Brands
Russell Athletic
A comprehensive resource of defunct t-shirt labels manufactured prior to the year 2000.
Brand #15: Russell Athletic
Circulation: Common
Era: 1902-current
Information: Incorporated in 1902 with a small quantity of knitting and sewing machines – Russells first product was a ladies undershirt. Shortly after they added long underwear, sweaters and athletic shirts to their manufacturing mix. The company experienced massive growth over the decades – in 1983 they created a brand extension called JERZEES which was a line of sportswear and basic tees. By the late 90s they were ranked 5th among apparel companies by Fortune 500 magazine. In recent years the company has come under fire for their mill practices in Honduras.
If you have any info on Russell please comment below.
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Frank
December 3, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Russell also ran Southern Manufacturing and were one of the biggest manufacturers of sports jerseys in the US from the 1930s to the 1960s. They changed their name to Russell Athletic in 1960, so you can date tags that way. Tags that say “Russell Southern” are pre-1960, I believe.
I was a fan of Russell up to the early Nineties. Russell started making NuBlend shirts in 1992 and everything went downhill from there. Like most t-shirt manufacturers, they moved production overseas to save money on labor costs and sacrificed quality. They were bought out by Fruit of the Loom a few years back.
Though I can’t confirm it, I’ve always suspected that the eagle in the logo is a nod to Auburn University’s War Eagle logo. As an LSU fan, this always bothered me, but old Russell’s are amongst my favorite vintage t-shirt brands.
Lecks
September 5, 2011 at 5:32 am
What era could a shirt with this tag be?
Thanks and best regards.
Anonymous
September 5, 2011 at 9:00 pm
1970s
Lecks
September 7, 2011 at 12:39 am
Many thanks
defunkd
February 23, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Here’s a Russell tag from the 50s
Qoryhysteric
March 17, 2012 at 11:43 am
i like it..
rayon
defunkd
April 24, 2012 at 6:44 pm
Russell from the 1960s
defunkd
April 24, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Good to know
defunkd
May 21, 2014 at 11:33 pm
Russel Southern combo
defunkd
July 21, 2014 at 7:51 pm
Weird Russell ringer tee.
vintagefinds
January 24, 2015 at 11:40 pm
I have a very heavy kids baseball jersey that has the Russell Southern Company combo tag on it. It also has a large baseball sewn on patch that has southern manufacturing in the center of the baseball patch. What year do you think this could be from 40’s-60’s? Thanks!
Salt
July 2, 2015 at 2:20 pm
What era is the middle tag from?
WILLIAM JONES
October 8, 2015 at 8:48 pm
WHAT ABOUTHE 4TH ONE OVER? THANKS IN ADVANCE
Ashton Clark
January 26, 2017 at 4:49 pm
I don’t know if this shirt is from the 60’s or 70’s. The label is Russell southern company. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d707f39b1d9513321580a4dcf9d169021d3fac5b1efca657fe8bba72da0392b2.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ffd595e3c20eff78586036a12914f10bbf97a49de067883e06980ad764fae39.png