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Grunge & Graphics – Jason Rivette Shares His Favorite Tees
How a childhood hobby evolved into a serious pursuit of t-shirt collecting, fueled by a nostalgia for the 90s.
“At the age of 4, I started my first collection: stamps. My collecting passion was fueled by going to flea markets and yard sales with my grandparents many weekends. In middle school, my best friend Scott and I got heavily into grunge, punk, and garage, which was reflected in our daily choices of t-shirts. We wore shirts from mall stores, some of which I still own.
When I got a car in high school, in the early 2000s, I started going to thrift stores in Poughkeepsie, NY, where I was born. I started buying all of the vintage I could get my hands on, making a beeline straight to the t-shirt section that was grouped by color. I’d look through the black, white, and grey shirts, then peruse the rest of the rainbow. I also started going down to the city with friends around this time. I discovered Metropolis, Procell, Screaming Mimis, and a bunch of Japanese run shops in the East Village, the names of which escape me as they are no longer there.
T-shirts are probably my largest collection to date, but I have many other smaller collections: vintage clothing in general, physical media (vinyl records, cassettes, and VHS), playing cards, drinking glasses, Pyrex, post-war modern furniture, as well as vintage guitars, basses, effect pedals and amplifiers. If I won the lottery, I would have a collection of post-war modern architect-designed properties filled with furniture from the period, my favorite paintings and photographs, and a fleet of vintage and antique cars in climate controlled storage surrounding a few airplanes.
My t-shirt collecting started off with buying any Made in USA 50% cotton/50% poly shirts, and anything predating Y2K. My collection is extensive, but I have a strong predilection for the 90s as they were my formative years. I will buy anything that interests me though, and have since bought many post-Y2K items as well as non-USA made tees.
Most of my collection is from thrift shops, flea markets, and yard sales. I have been known to attend t-shirt and vintage conventions in search of rare items, but usually just go to gawk and see what the market is up to as far as trends and prices. I would also be remiss to not mention eBay, a site I have been a member of since 1998.
10 years ago, I was playing in a band and was doing anything I could to make ends meet without having a 9-5. I sold at a few flea markets and did really well, but eventually the band split and I found myself back to work in technology. I have been considering liquidating a lot of my collection, but for now I have the storage to maintain it. These days I would be more open to trading but I have a hard time parting with any of them which I don’t have a duplicate of.
I still have some holy grails I am looking for. Not particularly a holy grail to some, but I am on the lookout for the right 1988 Grateful Dead Spring Tour shirt designed by Peter Max. It is the only “official” shirt from the tour, which includes the Hampton Coliseum, VA show on my birthday, March 26th, that I do not own.
Any tips for aspiring vintage collectors? Buy what you like! Don’t follow the trends.
If you’ve never seen it before or if you’ve been looking for it forever and found it: buy it. You never know if it will be your last chance to do so.
This 1993 Pebbles and Bam Bam double-sided shirt is a print from Changes in Queens, NY, which I have a bunch of in the collection, but this one is by far the best. I love the pink highlights on this one. Any double sided cartoon shirt is an immediate purchase, unless it’s a reprint. I bought this one at the Salvation Army in Poughkeepsie, NY, probably for $2-5.
This 1991 Naughty by Nature / Down with OPP has a really great fade on the print. This one got worn and washed a bunch. It’s one of the only rap tees I own that isn’t a XL-XXXL and actually fits me. I’ve also owned it for about 15 years and used to wear it a lot. I purchased it from a friend who was doing a pop-up on the sidewalk in front of a fancy barbershop I was managing way back when. If I told you how much I paid for it, you’d cry.
These two shirts have never been washed or worn, and they are practically in museum quality condition. The deadstock Public Enemy Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black is from 1991. I got both shirts from a really cool older lady who had these and a few other shirts in a bin she found in her garage.
Nirvana In Utero was the first cassette I bought back in 1993. I played the album so many times the tape popped. This shirt is most commonly found as an XL, but I found a L, and it fits me really well. I saw prices starting to rise in 2016 and was determined to purchase this shirt for a good price. Set some eBay alerts, this one came up in 2017 and immediately hit Buy It Now. I paid $154.97 with shipping.
