I understand that the quality is better and that there the nostalgia factor for old heads and stuff but i never will understand the prices sure the quality today is bad but id rather stick with a gildan blank or a t shirt on comfort colours rather than a t shirt from the 90's-00's that cost the same amount as new t shirt over all knowing the way that the world is going those gildan t shirts sooner or later might just become buy it for lifetime products
Yes, it all depends on what band though. Some are reasonable for the most part between condition and if the band is still around releasing records. Although prices are just skyrocketing in general. To many people are hopping on "online vintage seller trends". Which drives me insane. I find shirts from dang thats a good deal to why is this 300$, and it looks like rotting merch your dog buried 3 years ago. But im the type to like a good hunt.
On topic of quality, many of my new shirts I get are glidan hammer. They are thicker then what used to be available. The only shirt I got in recently that I hate the quality of is the Korn shirt which is god awfully thin, and the slayer tour which the print is shit.
Yeah i agree some local bands have started using gildan hammer with i personally like i mostly never go for vintage stuff unless it something extremely justified for it's price like a pair of old cargo shorts or old jerseys those i really get the price for other wise i have never understood the vintage thing half of the old designs to me look bad or just not really worth the price for the thing that's why i started sticking with reprinters for most old designs they do a better job plus you have official drops some times witch are totally worth it like the recent skarhead drop from beyond human or the unofficial hatebreed preservence drop the same week in all honesty I'd rather not support vintage resellers unless its to buy a jersey,shorts or a windbreaker from a really underground band
I think another thing you have to keep in mind is, that those old shirts are like relics, they will be gone at some point in time because of the material they are made of. If 5000 have been printed in 1991 there might be less than 400 left, because people wore them to shreds or simply threw them away if they grew out of the band. Also, just like with original patches, they are somewhat historic. There might be reprints, but they will never be exactly like the very first print on the same type of shirt. Look at first pressings of CDs/vinyls and tapes. There will never be the same pressing again, altough repressings might have exactly the same amount of songs on it. It's a little bit like archealogy. I have no problem with modern re-pressings unless they changed a cool cover art to a shittier one. Or remixed the album and ruined it's atmosphere. You always have the choice to buy re-prints and re-pressings if you just want the product without much of history.
I agree, official reprints are the way to go. Although speaking of hatebreed some of the shirts are so over priced and i'm confused on why. They where quite popular and they sold alot of merch back in the day too.
Its just very upsetting seeing people ride the band wagon on re-selling clothes on line and the prices are so high. Idk I'm the type to sell under market value to get rid of it. Than to make max profit.
(Obviously some band's merch, and certain shirts are worth it) I think much of it is just popularity of making max profit online and thrifters re-selling band tees and following the trend of other metal shirts getting high prices but they don't understand why a certain one is worth more than others.
The first item i've ever sold here (on another account like 7-8 years ago) was a Dismember "Pieces" patch from 1993, Nuclear Blast. I sold it for 12!!! Euros. because it was sewn on one of my side pockets of a cargo pant, and i thought "Ok, it's used, so not that much worth anymore". The dude (another german) asking for the price was totally baffled, replying "oh wow, really? Fair price!". I sold an Unleashed patch from 1995 for, i think, 15€, it was used also. But both were in great condition. I sold shirts from the 90s on ebay for a few bucks, sold one from Samael from 1993 with back print for 12€. Haha!
I knew about music on physical media may be being worth something, i was somewhat into the game, but not with shirts and patches. It was just stuff you wear and use and someday it will fall apart and that's it. The most i've ever paid for a used shirt was 30 bucks for a 1996 shirt from Aura Noir. And that was back in 2010.
Thats super cool! and completely fair. Those all sound like very fair prices. Iv sold only 2 band tees, both I personally didn't price but got offered. 60$ for my brokencyde shirt that is listed on here. And 80 for a septulara roots shirt with the double sided graphics on an ebay auction (it was in great condition) back in 2017ish and the brokencyde was recently. (Although because they spent so much on the brokencyde one while the shirt was in bad condition I gave them a deal on another super rare shirt for 20$).
