If you’ve been in the vintage game a while you’ve noticed something. There are rare t-shirts and common ones. If you’re new to this you’re probably thinking. “I have trouble finding ANY vintage t-shirts let alone common ones.” But as you progress you’ll understand what I mean.
You can make a common vintage t-shirt more valuable by linking it to a celebrity. Showing a famous person wearing a similar garment increases the value drastically. Plus it will also increase the probability of selling the item more quickly.
Right now I’m creating the largest vintage t-shirt gallery on the internet. It consists of items I’ve personally sold. I’m going through an archive of around 100K pictures, (and that’s only from the last 10 years). While I organize into categories I noticed a bunch of repeat items (basic vintage we’ll call them). Those are the shirts you find over and over.
These common shirts are ideal for brick and mortar vintage shops. They’re rack fillers and guaranteed sellers. The kind of tee you’ll sell for ten or fifteen bucks. Like Cats Broadway Musical, Les Miserable, Reese Peanut Butter Cup and Royal Caribbean promo tee. They always pop up at thrift shops or in bulk lots. I guess the advertising worked because they all still exist and they’re as popular as ever.
In the following sections, I’m going to give you clear examples of how I took a specific item and sold it for a much higher price just by leveraging the popularity of a celebrity.
*Note* Nearly 100% of my sales over the last two decades have been on eBay. So anytime I write about selling something you’ll know which platform I’m referring to. eBay is still the place to buy and sell vintage online. Head and shoulders above any other website.
Avril Lavigne Home Hardware T-Shirt
In 2003 Avril Lavigne was very popular, so she was invited to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. During her performance, she wore a Home Hardware t-shirt from Napanee Ontario (her hometown).
Here’s the thing. That was a SUPER common t-shirt at Canadian thrift stores during that period. I would find them all the time. It was a $2 tee. But to auction it on eBay was useless….nobody was interested in a red home hardware shirt. So the value was derived from the association with Avril.
All of a sudden you make a little tweak to your eBay listing title and BAM you sell it for $30 all day long. I still find that shirt occasionally and sell it quickly, using the same technique. Usually to Japan.
Josh Homme Dare to keep kids off drugs T-Shirt
People recognize Josh Homme as the lead stinger of QOTSA (Queens of the Stoneage). I first met him in 1994 when he was the guitar player for Kyuss. Then we got to hang out during a QOTSA show in Detroit in 1999. Their debut album is fantastic and the cover art is really cool. On the back, I noticed something that helped me earn consistent money from a very common tee for years to come.
During the early 80s in Los Angeles, there was an anti-drug and violence campaign called D.A.R.E. Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It was started to educated kids about drugs, gangs, and violent behavior.
Eventually, it was deemed ineffective but not before they spent millions on promotional merchandise. Including the classic D.A.R.E. t-shirt. You know the one that smart ass kid would wear to class. The kid who obviously did drugs and sold drugs.
The shirt came in several styles and colors but the most common was black with red and white writing. It said D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs. Every thrift store had one. It was cheap and plentiful. But nobody was interested in buying it online unless it was under $10.
*Side note* I have a personal rule. I generally don’t sell items online for less than $20. Anything under that price isn’t worth the effort. That’s up to you though. There are plenty of sellers who do lower price higher volumes sales with great success.
Anyway, I noticed Joshua wearing a DARE shirt on the back album cover. So I added that keyword QOTSA to my auction title and it suddenly became a $30 dollar shirt.
In the listing, I would say, this shirt is similar to the one worn by Josh Homme on the album cover. People bought them all the time. Even though they could get the same item elsewhere much cheaper.
*NOTE* I never claimed any of these celebs actually wore the shirts (unless they had). I’m always clear to state this is a similar item to the one seen in the picture. Never misrepresent your products. It’s not good for the longevity of your business.
David Letterman Toronto Maple Leafs Jersey
This story is slightly different but fits the criteria so I thought I should share. A late 70s Toronto Maple Leafs jersey is by no means common. But selling an item like this can take time. It’s not overly desirable and has pretty low search volume. But it is MUCH easier to sell for when you can find a celebrity wearing a similar shirt. In this case a 1970s pre-Santa Claus beard David Letterman! With Dave’s help, you can flip Leafs jerseys like hot-cakes!
By the way, in case you didn’t know I’m a huge Letterman fan. If you’d like to learn how to write a funny top ten list of your own. Check out my fun tutorial HERE.
Charlie Sheen Cincinnati Reds T-Shirt
Winner winner chicken dinner! Who would think that Charlie Sheen would help you sell a Reds tee? During my time buying recycled clothing, my rag would originate from different US locations. For a while, it came from Illinois. So I had an abundance of Blackhawks, Bulls, Bears and Cubbies gear. Then it was sourced from Ohio. Cleveland Indians, Browns, Cavs, Blue Jackets and Bengals. Anyway, I had this Cincinnati Reds tee and for some reason, I ended up finding a pic of Sheen in a similar one. This was slightly before his public meltdown and the zenith of his popularity but none the less his celeb status sold the shirt.
ONLINE BUYING TRICK!
This is a clever trick that most people don’t know about. If you’re interested in buying an item on eBay but it’s not currently available you can save the search query. Then when someone lists that specific item you’ll get an email notification. It’s a useful resource and I always had dozens of saved search queries.
Let’s say you were having success selling the QOTSA Dare t-shirt. My search query would be “Dare drugs t-shirt lot”. Since I prefer to buy in lots (to save on shipping) I would use the term “lot” in the query. It works the same for individual items though. Then you save the search. The next time someone lists a Dare lot on eBay you would be notified.
Phil Anselmo of Pantera wearing Everlast and Mike Tyson boxing T-Shirts
Every metalhead is familiar with frontman Phil Anselmo. He’s the lead singer of Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, Down and The Illegals. His fans also know he’s a boxing aficionado.
So I saw him wearing an Everlast t-shirt in one of his iconic photos. Also a Tyson Holyfield t-shirt on stage at the Monsters of Rock in 1991. I put both of these items in my eBay search query. Every time they would pop up at a reasonable price I would buy them. Then I’d list them in my eBay store.
This may seem time-consuming, but it’s not. It only takes a few mins to save the search, buy the item and relist online. Also when you can buy a shirt for between $10-35 and flip it for $80-$100 consistently it’s worth the effort.
Plus having cool and noteworthy inventory in your store is important. Occasionally I would even buy higher-end vintage (between $100-$300) and list in my store just to attract more traffic. It helps sell more common items. It works like a charm! This is an advanced technique for someone with a larger inventory that’s slightly more established. But this could work for a smaller store as well.
Here are two more Pantera related tees. The Mind Over Four shirt is displayed on the iconic Vulgar Display of Power back cover.
The Domination tee Dimebag is wearing says Cowboys from Hell on the back. It’s from the early days. The logo was very primitive. The print still had the registration marks in the lower corners…lol. Coming from a screen-printing background I’ll tell you that is an absolute no-no.
Wrap Up
Let’s be clear. This process of selling shirts worn by celebrities is much easier if reverse-engineered. Instead of getting a vintage shirt and googling celebs who may have worn it (although that’s an option). I would suggest instead, finding the image of a famous person wearing a shirt. Then set up your eBay search accordingly. Good luck!
BONUS!
We’ve been talking about increasing the value of common vintage shirts. How about taking a rare tee and making it LESS valuable. That’s me, back in 1992 wearing my favorite vintage Jimi Hendrix t-shirt. Although it was brand new at the time. I bought that tee at our local summer carnival and wore it everywhere!