Lollapalooza ‘95 bootleg shirt rocks for so many reasons: the tie-dye colors, the back graphics. Can’t remember where I bought and how much I paid for it.
I’m from the Hudson Valley so I love to collect any shirts from around the area...obviously Woodstock is a big one. I love the graphics and tie-dye on this Woodstock ‘99 All Roads Lead to Rome one.
This 1991 Grateful Dead Chinese New Year by Ian Bohorquez is really tattered from too much bleach. The colors and graphics on this one are incredible. I bought it from a collector on Facebook that I found selling some Grateful Dead shirts, which is one of my cat Tuffy’s favorite bands to listen to. I did not pay more than $75.
1999 Limp Bizkit Got Nookie – the play on Got Milk? with the Oreo logo is the perfect kind of late 90s humor, in my opinion. I like the shirt because it makes me laugh! It also fits me. I bought it on eBay for $25 with free shipping.
I got both these t-shirts at Hot Topic in the Poughkeepsie Galleria, begging my mother to purchase them for me. They were probably $20 each. (Thanks, mom!) 1998 Smashing Pumpkins Adore is not my favorite album but definitely my favorite official t-shirt from the Smashing Pumpkins. The print on the 1998 Dead Kennedys In God We Trust, Inc. tee is really cool and sparkles when light hits it.
I wanted this Taz and Bugs Kriss Kross shirt so badly in the early 90s but I was too small to fit in it. Finally found this bootleg version at Salvation Army in Poughkeepsie, NY. I like it because it’s paper thin and features a very short lived trend, wearing backwards clothes, started by Kriss Kross.
These are two bootlegs: a Mickey and Minnie, and a 1993 B-Toons. The poses and their styling really sets this bootleg Mickey and Minnie apart from all the other shirts in my collection. It fits great and the graphics really pop. The print on the 1993 B-Toons is pretty poor quality which adds to the uniqueness of the shirt. The shirt speaks for itself. It is a really cool relic of 90s culture. I got the B-Toons when I bought 500+ shirts from an older guy at a flea market who bought a closeout of a Jersey Shore boardwalk t-shirt print shop. I paid him $1/shirt.
The 1996 Taz is great double-sided tee, made in New York, NY. It's cool that the back-side isn't just a mirror of the front side, but a shot of Taz leaving the scene after getting a fish. One of my best friends Nate gave it to me as a gift. Knowing him, he found it at a thrift store and paid no more than $5. Thanks, Nate!
I bought this before any recreational cannabis use was legalized in the USA. I don’t smoke anymore but it’s a fun reminder of the past. Fashion Victim put out some really cool shirts. This is my favorite. It is from a seller in Thailand I connected with on Facebook around 15 years ago. Can’t remember how much I paid exactly, but I’d imagine it was $20-40.”
Find with Gem
90s tie dye t-shirt- 90s double sided t-shirt
- 1991 Naughty by Nature
- Naughty by Nature
- 90s black t-shirt
- deadstock Public Enemy
- vintage Public Enemy t-shirt
- Toni Braxton t-shirt
- Nirvana In Utero vintage t-shirt
- Lollapalooza 90s t-shirt
- 90s pastel tie-dye
- 90s bootleg t-shirt
- Woodstock 99
- tie dye music festival t-shirt
- Ian Bohorquez
- 1991 Grateful Dead
- 1999 Limp Bizkit t-shirt
- vintage cookie t-shirt
- white 90s band t-shirt
- 1998 Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt
- 90s punk rock t-shirt
- 1998 Dead Kennedys
- Taz and Bugs Kriss Kross shirt
- 90s hip hop t-shirt
- 90s Mickey and Minnie t-shirt
- 90s B Toons t-shirt
- 90s cartoon t-shirt
- 1996 Taz t-shirt
- freeze 90s t-shirt
- double sided 90s t-shirt
- Fashion Victim t-shirt