I have no idea about the patch game tbh. Ik some official ones can be worth sooo much and idk how the bootleg/fan made go, if their acceptable, and pricing. I order all mine from different places in Europe.
I also see your other post. I get that some shirts are absolutely relics, worth saving and have a reason for high pricing. My issue falls in line with vintage resellers thinking a emmure shirt from hottopic 2008 thats beat up and has the sides cut off is worth 200$. But I understand a vintage band shirt (from a smaller band or very early in their career) in mid to good condition with a tour exclusive print.
That like you said had 5k printed and its the only one listed may actually be worth 200. As an example...
Theres just a mass amout of people (at least in america) that are on a bandwagon to make money off of vintage stuff online. Thats just way over priced and will never sell.
I think most are typical Discogs fantasy prices from scalpers. You need people who want to buy and pay the price you ask for. I have some albums which are tape-only releases from the 90s, which have never been re-released. But nobody knows those bands so they don't sell. A lot just copy/paste the prices they have seen from others. And just because somebody thought once "Hmmm, this Morbid Angel hoodie from 1998, washed out looking like a potato sack, which is still reprinted every 5 years, looks for me like it's worth 320 bucks because old" doesn't mean it's really worth that much. Especially if the new re-print will for sure fit better than the old, washed out and sucked out garment from the 90s.
I'm a collector, not a museum. I have old stuff, first pressings and prints too, but i don't see how any of this could be worth a kidney. I mean, there's some stuff out there which is very rare, stuff which was meant for tour crew members or promo/prototypes. Pay what you think is right for you, if you really need to have it. But asking like 80 bucks for Metallica shirts bought in H&M 8 years ago is just scalping and being a greedy twat. 80 Euros is what i'm asking for my Paradise Lost back patch from 1991, unused, haha. I think it's a fair price and it's the most expensive i have to offer.
Oh absolutely and thats exactly what im getting at lol, you get it.
Tape only releases are some of the coolest. Those are actually worth archiving and can see how their desirable if the band blows up. I'm extremely fascinated by demos tapes and reels.
I also have quite a bit tour crew stuff now. Iv never looked at the prices. No plans to sell unless it's something somebody wants. Many stage hands love what they get so its barly on the market anyways. Also most pass them around to friends and families who are fans.
Theres absolutely reasonable pricing and then the discogs fantasy price like how you put it.
i m more pissed of the prices of the new shirts. You wait to buy 30-40 year old shirts for 20?, 30? euro but you happily buy the new iron maiden(name whatever band you want) shirt for 50. Nothing personal, just my thoughts
Inflation sucks, man. I agree it sucks. Prices are only going up and never down. What changed my mind on the outlook is being more selective with the bands I want to support. For old proven workhorses like Iron Maiden and Manowar, at least I know the merch money is going to them and I'm directly funding their next stage decor, tour logistics etc. I've learned when bands eliminate the middleman companies, their merch is more expensive but that money goes direct to the band. Their tour merch are limited runs (like Iron Maiden event shirts, one design per show stop) so price is higher to cover cost of limited runs. This is why event shirts often sell out fast.
Whereas bands that do promo-company-arranged cluster tours often outsource their merch production to contractor companies (like JSR Direct), and after tours those contractors get the tour merch leftovers and sell them cheaper on their sites. Even those are getting pricy nowadays but less than fully-band-operated merch.
Merch costs gonna keep rising... world is becoming more digital and physical merchandise becomes exclusive, luxury rarities. Physical memories. I miss the days of stumbling on second-hand ebay sellers full of old metal shirts with $1 starting bids, now it's all chinese bot swarms over there.
p.s. Everything is digital now and things like Spotify killed the profit margins in music industry... band shirts and merch are the only ways left for bands to make a buck at all in this climate. Ticket sales profit venues by covering booking fees etc.
It's an odd time to live through as the legendary bands are getting older and once their extravagant tour shows come to end... can't imagine anyone filling those shoes and much less people could be assed to pay half a benjamin per shirt of some fresh come-up when the greats are gone. Old merch will turn from concert trophies to historical relics and this will keep happening even with bands considered unmemorable today.
