When shopping for a vintage band t-shirt you should be wary of reprints and fakes. It would be disappointing to find out that the vintage band t-shirt you payed a lot of money for turns out to be fake! So to help you avoid this situation, I've created a basic guide on how to authenticate this category of vintage t-shirts.
First, Check the Tag
Look at the tag of the t-shirt to inspect the blank that was used. The tag will give you a rough estimate of when the blank was manufactured. A vintage blank will usually indicate that the band t-shirt is authentically vintage.
If you can identify the time period of the blank used, then you can cross reference that time period with the year of the band or tour t-shirt. If a 1990s Fruit of the Loom tag is used for a band t-shirt promoting an album from the 1990s, then that's a good sign! But if a modern 2010s Gildan tag is used for a "vintage" band t-shirt that should predate the 2000s, then you're most likely looking at a reprint.
Many brands have their tag history up on the internet. Just search the brand name with the words "tag history" into your search engine of choice, and do some research to find out the decades associated with the different tags of a specific brand.
Second, Check the Graphic
After identifying the authenticity of the blank used, you should look at the graphic printed on the vintage band t-shirt and locate any copyright date printed on it. Music artists will usually copyright their merchandise, indicated by a small copyright date below or near the graphic printed on a band t-shirt. With this date, you can cross reference the tag and see if these two items match up.
If you see a Blink-182 t-shirt promoting their self titled album from 2003, printed on a 2000s Gildan tag, and the graphic printed on the t-shirt has a copyright date that says "©2003", then that's a good sign in terms of authenticity. For the most part, official reprints will update this copyright with a more current year. Unofficial reprints and fakes will tend to omit the copyright date.
So the bottom line is, a vintage band t-shirt will have an older copyright date, and it should be printed on a similarly dated blank.
More: How Can You Tell if a T-Shirt is Vintage
If you see a Blink-182 t-shirt promoting their self titled album from 2003, printed on a 2000s Gildan tag, and the graphic printed on the t-shirt has a copyright date that says "©2003", then that's a good sign in terms of authenticity. For the most part, official reprints will update this copyright with a more current year. Unofficial reprints and fakes will tend to omit the copyright date.
So the bottom line is, a vintage band t-shirt will have an older copyright date, and it should be printed on a similarly dated blank.
More: How Can You Tell if a T-Shirt is Vintage
Let's Practice: Here are Some Examples from my Personal Collection
Example #1: Fruit of the Loom 1995 R.E.M. "Fish and Ant" t-shirt
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| R.E.M. T-Shirt Front Graphic |
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| R.E.M. T-Shirt Back Graphic |
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| Printed on a 1990s Fruit of the Loom Tag |
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| Taking a Closer Look at the Back Graphic |
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| Below the Graphic it says ©1995, Indicating a Copyright Date of 1995 |
Final Verdict: Authentic (The 1990s made in U.S.A. Fruit of the Loom tag aligns perfectly with the copyright date of 1995, meaning that the construction of this t-shirt coincides with the date of the t-shirt)
Example #2: Anvil 2005 Eagles "The California Tour 2005" T-Shirt
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| Eagles T-Shirt Front Graphic |
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| Eagles T-Shirt Back Graphic |
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| A Blue Bar Anvil Tag, Indicative of an Early 2000s Manufacturing Date |
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| Taking a Closer Look at the Back Graphic |
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| Below the Graphic it says "©2005 Eagles" |
Final Verdict: Authentic (The 2000s Anvil blue bar tag aligns perfectly with the copyright date of 2005, meaning that the construction of this t-shirt coincides with the date of the t-shirt)
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