Vintage Mudhoney Sub Pop T-Shirt

This vintage T-shirt has undergone a meticulous in-person examination by an authenticator (James A.), who has concluded that it is an authentic Mudhoney Sub Pop t-shirt from the 1980s.

This garment is in used condition and graded as Fair/Worn, with many flaws, yet in stable condition with plenty of wear-life left.

This item is in Fair/Worn condition.

The following factors contributed to this grade:

The garment has some faint yellowing and multiple areas of small yellow/brown marks on the arms, collar, and base.

Which are darker on the back side.

There are also a few instances of small holes within the design and lower front.

The T-shirt fabric is thinned from wash and wear, expected for its age, but by no means see-through (the photo below was backlit.)

The collar's elasticity is moderate-low, visibly warped at rest.

Additionally:

• There is no pilling.
• No underarm holes or seam separations.
• There are no signs of any repair.
• Given this is a white-based t-shirt, dry rot is not a concern.
• The print registration is excellent.
• The prints on the front and back both have the expected cracking and wear.

Color Profile:  The front features 2 colors: Black and Red.

The back features one color: Black.

Print type: Flat screen print.

Color: White

Construction: Dual Side Seam

Neckline: Finished

Style: Standard

Fabric: 100% Cotton

Stitching Profile: 1,1,1,1 (single stitch on collar, single on arms, bottom hem, and side seams, see photos below)

Pit-to-Pit: 20.25" (51.44 cm)

Full Length: 26" (66.04 cm)

Left Shoulder seam to arm hem: 6.75" (17.15 cm)

Right shoulder seam to arm hem: 7.49" (19 cm)

Left Arm Opening: 8.46" (21.5 cm)

Right Arm Opening: 8.46" (21.5 cm)

(The right/left measurements above are from the perspective of the wearer's body)

Tag: Teximp

Size: Illegible (but given the dimension and comparison to a known M's measurements, it is either an L or XL)

Fabric: 100% Cotton

Country of Manufacture: Unknown, likely European

Installation: Under, generally well centered on the neckline.

Condition: Good, worn thin. Not fully legible.

Width: .78" (2 cm)

Length: .8" (2.03 cm) (visible tag)

"In 1988, I bought a compilation record called Sub Pop Rock City. It was in a way a European promote record for the Sub Pop record label. In 1989 these bands were coming to Europe for gigs. My girlfriend at the time, later my wife to this day, went to Britain in the autumn of 1989 and studied at Sheffield University. When I visited her that autumn, we saw many mainly British bands playing live. We spent a few days in London and saw the first London gig of Nirvana and TAD on October 27th.

Later that fall, she went to see Mudhoney, knowing that Sub Pop bands are cool. She bought this T-shirt as a gift to me. The gig was at Sheffield University on 26 November 1989. It was a great gift and people came to talk with me in clubs and pubs when I was wearing it, maybe because of the big Sub Pop logo on the back. In 1990, we went to Madrid and spent a fun evening at the Agapo bar. Because I wore this supercool Mudhoney tee, the bartender served us free drinks, and the DJ played sub-pop bands.

Well, as it turned out, the bartender wanted to buy this tee from me. I refused but bought an Agapo tee from him. I don´t remember any of my tees to get so much reaction from people around me. Later in the early 1990s, one of the reasons is that this tee became famous when Cobain was wearing it in a few well-known pictures.

This is a promo sheet that you could find in Sub Pop records at the time. Here, you can see the dates of the two gigs."

- Mato, aka Mats S.

The design of this t-shirt was mainly lifted from the design of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzzbox, which added a bass-heavy sustain to any guitar sound.

The design is specifically inspired by the Big Muff Pi (V3) red and black iteration of the device made in 1977 and 1978.

The "Big Muff" is replaced by "Mudhoney" in the same font style.

Jim Sorenson initially printed this design at Mysterion Screenprint in Seattle. I have reached out to Jim for comments but have not heard back. However, as detailed in the Variants and Provenance section, there is a high likelihood this was printed in Europe and the artwork on this t-shirt is a Euro variant.

Due of the simple nature of this print, it's been heavily reproduced, in an unlicensed fashion. With that said, these reproductions rarely have the Sub Pop back print and seem to be based on the original version of the print, not the Euro variant.

The following two related t-shirts were discovered while researching - which might be vintage bootlegs or modern counterfeits, but I'm not going to make any official determination.

The shirt has no official licensing information (likely complicated by the fact that the design was lifted from Electro-Harmonix) but it is a legitimate release from the band.

There appear to be two design variants. The most common version of this print features two screws on each side of the print, as well as input detail above the top border.

The t-shirt that is the subject of this review is a more streamlined design without the features above. This appears to be the rarer variant, as considerably fewer versions of this shirt have surfaced online.

According to confirmed eBay sales in the last three years, this item peaked at $1134 when auctioned early in 2023. Most recently, when auctioned less than a month ago, it fetched $600.

We estimate this will sell between $400-$1000. It is currently being auctioned on eBay, and we'll update this section when the auction concludes.

I reached out to Jeff Ross, who designed other Mudhoney t-shirts (and Nirvana, etc.), and he directed me to Jim Sorenson, the original printer of this t-shirt in Seattle. If I reach Jim, I'll be able to determine who was responsible for the artwork and add more information about this print.

8 high-resolution microscopic images highlighting the unique characteristics of this t-shirt—such as its print, fabric, and tag—have been captured and securely linked to this certificate. Just as no two fingerprints are alike, no two vintage tees are identical. These images create a robust and verifiable connection between this certification and the garment, eliminating the need for aftermarket tags, marks, or alterations, thereby preserving the t-shirt's original state.

To prevent counterfeiters from copying our photos, the publicly visible ones have been reduced in quality, while the original, high-res images have been stored privately with this certificate.

These images are exclusively accessible by Defunkd for future verification.

Additional information discovered after the original publishing date of this certificate can be added to the following sections:

• Artists
• Reissues or Counterfeits
• Licensing
• Related Material
• Value
• Variants
• Notes

Changes will be noted here.

All other sections are locked, except formatting, error or grammatical corrections, or additional photos.

December 13, 2024: Replaced "1990s" with "1980s" in the Summary section.