Shoppers in Toronto are in for an unsettling discovery when they check the tags of concert T-shirts from local vintage shops.
During the pandemic, prices rose to astronomical heights. And although the pandemic boom has since calmed down, prices show no signs of a return to affordability.
With fashion sustainability a hot topic on people’s social media feeds, the explosion of vintage shopping was imminent.
Josh Roter is the co-owner of In Vintage We Trust, a store located on Queen Street West, which benefited from the pandemic price increase. Although Roter gives credit to the pandemic for its most recent rise, he believes that its real increase predates it by a few years.
“The T-shirt boom really started in 2017. Everything was still fresh and new to the customer base and the concert T-shirt became very popular by 2020. I think books that highlighted the wave really had something to do with that, like Ross One’s Rap Tees,” he says. “If people didn’t know about hip hop concert Ts before, they certainly did afterwards. That and the sheer amount of eyes on platforms like Instagram everyday, just digesting it.”
For the casual vintage shopper, this price increase was detrimental to their bank accounts or aspiring concert T-shirt collection. But for those who saw themselves as collectors, the price increase meant being forced to ask themselves — to collect or not to collect?
Roter recalls a specific Nirvana T-shirt that blew him away. In 1993, Nirvana recorded and released In Utero, an album that included “Heart-Shaped Box.” The band’s T-shirt featured an all over black and red print with an acid wash finish, finished with a graphic from the band’s famous song.
“I can remember when they maxed out at 110 bucks. And now that all over print costs as much as a used car,” Roter says.
Nick Marian from Expo Vintage Clothing saw an increase just as exponential, saying, “I saw a huge jump in 2020. It seems like overnight they went from $80 to $100 to $1,500 to $2,000 and in some cases even higher.”
Ebay’s long list of sold vintage shows that these prices increased during the pandemic, a time that Fruit Market’s Taylor Abela calls a bubble in the market.
“The price of vintage shirts hiked during COVID, which was also the time when the Instagram live and virtual flea era started,” says Abela.
However, Abela was swift to dispute the claim that vintage T-shirt prices are still high. “The price hike was during COVID. You’re late,” he said.
Marian also believes that to be true. “They’ve come down quite a bit since mid-pandemic.”
But a quick search on Ebay would elicit a gasp or two as authentic shirts are still priced anywhere from $1,500 to upwards of $5,500 — not exactly a steal.
Although spending a small fortune on an old T-shirt might seem bizarre, there’s certainly still demand. “The super rare ones are for true enthusiasts looking for something special. Maybe a show they went to back in the day or an artist they love,” Abela says.
Today, lovers of vintage clothing are shopping with prices at a premium. It might not be as bad as it was a few years ago, but it looks like we’re never going back to the old days. Music lovers, beware. And concert-goers from the ’80s and ’90s, you’re in luck — the T-shirt sitting at the back of your closet might be sending you on vacation this year!
