Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

Hello all,
I am new to the defunkd community but an avid vintage picker. I found this shirt at a local goodwill and was wondering the exact age and possible value for this T. There are no stains or holes but the die appears to be "molting" and the splotches arent too visible. I havent run accross any other ones and really need some help.. any info would be helpful. Thanks!

Wow! That's a gem.

It looks to be the exact same shirt seen here:

http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/wood ... 689cf8a392

There's brief description that states a bit of history about the shirt and how it was worn by crew members at the festival.

That shirt and handbill sold for $717 as a lot and a Woodstock shirt recently sold on ebay for $7k.

I'd say that's quite a find.

Woodstock-gate continues....

"Woodstock Security Staff T Shirt and Original Handbill (1969). John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, the original financiers of the 1969 Woodstock festival, had approximately 350 security staff red t shirts printed with the white Dove and Guitar logo silkscreened on the front, and the name "Woodstock" printed on the back. These red shirts were different from those worn by construction workers, stage hands, and vendors, with very few surviving past the three-day extravaganza. Here's a Excellent condition t shirt (size: Large) from that original batch, obtained from an acquaintance of John Roberts. Along with the tee is an original handbill, showing the first version of the Woodstock poster, with the Wallkill NY location. It measures 4.5" x 7.25", and is also in Excellent condition. Show your true Woodstock colors with this lot!"

That Hanes tag isn't something I would have said to be from 1969. Early 70s maybe - but who knows for sure, there's no exact timeline on when that tag was created - but I do have tees from the early 80s with that exact tag. Which also doesn't say much because massive amounts of blanks were probably printed and hung around for a while.

We need to contact one of the organizers - anyone have any clue on how to do so?

Amazing you found this at a Goodwill store in 2012.

I'd have to agree with Jimmy. The small Hanes tag is consistent with some of the older tees in my collection from the mid-70's.

Hard to know for sure if it's actually from 1969.

Might be worth taking some better photos and sending out an email to some places like http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/

Who knows...you may have found a very rare piece of rock history.

Very cool shirt, but I would hesitate to call it an original (not saying I know for sure, just hesitating). I currently have a tee from 1977 with that same Hanes tag, and I'm pretty sure that one carried on into the early 80's. Not sure if it was used as far back as 1969, can anyone verify?

My other question mark would be the (TM) after the "Woodstock". Did original crew shirts and merchandise from the festival have this, or does it only pop up on later, licensed Woodstock branded items?

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade, I just think it would be borderline miraculous finding an original Woodstock staff or security t-shirt at a Goodwill

All good q's - Max and I are digging into this - I'm trying to touch base with one of the organizers.

Keep your eyes open for the earliest known Hanes tee with that tag - definitely a surprise to me if it was around in 69.

This is the earliest example of that tag that I have photos of that's actually dated (in this case, 1977). Same tag layout, although the spacing on the borders of the tag is a little different.

really appreciate the research you guys are doing. As far as the Haynes tag goes it seems believable they had them around this year as most shirts of the time were never dated. I did find the shirt in the NE area so it doesnt seem too far out of the question, and I think a lot of people underestimate what you can find at goodwills. Noticed this F&L shirt that jimmyj suggested was given out as a promo around when the book came out circa 1972. heres the link
what-worth-f20/ralph-steadman-fear-loat ... -t740.html

Okay okay.....

Here's a shirt that we can all agree is from 1969 with this same tag:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... TM:US:1123

I have a Star Wars crew shirt from 78-79 with the same tag, so it appears to have quite a life span.

As Jimmy stated earlier, we're looking into it and have gotten some traction with people in the know. Stay tuned........

Great research guys!

Impressive.

Just checked my collection - exact same tag on my Young Doctors in Love tee - 1982.

This particular tag has always given me fits! (picture George Costanza looking to the skies and yelling "Khaaaaaaaaan!!!", but substitute Hanes for Khan). Anyway, I own a 1969 John & Yoko tee like the one Max linked to and was wondering....if that tag could be from '69, could it date back to '65 as well? The reason i ask, is I have a Beatles "Help!" promo tee that has the same look (only short red sleeves instead of green) and that same tag (75% cotton/25% poly)....maybe there's something in that vs the all cotton tags that could help with the dating? This is supposed to be the Winter of Crow and this Hanes tag is sticking it to me...stickin' it!

"The Great Hanes Tag Quest!"

