Defunkd

[skruB_Life]

Hello,
I found this shirt at a thrift shop back around '03 or so and have found absolutely no pics or info about it on the web since. I decided that with the interest and value in vintage shirts at what seems to be an all time high, this would be a great time and place to dig further.

The little info that I could dig up on the
Beastie Boy's "Safe Sex Tour" suggests that it was the name given to the 1st leg of the Liscense to Ill tour that included Fishbone for the 1st few months of 1987.

I have little doubt of it's authenticity, Due to age, brand, and fact that I've had it for so long. The fact that it appears to be of few or lone existence has me intrigued.

The condition is what I would consider perfectly vintage. Beautifully soft and thin with the right amount of cracking to the lettering. There is one inch or so tear near the "7" that had been stiched up when I bought it, but is barely noticeable.

Measures:
Pit to pit= 19
Lenth= 27

Please let me know all thoughts, opinions, questions, etc. I am new on here and all forums really for that matter, but I'm very excited after 20 + years that there may be an interest and chance to talk about this wonderful piece of history.

[jimmyj]

Holy schnikies!

Agree, if you've had it since '03, that predates the fake era. Typically, I would say why is it on a 3D Emblem tee?! but then I realized the event you're referring to was in Texas, so they probably used the go-to blanks in the area.

It's rare that music tees end up on 3D Emblem tags, but it does happen. That said, the vast majority of the ones floating around are fake - from Thailand, but they are easily identifiable by the tag - and your tag is legit.

I also don't see any of the classic red flags of the fake Ill tees in the lettering / logo.

Value-wise, the max a License t-shirt has sold for, or any BB tee in the last 3 years, is $850.

Thinking you'd get in the $1000+ range.

The problem is finding one to compare to, that's always an obstacle, as people are generally, and understandably untrusting.

Let me dig into this tomorrow.

In the meantime, do you want this shared via our Grails Gone Wild series?

[skruB_Life]

Yes, you can post this as you see fit.

I appreciate you taking the time to "dig". As I said, I've been searching the web over 20 years without ever finding any mention of this shirt and very little about the tour. I know you're much more connected in the collector community have many more sources to get some information about this shirt.

In my years of searching I always found it somewhat odd that the vintage Liscense to Ill shirts available didn't go for more compared to other band's tour shirts, given the popularity of the Beastie's over the years. Or maybe that's just it, maybe there's always been shirts available for every era and too many reproductions of their Liscense to Ill stuff.

I understand that a big part of appraising is comps, but someone's got to have the most expensive house on the block. With this being an original shirt from the 1st part of the 1st headline tour of a band with a fan base like the Beastie Boy's and the fact that this may be one of very few still in existence, I would think the right buyer would pay much more. Not to mention the rarity and market for the shirt it's printed on. I've always used the saying "it's only worth what someone will give you for it". People pay thousands for far less cool shirts than this one.

Thanks again for taking the time to look into this. I'm excited to see what you come up with.

[jimmyj]

I'm sure you've found this already, but here's the main hit when you search for this:

https://www.beastiemania.com/gigog/show.php?g=19870220

They dubbed the name of the Ill tour "The Safe Sex Tour."

After digging in newspaper archives, I found out at least one part of the tour (a leg of the UK) was sponsored by Jiffi condoms and condoms were distributed at the concert.

And there was a lot of sexual innuendo, girls dancing, etc at most of the gigs.

Here are the articles I was able to dig up.

After a deep search, including worthpoint, going through all Ill tees, no other shirt can be found.

This reminds me of the Beatles t-shirt I just posted about.

I managed to find a Jiffi tee, too, but I can't tell if they sponsored the entire tour or just parts of it.

Next step I'll do a post on IG about it, see if anyone else has one. Maybe someone will come forward.

I'll post about it on it's own, rather than putting it in GGW.

ALSO, the clipped 3D tag, which could indicate a factory reject, meaning the shirt now has an increased likelihood of being a bootleg.

https://www.defunkd.com/cut-tags/

I'll reach out to some 3D Employees for comment.

Where are you in the world BTW? Did you discover it at a thrift in Texas in 03? Where was it?

[skruB_Life]

Wow,
Thanks for going all in on this. You're right, that 1st link you posted from Beastiemania is the only mention of this tour I could find online.

I purchased this shirt in the Detroit area, but the fact that there were two dates in Detroit exactly 1 month after the Houston concert could still support your theory of this shirt being printed in Texas. Also checking out is your theory of this being a bootleg as there is no small def jam or beastie boys copyright date printed under the logo like other ill shirts I've seen. Perhaps someone close to the band had these made and sold along the way, or maybe merch demand wasn't realized and they needed more shirts printed on the fly. Authorized or not, there's little doubt this shirt was made for and during this tour.

Again, thanks for all the effort you're putting into this. It would be great to here from someone with more concrete info, but who doesn't love a good mystery!

[jimmyj]

Good theories!

I just posted on IG, let's see if any new info rolls in!

[jimmyj]

Notably, one person on IG said that he was in touch with an ex-3D employee years ago who insisted the t-shirt he was showing him, a music-based one, was fake because 3D didn't print music tees.

