Category: Interview

From time to time I track down some of the world’s most notable vintage t-shirt collectors for an interview. I’ve always wanted to go local and feature Toronto’s vintage tee ambassador; it was just a matter of figuring out who that was. Since the early ’00s, I’d heard whispers about this guy people referred to as, “rocker Dave,” who is a bit of a local celebrity. I’d seen pictures of him floating around online (like the one above) and spotted him chatting up ladies and gents on Queen Street West a few times. A couple of years ago he was ... Read more

In our recent guide to picking we offered advice on locating and gaining access to a raghouse. But unless you’ve stepped inside one they’re likely still somewhat of a mystery. So we thought about sending an undercover agent to infiltrate and record the goings on at a facility….but instead, we just emailed Rene Wolters who operates a mill in the Netherlands. He happily provided a virtual tour without us having to force him to talk by subjecting him to hours of loud heavy metal. Besides, he grew up listening to and playing Metal so Zero Dark Thirty style tactics would ... Read more

Meet Perry Shall. That’s him pushing a cart through a thrift store. Perry is a multi-talented dude best known for his art. He creates badass designs for albums, t-shirts, posters, you name it. Check out his impressive handiwork and webstore here. But it’s his admitted “stupid stupid obsession” of collecting vintage tees that caught my eye back in 2014 when we first connected for an interview. Fast-forward seven years and we connected with him yet again in 2021 as we continue to document the life and times of a t-shirt hustler. Both sets of interviews are featured below. 2014 Perry ... Read more

Meet Ann Wolff. That’s her with Melvin Seals of the Jerry Garcia Band. Ann is a t-shirt designer from Tulsa, Oklahoma who has been in the game of selling tees since the early 1990s. She’s a Deadhead at heart who has also sold designs to the Grateful Dead merchandise catalog and has worked personally with bassist and founding Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh. Needless to say, she’s got some serious Dead cred. What’s your background as an artist prior to your Grateful Dead days? I have no formal training  as an artist. My mother was an artist and I learned ... Read more

Meet Gary “X”. By the way – the suspicious-looking guy above isn’t him. He’s just some random vintage dude whose face we blackbar’d to make this article more cloak and dagger-like. The photo is fake but Gary and his pioneering career as a bootlegger are legit. He began bootlegging as a teenager back in the 70s. He traveled throughout the U.S. learning the ins and outs of the intellectual property piracy trade. He knew when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, knew when to walk away and when to run. Regardless of whether or not the artists received financial ... Read more