I made some phone calls to Hanes earlier today. I'm sure there are going to be a ton of "you need to call this number", but I've made it through the 1st few layers. Everyone so far has seemed very interested in helping when I told them the reason for my inquiry was that some of the original Woodstock t-shirts could have been printed on Hanes. Hopefully there will be a Hanes historian at the end of the tunnel that can shed some light on that tag. Of course, that still wouldn't guarantee the shirt as an original, but I would like to find out the earliest use of that tag anyways.

Nice one!

Nice work waxandthreads.

Be sure to post your findings.

I know this doesn't answer any questions... but still interesting.
Pulled from Hanes history timeline:

1970's


In the mid 70’s, executives at Hanes Knitting discovered that their white underwear product were being screenprinted and worn as outerwear. Keith Alms of Hanes Knitwear believed there was a viable business in selling white underwear T-shirts to screenprinters. He developed the Hanes 5000 line of T-shirts and began selling to individual screenprinters.

That's weird - it took them until the 1970s to realize that?! Doesn't seem right.

The official word from Wade Lawrence | Director of the Museum at Bethel Woods (Woodstock Museum)

Security got red t-shirts (along with a red windbreaker), and festival organizers and head honchos got black. There were also green and purple, but I have not been able to get the whole story on who wore what colors.

All shirts had the same "TV logo" on the back, in white, and "Peace" on the front above the left breast. There were no official Woodstock products sold at the festival (boy, did they miss out on a profit opportunity), but there is evidence that some of the independent vendors were selling bootlegs at the festival. There is also a possibility that iron-on Woodstock logos were mailed out with the mail-order tickets (I have heard a couple references to this), and we displayed a vintage shirt with an iron-on logo in an exhibit that traveled from The Grammy Museum last year, so that story may be true.

Recently, I've seen "vintage" Woodstock shirts for sale on e-Bay for outrageous sums, but they are obviously not from the event, as they reference the concert dates with the year "1969", which I have never seen on a vintage Woodstock shirt.

I asked a few follow ups and here was his reply:

Here are photos of the front and back of the security shirt in our collection. It was given to us by a festival attendee who received it at the festival in return for helping out in the medical tent. It is identical to one that had previously been loaned to the museum by one of the NYC policemen who worked the festival. That cop loaned us his T-shirt, his windbreaker (both red with the TV logo seen in these photos), and the letter that was sent to the policemen who worked security at the festival. In the letter it states that they were issued two T-shirts and a windbreaker, and it stressed that the policemen were to leave their weapons at home. I have also seen a black T-shirt (worn by Woodstock sound man Bill Hanley when he visited the museum this winter) and a blue or purple (sorry, don't remember) in the collections storage area at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. ALL featured the TV logo and "Peace". No trademark "TM", no dates, no "Woodstock Festival".

I saw the $7000 shirt when it (or one just like it) was listed on eBay. It might or might not be vintage, but it was not issued by Woodstock Ventures at the festival. With the market as hot as it is, it may be a modern fake, or it could have been produced soon after the festival to cash in on the festival's popularity. Again, I'm not aware that Woodstock Ventures ever issued that design, but I've seen them for sale at roadside stands around Bethel Woods.

The shirt that sold at Christie's (http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/wood ... id=&page=8 ) appears to be a bootleg. Maybe vintage, maybe not -- I can't tell. I do know that there were enterprising young capitalists who sold bootlegs at the festival, and this may be one. Hell, even I was ripping off the design in 1970 when I used the logo for my company logo in Junior Achievement. We all wanted to be part of Woodstock. That said, these "unofficial" Woodstock shirts may be vintage from circa 1970 or 1971. Not from Woodstock, but still vintage. Or they were sold in the woods at the festival... without a well-documented provenance, who knows. I haven't seen any of these bootlegs on anyone in any of the many Woodstock photos and videos that I've seen.

Good work Max, you've solved the mystery by god!

Interesting about the front - peace - that it was never shown in the rock tee book - strange they wouldn't have flipped one over.

Way to go Max!

Nice to see a front and back photo of the actual red security tee from 1969.

Woodstock-Gate got pretty tense for a while...but it's water under the bridge now and this will make everyone who tuned in chuckle...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Woodstock-Festi ... 3f0980f7d6

Haha!!! Too funny!

I have two original (never worn) tees that were given to office staff of one of the financiers. The label matches the one in the pic exactly, does have the tm on the back as well.