How Do You Know if a Band Tee is Vintage? 7 Tips

We’ve all heard that fashion is cyclic. As the 70s, 80s, 90s and even Y2K are finding their way back into fashion trends, the demand for vintage band tees from these eras is on the rise. Surely there’s a lucky few out there who’ve gone through one full cycle and still have their favorite concert tee from back in the day. If this isn’t you, then you might be in the market for a vintage band tee but not sure how to tell what’s authentic and what’s a reproduction.

The tag, the stitching, and the size are some of the most reliable giveaways when trying to determine if a band tee is vintage. Some graphics even include the year of the printing, assuring the garment’s age and authenticity. Price, condition, and material are other factors that can help you assess the true era of the tee in question.

If you find yourself caught in the vintage band tees frenzy, but your lack of knowledge keeps you from raiding thrift and vintage stores, then here are seven tips to help you distinguish a real treasure – like a Motley Crue ’87 Japan Tour Tee – from a modern reproduction t-shirt. 

1. Consider the Price

If you’re shopping online or at local vintage stores, one of the easiest ways to discern vintage band tees from reproductions is the price. Search online or ask advice from someone in the know, but do your research before going in so that you know the average price you can expect to pay for a true vintage band tee. While price doesn’t always guarantee an item is vintage or authentic, in a retail setting like a record shop or vintage consignment store, the price can be a very good indicator.

If you’re hunting at local thrift and second-hand shops, price is less of a factor but you may have to look harder and longer before you score. Unless there’s a savvy employee pricing items in the backroom, you could add an authentic vintage band tee to your wardrobe for less than five bucks at the thrift store.

2. Assess the Condition

Another seemingly obvious, yet important step to make sure you’re looking in the right direction is to examine the condition of the shirt in question. Generally, reproduced band tees will look brighter, newer, and are usually in better condition than their vintage counterparts. 

At the same time, the real vintage band tee will most likely look like it’s been through a lot…of decades. Not in a bad sense, rather as a matter of fact – clothes that are worn will wear out over time. A vintage band tee will likely show signs of wear like splitting at the seams or hems, loose stitching, or tiny holes on the body of the shirt (caused by one of the threads in the knit breaking). Also, remember that fabric fades due to exposure to light, so the band tee you’ve been seeing in your dreams may look less bright than you imagined.

On the flipside of the distressed look, you can find a vintage band tee in pristine condition. There are deadstock garments out there, meaning never worn, and some may even still have the store hangtags attached. The price for a vintage band tee in like-new condition will likely be significantly higher, so take that into account when assessing the item’s authenticity.

3. Check the Tags

Checking the tags is one of the most effective ways to know if a band tee is vintage, assuming that the tag is still in the shirt and its markings are still at least somewhat visible.

During the 1970s and the 1980s almost every band tee had a tag. A few of the print brands known for producing band tees at the time include Jerzees, Anvil, Screen Stars, and Wild Oats.

If you’re unfamiliar with the brand you see on a tag, a Google search will help. For a piece of clothing to be considered vintage it needs to be at least 20 years old, so check that the brand was in operation prior to the year 2000. (If the brand is vintage and still in operation, take into account other clues like the size/fit, fabric, and condition of the tee in question compared to the brand’s current designs.)

Checking the tag’s validity can seem difficult for novice thrifters, but the fact that for the last decade most t-shirts have been manufactured without tags does make zeroing in on true vintage a little easier. Just like that, the selection has been narrowed. Also, most print brands (Sportswear, Hanes, or Screen Stars) emerged in the 1980s, when the demand for band tees significantly increased. (source) Hopefully, it will help in your future search.       

4. Look for a Year

Unfortunately, sometimes the tag doesn’t always make it through the decades and might be missing. If that’s the case, then try looking for a printed year. If it’s a vintage concert or festival tee you’re looking at, knowing the year will likely be much easier since these will usually have the year and locations printed on them to mark the event.

Regular fan merch that wasn’t purchased at an event will still sometimes have a date marking the year the design was printed. They may be unnoticeable at first, but if there is a print year it can usually be found near the bottom of or directly below the main graphic. Look closely, because these dates are almost always pretty tiny.

5. Check the Material

The ‘70s and the early ‘80s were famous for their high-quality cotton, used in clothes production. (source) Still, if you see that the material the t-shirt contains 100% cotton, there’s a high probability that it was made after 1980s; as for the true vintage band tees, made in the previous decades, most cloth brands used a 50/50 polyester-cotton blend in manufacture. Thus, if the trick with tags or year seeking doesn’t work, check the material your band tee was made of. 

Speaking of tags, there’s one more thing that can give you a hint – many tags on vintage t-shirts are blank and/or frayed if you pay attention to this detail. As printing companies were only getting started in the 1970s and didn’t have strong branding, the tags today may look worn away or torn. (source) 

6. Evaluate the Size and Cut

Another thing to know when shopping vintage is that the physical size of an authentic band tee from the 70s and 80s will be much different from a modern reproduction despite having the same size on the label. Back then, the dimensions were significantly smaller for mass-produced clothes because people were generally smaller. For example, a true vintage unisex/men’s size large Rolling Stones tee will be visibly smaller than a modern reproduction, even if it’s from the same brand.

The cut, or way the shirt fits to the body, will be different, too. Shirts from the 70s and early 80s will have a slimmer fit than the styles you’re likely to find at Hot Topic today. You’ll often find that the sleeves from this era were also shorter.

The 90s is another decade that’s obvious in terms of cut. For girls, fitted baby tees with a tight fit and nipped in waist were popular so they’ll look, well, like a baby’s shirt compared to modern sizes. For guys, this is where the dimensions rule gets flipped on its head a bit, because in the 90s t-shirts were big and boxy for a baggy fit. Compare a 90s Tu Pac tee to today’s reproduction and the modern fit will be a bit sleeker.    

7. Look at the Stitching 

Finally, the last trick that will aid you in your quest for a perfect vintage band tee is to look at how your band tee was made – specifically, check the stitching. Examining the stitching is one of, if not the most, credible ways to define whether or not a piece of clothing is vintage.

The stitch style varies greatly for vintage garments, but when it comes to t-shirts, it’s all about the sleeve finish. Up until the mid-1990s most factories manufactured their t-shirts, using a single stitch at the sleeve hem. By contrast, modern contemporary sportswear uses a double-stitch technique at t-shirt hems and sleeves (or even more for some decorative finishes).

Carefully examine the stitching on that band tee that caught your eye and see if it’s worth it. If you’re looking for a shirt from the 70s, 80s, or early 90s, single-stitch is what you want. However, remember that this tip is only applicable to t-shirts and won’t help you much with other garments.  

Some Words of Encouragement 

Searching for the perfect garment isn’t always easy, and there’s bound to be compromises – sometimes the size isn’t quite right, or you wish the design was a little bit different. This is especially true when shopping for vintage clothes.

Don’t get discouraged the first time if you fail to find real gold. Even if you happen to buy a reproduced band tee instead of a vintage one, don’t be upset – if you like it and want to wear it, that’s what counts. At least you can still show your appreciation to the artist! Try and try again, and one day you will surely rock your dream vintage band tee.

Resources:

https://www.goldminemag.com/articles/learn-spot-collect-care-vintage-concert-t-shirts
https://medium.com/@rhyswalker/i-have-recently-developed-a-passion-for-collecting-vintage-t-shirts-especially-band-t-shirts-46034e9e9caa
https://alooked.com/how-to-tell-if-a-t-shirt-is-true-vintage/
https://www.tips-and-tricks.co/fashion-and-beauty/t-shirts-always-getting-tiny-little-holes-bottom/2/