For small/undwrground bands it's often a lot less anyway. Bigger bands are worth supporting if you're into them sure, it's still their job at the end of the day and where they make their money, but the cost/quality ratio just ain't mathin' these days
I hate it too but honestly lot of people these days have more money than sense, and will pay it. I can think of a ton of shirts or records I'd love to own, but rather wait it out for a trade, reprint/repress or just pure luck. The chase is always worth it. When I think about a lot of patches I litterally just gave away to mates, or even cut up to make shapes nowadays I could wince, but I didn't think about it like that then because even rarer items were not at rip off prices.
My man has 20 years on me, so a fair bit more concert experience. A while back he decided to de-clutter and sold a bunch of his shirts. Got rid of a ton of old death metal and thrash shirts as well as some of his own bands stuff from the early 90's, conditions ranging from top condition to more holes than a golf course. Most items went for anywhere between €50 to €200. In the end he managed to finance 2 BMW e38's from the proceeds (topped up a bit with some of his savings too of course). Just made me think.. I can't imagine any shirt or item I'd pay that much for, it's just feeding the beast. Each to their own though. And new merch is just as pricey. I'm more likely personally to just buy the actual music than merch these days, unless it's something I feel is unique as hell and I gotta have (I have a serious longsleeve problem😅) but again, I won't pay piss take prices
What was a real niche (very few people cared about vintage shirts 20 years ago) turned into a business for some (those vultures that call themselves vintage sellers) and a prestige competition for others (paying big bucks for the rare shirts just to have them and post them online).
With a stacked closet like I have you'd think I'd be happy with those insane prices, but it just frustrates me that I can hardly get any nice old shirts for a decent price anymore like I could in the past. Same applies to vinyl, tapes etc, prices just don't feel right to me.
I'm just lucky I'm not a young kid getting into this but someone with a sizeable collection that was amassed in better times.
"Prestige competition" -- this is it right there, biggest problem factor driving up prices.
> Expansion of online economy and digital markets
> a growing white-collar "laptop class"
> affluent but vapid, living totally disembodied and cut off from real sensory world
> online hobbies (gaming etc), interacting with ppl only through apps
> treating metal merch as prestige objects to collect for a dopamine kick (MMORPG attitude to physical things)
> focus is self-indulgence, not any actual passion for music itself
That's all it has become now, mostly.
Who remembers the 80s short video, "Heavy Metal Parking Lot"? That whole entire vibe of passion and raw metal mania. Now almost fully extinct and replaced by polished glib office day-job-havers, zero vitality, irony-poisoned, glued to their phones and mindlessly "hoarding" metal merch with the same cons00mer mindset thinking "buying the brand" means buying the "lifestyle" they obviously lack.
"With a stacked closet like I have you'd think I'd be happy with those insane prices, but it just frustrates me that I can hardly get any nice old shirts for a decent price anymore like I could in the past."
This is exactly why I switched to trading only - I'd never pay or sell for any of those insane prices.
Also getting regular messages on here about selling some of my shirts for hundreds of dollars which I always decline.
Personally, don’t get the appeal, I would feel strange wearing a tour shirt from a tour that happened long before i was even old enough to go to shows. It just feels fake, like if someone recognized my shirt, did the math and realized I would have been 4 when that tour happened, its kind of stupid.
Unfortunately already sold this one awhile back, big regret lol
what size is this? i'm interested in purchasing
Yup this is definitely the best method haha
hell yeah im gonna have to get one soon what year is it do you know?
Awesome pin..
Nice patch..
This is the guy they sacrificed right?
Danke dir. Ich liebe das shirt.
Very cool
It can't be other way rather than oldschool, at least not for me. Thanks for the flames.
Excellent!
Glad to see someone finally posted that Mordicus patch here, that demo is criminally underrated.
Ah, yes. How foolish of me to forget that lol :p
You snag this on depop?