(He also said that 3D blanks never left the building - which I find hard to believe. One thing that comes to mind is JUST BRASS tees, but maybe those were all actually printed by 3d too - something I'm investigating.)

Chances are, it was fake, because that's the majority of what I've seen - but those are easy to ID because the tag isn't right. When I search "3d Emblem Shirt Tour" or "band" across the marketplaces just now- there are 20+ music-related tees that are all fake. There's an example below.

I asked him if he could look up the details, let me know who the staff member was, haven't heard back yet. The fact that a ton of fake 3D music tees exist, doesn't mean that every single one is.

This is at least the second time in the last few years I've seen an example of a 3d tag is on a music related tee - where the tag was ok.

I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for this going forward: 3d on any music or any off-brand type of subject matter.

But yes, this is an authenticity conundrum, like the Beatles example.

[jimmyj]

Digging deeper on this, here's an interesting example. A Brockum t-shirt, with a Just Brass copyright, printed on a 3D T-Shirt.

Which goes to show you:

a) this is a music shirt, on a 3d tag.
b) this was potentially printed by Just Brass, on a 3d tag.

(though it is still possible JBI sub-contracted 3d to do the actual printing, I gotta look into this, but given JBI was in NY, and 3D HQ was in Texas, 27-hour drive, seems odd, but we'll see)

So, this t-shirt helps chip away at the legitimacy of a few of the blanket claims that have been made.

I find this a lot - people often come up with hard rules that they haven't actually flushed out, here's the best example:

https://www.defunkd.com/nirvana-reddit/

[jimmyj]

And additionally...lol

3D Emblem did not manufacture their t-shirts, they had a mill that did so. So in the instance that 3D blanks never left the building - as is this claim - it is possible that the mill discovered problems with blanks and labeled them as factory rejects without ever sending them to 3D.

So we also have to keep our eyes peeled for more cut/sliced tags. Truthfully, this is the first time I can remember seeing one.

[jimmyj]

Next mission was to try to find 3D emblem blanks, or other examples of factory rejects. I did find one example of a blank on the 3D white tag.

I couldn't find another example of the black tag being sliced, but here's the woven one, on a blank.

[skruB_Life]

Geesh,
When I posted this, I was just hoping for a little insight. I had no idea this shirt would turn out to be such an anomaly.

I figured someone out there saw one before or had a buddy that had one or had a girlfriend that stole theirs when they broke up or something.

I never figured this would turn into such a witch hunt. I read some of the comments on IG, but didnt see any regarding any real info it seems.

I only know the history of this shirt since I bought it, hence why I posted this in the 1st place, and can tell you it has not been tampered with in anyway. I honestly didn't remember what brand this shirt even was till I pulled it out a couple months ago.

I'm still hoping that someone with real info about 3d shirts or this tour or the beasties might see this and comment. I reached out to the beastiemania site hoping someone with ties to the band may know more, but I think it's just fan ran and they didn't seem to know anything further.

Back in '03 when I bought this, I had no doubt that I had just found a 15+ year old shirt.

Still don't.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate the effort you're putting into this. I'm sure with the more time and deeper your digging into this, it's hard not to get so invested. Especially with the mystery this seems to be uncovering. Let's keep it up, hopefully something comes to light. Remember........ The truth is out there!

[jimmyj]

[X-FILES THEME INTENSIFIES]

Keep me posted on any developments here!

[skruB_Life]

So I found this example of a non 3D print on one of their shirts.

And it's complete with this familiar looking cut tag.

If this one is legit, it seems to be good support that shirts (especially rejects) indeed left the building for others to print on as they wished.

[jimmyj]

Great find where did you find that?

[skruB_Life]

Found it on Ebay. Pics are hard to make out, but it says Padre Island, Tx. Tag's pretty faded but seems to check out. Whatcha think?

[jimmyj]

Great find, more evidence of 3D factory rejects, can you link me?

[skruB_Life]

There's no other good pics or info on it, but here's the link.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/276836638795?m ... media=COPY

[jimmyj]

Great find.

Did you buy it? It's sold!

Cut tag, same type of corner slice, Texas-based print.

Between yours and this one - we have solid evidence of 3D Emblem tees, with off-brand prints, on what appears to be factory rejects.

How did you find it, just went through every listing on eBay?

I just consulted with Casey who is the man in terms of 3D History, he informed me that the company that made the 3d blanks was called

Ashmore Sportswear RN 60533.

Tees branded with their tags seem to be fairly obscure, we don't have one in our database.

What I can currently dig up on the marketplaces is 100% cotton only, so far.

The company was in Pennsylvania, so not exactly a stone's throw from Texas. Given that both tees found with that slice - one of which is Texas-based - the other, likely Texas-based - these were probably rejected at a 3d Emblem level in Texas.

Anywho, let me know if you find more!

[skruB_Life]

I just searched 3D emblem shirt on Ebay. That one popped up and caught my eye because it wasn't harley.

It seems sellers just throw the 3D name in the title on any old black shirt to get you to click, but that tag pic caught my eye right away.

I threw it on my watchlist and the seller sent me an offer I couldn't refuse, so yeah, I bought it.

[jimmyj]

Sweet, great grab.