Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

Hey guys, not sure what to make of these. I found this seller (surfite*) (http://www.ebay.com/sch/surfite*/m.html ... ksid=p3686) with a bunch of brand new (as in hot off the presses) Sub Pop tees. Seemingly, late 80's or early 90's, but the listings confuse me. The seller mentions in several listings that he "found these in a box in the back of his shop" and that he did printing for Sub Pop around that time and forgot about these. A couple things strike me as a little fishy, though.. namely, why would Sub Pop pay this guy to print tees and then never collect the tees themselves?

Also, in at least one listing (the Screaming Trees piece, which in the title says 1993) he says "This Screaming Trees T designed by Trees faithful designer John Hicks. This was an extremely short run, pretty much for band and crew only. 5 color psycho Jesus print on the front, with a two color blend across the Trees type. 3 color blend on the text on the back. The fronts were done around 2003, a decade later, because I dug the Psycho Jesus. The backs were done last week... the shirts felt so ...unfinished."

That last statement makes me think that maybe this guy has access to original t-shirt designs but is printing them out as recently as last week..? If you look at his completed listings, he has several identical listings for the same tees, which isn't all that surprising.. just seems odd, I guess. Would you consider these "vintage", "original" or simply modern repros?

Tough call, but I'd say he has the original color separations and/or screens in his shop and decided to print up a few unusual and rare Seattle scene tees to see if there's any interest.

In my book..not vintage. They're just too clean and crisp. Even if they had been sitting in a box for 15-20 years in his shop you'd most certainly see some discoloration to both the garment and the printed image, not to mention the wrinkles and creases after all those years of sitting would be unmistakable.

My 2 cents.

I sent the guy a message and got an honest reply which is cool. He is printing new shirts, and to be fair he doesn't label any of his listings as "vintage". Here's his response:

"I get your drift. Some of what I'm selling are what you refer to as"modern reproductions". I refer to them as more of those damn Sub Pop shirts! LOL. Everything here was originally done by me (or my minions) back in the day, and when I discover that I no longer for some reason have a cool shirt to wear, I'll set up and print a dozen or so, so I DO have a cool shirt to wear, and a couple to play around with. Most of these were printed in the hundreds to thousands (really) over and over again, 50 to 100 at a time. So, the difference between a 1992 Mudhoney shirt and one printed in 2003 is just the brand of T. Everything else is just the same. Same artwork, same ink, same printer. Maybe new screens, but that happened even back in the 90's. Screens have a finite lifespan, especially in production. And some stuff for whatever reason, just ended up in a box on a shelf, or in my dresser at home for the last 20 years. I gots lots of shirts.

Plus, I still do work for most of these guys. Just popped out a new batch of Skin Yard shirts for Jack Endino, and have a Green River job printing next week.

Hope this answers your questions."

That's cool he was honest about it. I kinda figured that was the story behind the tees listed.

Too bad he didn't save a bunch from the 90's.