Sounds good. Those were the times 🤘
Mona liza Overdrive 💀
(40782)
Newclearfallout on
Yes, it all depends on what band though. Some are reasonable for the most part between condition and if the band is still around releasing records. Although prices are just skyrocketing in general. To many people are hopping on "online vintage seller trends". Which drives me insane. I find shirts from dang thats a good deal to why is this 300$, and it looks like rotting merch your dog buried 3 years ago. But im the type to like a good hunt.
On topic of quality, many of my new shirts I get are glidan hammer. They are thicker then what used to be available. The only shirt I got in recently that I hate the quality of is the Korn shirt which is god awfully thin, and the slayer tour which the print is shit.
Agrunge hippie ... on
Yeah i agree some local bands have started using gildan hammer with i personally like i mostly never go for vintage stuff unless it something extremely justified for it's price like a pair of old cargo shorts or old jerseys those i really get the price for other wise i have never understood the vintage thing half of the old designs to me look bad or just not really worth the price for the thing that's why i started sticking with reprinters for most old designs they do a better job plus you have official drops some times witch are totally worth it like the recent skarhead drop from beyond human or the unofficial hatebreed preservence drop the same week in all honesty I'd rather not support vintage resellers unless its to buy a jersey,shorts or a windbreaker from a really underground band
Holykaust on
I think another thing you have to keep in mind is, that those old shirts are like relics, they will be gone at some point in time because of the material they are made of. If 5000 have been printed in 1991 there might be less than 400 left, because people wore them to shreds or simply threw them away if they grew out of the band. Also, just like with original patches, they are somewhat historic. There might be reprints, but they will never be exactly like the very first print on the same type of shirt. Look at first pressings of CDs/vinyls and tapes. There will never be the same pressing again, altough repressings might have exactly the same amount of songs on it. It's a little bit like archealogy. I have no problem with modern re-pressings unless they changed a cool cover art to a shittier one. Or remixed the album and ruined it's atmosphere. You always have the choice to buy re-prints and re-pressings if you just want the product without much of history.
Agrunge hippie ... on
Speaking of relics did you know a samurai armour cost less than some of those band t shirts that's kinda crazy when you think about it
Newclearfallout on
I agree, official reprints are the way to go. Although speaking of hatebreed some of the shirts are so over priced and i'm confused on why. They where quite popular and they sold alot of merch back in the day too.
Its just very upsetting seeing people ride the band wagon on re-selling clothes on line and the prices are so high. Idk I'm the type to sell under market value to get rid of it. Than to make max profit.
(Obviously some band's merch, and certain shirts are worth it) I think much of it is just popularity of making max profit online and thrifters re-selling band tees and following the trend of other metal shirts getting high prices but they don't understand why a certain one is worth more than others.
Holykaust on
The first item i've ever sold here (on another account like 7-8 years ago) was a Dismember "Pieces" patch from 1993, Nuclear Blast. I sold it for 12!!! Euros. because it was sewn on one of my side pockets of a cargo pant, and i thought "Ok, it's used, so not that much worth anymore". The dude (another german) asking for the price was totally baffled, replying "oh wow, really? Fair price!". I sold an Unleashed patch from 1995 for, i think, 15€, it was used also. But both were in great condition. I sold shirts from the 90s on ebay for a few bucks, sold one from Samael from 1993 with back print for 12€. Haha!
I knew about music on physical media may be being worth something, i was somewhat into the game, but not with shirts and patches. It was just stuff you wear and use and someday it will fall apart and that's it. The most i've ever paid for a used shirt was 30 bucks for a 1996 shirt from Aura Noir. And that was back in 2010.
Newclearfallout on
Thats super cool! and completely fair. Those all sound like very fair prices. Iv sold only 2 band tees, both I personally didn't price but got offered. 60$ for my brokencyde shirt that is listed on here. And 80 for a septulara roots shirt with the double sided graphics on an ebay auction (it was in great condition) back in 2017ish and the brokencyde was recently. (Although because they spent so much on the brokencyde one while the shirt was in bad condition I gave them a deal on another super rare shirt for 20$).
