Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

Serious question - I am looking for some kind of legitimate explanation for why there is so much vintage Americana coming out of Malaysia.

I know they've been bitten by the vintage bug, but you'd think if it was all destined to satisfy for their national demand, we wouldn't see such pristine examples (NOS looking stuff) of Americana surface all the time. It's like the Americana supply there, is mostly for export. I see this especially w/ WWII gear and post WWII clothing...

Hmm - Just looking for an educated historical or sociological explanation, rather than chalking it all up to repop or imitation stuff...

Thoughts?

I know with t-shirts - the big sellers, buy from eBay and resell on eBay. Same way a lot of N.A. sellers get a lot of their stock.

Hmmm. I guess that's the most obvious answer. I was wondering if it had to do w/ a large expat community back in the day or maybe clothing drives. I grew up in South America where poverty is basically everywhere - so for like 30 years there have been mass clothing drives from the US, and to this day I'm surprised by all the vintage american stuff you see on people. Like 60s t's, etc. Apparently they would ship containers of old clothes down - and still do. Anyhow.

I was wondering if it was maybe a similar thing.

The militaria stuff still doesn't make sense - I see deck jackets churned out by the dozens and those are kinda rare.

all the "DEPARTMENT STORE"
THRIFT STORES like, SAVERS, GOODWILL, salvation army, st.vincent depaul, rag out any vintage or old looking clothing,anything well worn super thin espacially t-shirts.... that stuff never hits the racks they lie and say they put everything out in the the thrift store and if it doesnt sell after a month they "rag" it out,cram it all in huge bundles ,, ship it to rag houses where most vintage shoppers do their buying, or if the rag houses dont get it they send them to import export companies that get the clothes donated by the bulk, and sent to third world countries like malaysia, phillipines where they pick out anything and everything good, even picking is being outsourced,pickers are loosing out.... please write to your thrift stores and tell them to stop this paractice,, they think they are doing well, buy shipping out these clothes american wouldnt want because they are old and dirty,,, bottom line is they couldnt price them high enough to make a good profit so they right it off ass a loss...even though thrift stores are supposed to be ono profit.... but if they would just put out clothes all clothes even the ones the geniuses at the pricing room think are just rags and price them low.instead of some fucking old navy shirt that is actually cheaper new at old navy... the only vintage shirts you see at savers are deadstock ones that have no dates on them, another "rule" that needs to be done away with,,please voice your complaints these thrift stores are so corrupt,

Yup, that's what goes down. But a huge percentage of the vintage community gets their clothes from rag houses. It's our only source now actually! So these items are still saved and put in circulation.

Speaking as a ragman, I would MUCH rather they keep the old, worn, vintage stuff and just send me new Old Navy stuff

all the thrift stores i've been to still put out a lot of worn out junk. Hard to find a good rag house these days. Too many Japanese and overseas buyers and rag house politics.

I wish I could find a rag house in NY/NJ

mrs_stout wrote:I wish I could find a rag house in NY/NJ

There is one in Philly. http://bulkvintage.com/ There are only open to the public on certain days.
I have not personally checked them out yet. I'm planning on making the trek in April or so.

Supposedly there are many "rag shops" on the east coast. The problem is most of them are not open to the public.

blancobros wrote:

mrs_stout wrote:I wish I could find a rag house in NY/NJ

There is one in Philly. http://bulkvintage.com/ There are only open to the public on certain days.
I have not personally checked them out yet. I'm planning on making the trek in April or so.

Supposedly there are many "rag shops" on the east coast. The problem is most of them are not open to the public.

I was looking at there prices.
Seems spendy!
http://www.bulkvintage.com/bulkvintagewarehouse.pdf

Their t-shirt prices do seem extremely high. I guess it really depends on the selection.

A good chunk of their prices seem to be inline with most thrift stores. If they truly have the volume inventory they claim, That's not bad. It would be refreshing to dig thru a pile of all vintage stuff instead all modern stuff to find one piece or nothing at all.


Anyone else know of any other rag shops on the east coast?

On facebook, they post deals that are not the website. 1/2 off winter stuff, etc.

I went to that Philly "Vintage Raghouse” about 2 years ago. It felt overpriced for what they offered. I didn’t buy anything. They had a lot of shirts with holes and stains, but not everything was that way. Going to a place like that takes away from the thrill of the hunt because, they run a vintage store as well, so they are taking all the good stuff off the top. I wouldn’t make a trip to go there specifically but if you’re in town and they are open that day It’s worth swinging by.

I live in Hampton Roads / Norfolk, Virginia and we have a very large shipping port here, sadly I can’t find any Raghouses in the area. maybe I should start one?

Most of the larger thrift stores in my area don’t have much vintage selection, though I do find lots of nice condition stuff vintage at Goodwills.

We have a HUGE Salvation Army that puts out torn up clothes, I once bought 87!! 70’s-80’s vintage shirts there for $1-$2 each at our main Salvation Army. It’s also where I got my 1991 De La Soul Shirt and 1972 Rolling Stones shirt. I go there at least twice a week.

blancobros wrote:

mrs_stout wrote:I wish I could find a rag house in NY/NJ

There is one in Philly. http://bulkvintage.com/ There are only open to the public on certain days.
I have not personally checked them out yet. I'm planning on making the trek in April or so.

Supposedly there are many "rag shops" on the east coast. The problem is most of them are not open to the public.

Thanks for the info! I'll check them out on my thrift trek down to VA Beach in April.

Inmind wrote:I went to that Philly "Vintage Raghouse” about 2 years ago. It felt overpriced for what they offered. I didn’t buy anything. They had a lot of shirts with holes and stains, but not everything was that way. Going to a place like that takes away from the thrill of the hunt because, they run a vintage store as well, so they are taking all the good stuff off the top. I wouldn’t make a trip to go there specifically but if you’re in town and they are open that day It’s worth swinging by.

That's a bummer. I still might head down to philly for some other business, so maybe I'll swing by and check it out.

I wish I would find some vintage band tees at the thrift stores near me. I never see them. I'm at a thrift store everyday. I'm fortunate to have fifteen in 20 mile radius of my house. But no cool vintage tees.

I'm kinda wondering about this too...all of the 3D stuff I've sold in the last year has gone to Thailand or Malaysia.

Mostly 'trucker t's" but the 3D Harley stuff sells at decent prices too, tho' not as high as something with Flying J Travel Plaza across the back. I can't see "Ice Road Truckers" creating a cultural phenomena over there just yet, so I'm kinda in the dark as to the reasons. (or is it "BJ & the Bear" reruns?)

However, make sure it's a S or M; I haven't sold anything bigger, such as a large. Leads me to think these t's are being bought to wear?

A buddy of mine made an interesting point, & he doesn't know one end of a t-shirt from another, btw...

He mentioned the possibility that HAVING an actual t shirt would make it A LOT easier to reproduce a quality copy...given the discussion on these boards about 3D's incredibly clean ink printing processes, he might have a good point. Plus, having an actual t would solve the tag reproduction issue.

But I'll reserve judgement until I see a sudden flood of 3D Trucker shirts for sale...