The Vintage T-Shirts Expedition

Fremont’s Oktoberfest is finally here again, and Destee-Nation is lending our support with some very cool t-shirts, only available at the event*. This year’s beer-happy line-up promises to be a full weekend of boozing and schmoozing, and whether you want to go for the gold in the 5K, bring the kiddies to watch the chainsaw pumpkin carving or just stumble around the beer garden all day, there’s bound to be something to quench your thirst for fun. USA Today called this local Seattle Festival one of the Top Ten Oktoberfests in the world. So, be there or be sorry, this weekend starting tonight from 5pm-midnight; Saturday, from 11am-midnight; and Sunday, the 23rd from 11am-6pm.

*Volunteers get a free t-shirt…

We’ve been noticing that a lot of our new customers land on our website after searching for vintage t-shirts. Many of them find what they’re looking for and buy a couple t-shirts. Some of them, however, click away when they don’t see the t-shirts they were expecting. The way we see it, we’re one of three distinct varieties of vintage t-shirt shops online. There are:

1. Places that carry t-shirts advertising vintage products or pop culture nostalgia, like Tab and RC Cola t-shirts or the Ghostbusters and Sesame Street tees.
2. Places that offer t-shirts with vintage styling, as in 70s fonts and 50s graphic design. These shirts aren’t really vintage; they’re just made to look that way.
3. And, in a class all our own, Destee-Nation. Our vintage t-shirts feature establishments from up and down the West Coast and in Hawaii. We started out characterizing a t-shirt as vintage if it met one of the following criteria:

• The place it represents has been around for a long time. Many of our member businesses have been selling their t-shirts since the middle of the last century.
• The represented business is a historic monument or landmark of some kind.

Recently, in our attempt to play fair with the shops that don’t have authentic vintage shirts, we decided to add our t-shirts with vintage styling to our featured list of vintage tees.

So check them out and, if you’re so inclined, let us know what you think about the term vintage.