I have no idea about the patch game tbh. Ik some official ones can be worth sooo much and idk how the bootleg/fan made go, if their acceptable, and pricing. I order all mine from different places in Europe.
I also see your other post. I get that some shirts are absolutely relics, worth saving and have a reason for high pricing. My issue falls in line with vintage resellers thinking a emmure shirt from hottopic 2008 thats beat up and has the sides cut off is worth 200$. But I understand a vintage band shirt (from a smaller band or very early in their career) in mid to good condition with a tour exclusive print.
That like you said had 5k printed and its the only one listed may actually be worth 200. As an example...
Theres just a mass amout of people (at least in america) that are on a bandwagon to make money off of vintage stuff online. Thats just way over priced and will never sell.
Holykaust on
I think most are typical Discogs fantasy prices from scalpers. You need people who want to buy and pay the price you ask for. I have some albums which are tape-only releases from the 90s, which have never been re-released. But nobody knows those bands so they don't sell. A lot just copy/paste the prices they have seen from others. And just because somebody thought once "Hmmm, this Morbid Angel hoodie from 1998, washed out looking like a potato sack, which is still reprinted every 5 years, looks for me like it's worth 320 bucks because old" doesn't mean it's really worth that much. Especially if the new re-print will for sure fit better than the old, washed out and sucked out garment from the 90s.
I'm a collector, not a museum. I have old stuff, first pressings and prints too, but i don't see how any of this could be worth a kidney. I mean, there's some stuff out there which is very rare, stuff which was meant for tour crew members or promo/prototypes. Pay what you think is right for you, if you really need to have it. But asking like 80 bucks for Metallica shirts bought in H&M 8 years ago is just scalping and being a greedy twat. 80 Euros is what i'm asking for my Paradise Lost back patch from 1991, unused, haha. I think it's a fair price and it's the most expensive i have to offer.
Newclearfallout on
Oh absolutely and thats exactly what im getting at lol, you get it.
Tape only releases are some of the coolest. Those are actually worth archiving and can see how their desirable if the band blows up. I'm extremely fascinated by demos tapes and reels.
I also have quite a bit tour crew stuff now. Iv never looked at the prices. No plans to sell unless it's something somebody wants. Many stage hands love what they get so its barly on the market anyways. Also most pass them around to friends and families who are fans.
Theres absolutely reasonable pricing and then the discogs fantasy price like how you put it.
primordial_hordes on
i m more pissed of the prices of the new shirts. You wait to buy 30-40 year old shirts for 20?, 30? euro but you happily buy the new iron maiden(name whatever band you want) shirt for 50. Nothing personal, just my thoughts
FarFarNorth on
Inflation sucks, man. I agree it sucks. Prices are only going up and never down. What changed my mind on the outlook is being more selective with the bands I want to support. For old proven workhorses like Iron Maiden and Manowar, at least I know the merch money is going to them and I'm directly funding their next stage decor, tour logistics etc. I've learned when bands eliminate the middleman companies, their merch is more expensive but that money goes direct to the band. Their tour merch are limited runs (like Iron Maiden event shirts, one design per show stop) so price is higher to cover cost of limited runs. This is why event shirts often sell out fast.
Whereas bands that do promo-company-arranged cluster tours often outsource their merch production to contractor companies (like JSR Direct), and after tours those contractors get the tour merch leftovers and sell them cheaper on their sites. Even those are getting pricy nowadays but less than fully-band-operated merch.
Merch costs gonna keep rising... world is becoming more digital and physical merchandise becomes exclusive, luxury rarities. Physical memories. I miss the days of stumbling on second-hand ebay sellers full of old metal shirts with $1 starting bids, now it's all chinese bot swarms over there.
FarFarNorth on
p.s. Everything is digital now and things like Spotify killed the profit margins in music industry... band shirts and merch are the only ways left for bands to make a buck at all in this climate. Ticket sales profit venues by covering booking fees etc.
