Thought I’d pick this lil’ beauty as this week’s T Shirt Tuesday, 1) I was just telling someone about it over the weekend and 2) for Crissy, who is really excited to be seeing Social Distortion with Lucero later this year at the Fillmore Detroit!
I bought this T shirt back when I was just 16 years old (which means that in a couple hours I will have owned it for half my life…yes, it’s my birthday tomorrow). I bought it at a thrift store for just 1 dollar, and at the time wasn’t even a big Social D fan, but I would be a couple years later after I saw them live for the first time! At the time I just loved the DIY look of it, the famous logo, and the thin comfort of it.
The next year I wore it on a school trip to Toronto, where a very excited man stopped me in a restaurant and asked me where I got it. He told me that his good friend used to tour with Social Distortion back when they were first going, and that he recognized the shirt right away as one his friend sold on tour. The reason – the screen print is messed up, and goes onto the collar of the shirt. He told me they only had maybe a couple hundred of this shirt at the most, and he hadn’t seen it in years and years. He was floored that I had picked it up in a thrift store, and told me to hang onto it, then took a picture of me to show to his friend. I had only started collecting vintage clothing for a couple years at that point and was thrilled to meet someone who was so excited about my shirt, and to hear a story behind it. I knew I couldn’t let it go!
The past few years I’ve read discussions online (of course I can’t seem to find any of them now, ha ha) of a rumored Social Distortion shirt that was handmade by the band themselves on one of their first tours, and I’ve heard that that particular shirt was of this very logo, but no one has ever posted a picture of it that I have seen. Is this that shirt? I don’t know, but maybe someday someone can tell me for sure. I do know that it is at least 25 years old, and very very rare nonetheless. If you do know anything more about this shirt, please let’s discuss!
The Shirt: Early 80’s Social Distortion Skeleton Logo
The Tag: Screen Stars
Estimated Value: $400+