp-ohiyesa-detroit-ymca-vintage?ref=shop_home_feat_3&pro=1&frs=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/654015100/mens-camp-ohiyesa-detroit-ymca-vintage?ref=shop_home_feat_3&pro=1&frs=1 https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/679564828/unisex-mens-womens-high-hats-duncanville?ref=shop_home_active_23&pro=1&frs=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/679564828/unisex-mens-womens-high-hats-duncanville?ref=shop_home_active_23&pro=1&frs=1 ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: Bob Dale
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 9:30pm
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Hell yas ! Those are incredible! |
Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 12:24am
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Tell him I sent you 👍🏻 ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: Peregrino
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 2:41am
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Might have to cop one of these Martin, they look like just the ticket. |
Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 6:01am
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This one's a winer!! https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/737459426/mens-1940s-1950s-1960s-vintage?ref=shop_home_active_2&pro=1&frs=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/737459426/mens-1940s-1950s-1960s-vintage?ref=shop_home_active_2&pro=1&frs=1 ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: belopsky
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 5:16am
| yeah if you like cultural appropriation of sorts |
Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 5:58am
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I particularly like reproduction cultural appropriation. ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |
Posted By: robroy
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 2:41pm
As a Native American, go ahead Mr. Black. I give you permission. |
Posted By: Mr Black
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 3:47pm
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Cool. And if any of you wish to appropriate my Eastern European tailor roots, be my guest 🤗 ------------- www.sidewinderapparel.co.uk |