It's an odd time to live through as the legendary bands are getting older and once their extravagant tour shows come to end... can't imagine anyone filling those shoes and much less people could be assed to pay half a benjamin per shirt of some fresh come-up when the greats are gone. Old merch will turn from concert trophies to historical relics and this will keep happening even with bands considered unmemorable today.
Agrunge hippie ... on
Not saying that the modern t shirt aren't expensive but you can always get one second hand after the concert for less
MelFromHell on
For small/undwrground bands it's often a lot less anyway. Bigger bands are worth supporting if you're into them sure, it's still their job at the end of the day and where they make their money, but the cost/quality ratio just ain't mathin' these days
MelFromHell on
I hate it too but honestly lot of people these days have more money than sense, and will pay it. I can think of a ton of shirts or records I'd love to own, but rather wait it out for a trade, reprint/repress or just pure luck. The chase is always worth it. When I think about a lot of patches I litterally just gave away to mates, or even cut up to make shapes nowadays I could wince, but I didn't think about it like that then because even rarer items were not at rip off prices.
My man has 20 years on me, so a fair bit more concert experience. A while back he decided to de-clutter and sold a bunch of his shirts. Got rid of a ton of old death metal and thrash shirts as well as some of his own bands stuff from the early 90's, conditions ranging from top condition to more holes than a golf course. Most items went for anywhere between €50 to €200. In the end he managed to finance 2 BMW e38's from the proceeds (topped up a bit with some of his savings too of course). Just made me think.. I can't imagine any shirt or item I'd pay that much for, it's just feeding the beast. Each to their own though. And new merch is just as pricey. I'm more likely personally to just buy the actual music than merch these days, unless it's something I feel is unique as hell and I gotta have (I have a serious longsleeve problem😅) but again, I won't pay piss take prices
humus on
What was a real niche (very few people cared about vintage shirts 20 years ago) turned into a business for some (those vultures that call themselves vintage sellers) and a prestige competition for others (paying big bucks for the rare shirts just to have them and post them online).
With a stacked closet like I have you'd think I'd be happy with those insane prices, but it just frustrates me that I can hardly get any nice old shirts for a decent price anymore like I could in the past. Same applies to vinyl, tapes etc, prices just don't feel right to me.
I'm just lucky I'm not a young kid getting into this but someone with a sizeable collection that was amassed in better times.
FarFarNorth on
"Prestige competition" -- this is it right there, biggest problem factor driving up prices.
> Expansion of online economy and digital markets
> a growing white-collar "laptop class"
> affluent but vapid, living totally disembodied and cut off from real sensory world
> online hobbies (gaming etc), interacting with ppl only through apps
> treating metal merch as prestige objects to collect for a dopamine kick (MMORPG attitude to physical things)
> focus is self-indulgence, not any actual passion for music itself
That's all it has become now, mostly.
Who remembers the 80s short video, "Heavy Metal Parking Lot"? That whole entire vibe of passion and raw metal mania. Now almost fully extinct and replaced by polished glib office day-job-havers, zero vitality, irony-poisoned, glued to their phones and mindlessly "hoarding" metal merch with the same cons00mer mindset thinking "buying the brand" means buying the "lifestyle" they obviously lack.
Lanthir on
"With a stacked closet like I have you'd think I'd be happy with those insane prices, but it just frustrates me that I can hardly get any nice old shirts for a decent price anymore like I could in the past."
This is exactly why I switched to trading only - I'd never pay or sell for any of those insane prices.
Also getting regular messages on here about selling some of my shirts for hundreds of dollars which I always decline.
TylerW on
I understand too. It REALLY shocks me when a shirt is in crap condition and the seller thinks it's some holy grail!
That's why I like ebay auctions. It let's the shirts value speak for itself.
nameless_rites on
Personally, don’t get the appeal, I would feel strange wearing a tour shirt from a tour that happened long before i was even old enough to go to shows. It just feels fake, like if someone recognized my shirt, did the math and realized I would have been 4 when that tour happened, its kind of stupid.
Lanthir on
This!
Also I'd never wear a tour shirt of a tour I didn't went to myself - otherwise this is just what posers do.