Band Tees and Merch - Topic of the day 12/10/24
What are your favorite band tees? What other merch do you look for when supporting your favorite bands? Do you wear band tees out? What do you look for in a band tee and how many songs do you have to know before you are allowed to wear a band tee?
75 Replies
the best band tees are the ones for shows you were actually at
I don't care if you can name songs, members, lyrics
but if you show up at a show and you buy merch
that fuckin rules
and ties you directly to the experience and place
then you can also engage in the conversation of "oh yeah I saw them in X at Y"
I love band tees and I always check out the merch table every time I see a show. In my 20’s, I built up a decent collection, but then in about 2019 I had this stupid idea that I should get rid of them all and start “dressing like an adult.” I regret any attempts I’ve made over the years to “grow up,” and now I have some band tees again. Currently: Martina McBride, Drain, Weyes Blood, Carly Rae Jepsen
Only band tee I have is this Mary Lattimore shirt, from one of her concerts. It's a little goofy, I think, but it's fun to talk to other fans about.
I have the white version of the Out to Lunch tee from Uniqlo
I would submit that it’s also cool to buy tees from artists you’ve seen, even if you didn’t get it at the show because sometimes what’s available at the merch table just isn’t inspiring
yeah for sure
my band tee goat
same goes esp if their other merch is way harder than the merch table merch
you flatter me too much 🥺
for example, this year I saw Jhene Aiko for my bday and all of the merch was just really disappointing, especially for an artist like her. I wanted to want to buy a tee so bad but didn’t
ngl i'd want to wear a blonde t shirt
My band tees I've got at shows all fit horrible :cryingsunglasses:
I need to start getting them a size up
It’s crazy when a hip hop artist like Travis Scott makes his collections hard to get as a hype thing like… just print more tees? They’ll sell out
You would do great running a central bank
I basically never buy them lol. It's kind of a spontaneous thing. If I really like the design and it's a small artist, then I might. I went to Charli XCX two months ago and the line was super long and the designs were okay, so I was like "nah." I feel like I have to be really selective with graphic tees or else I'll have a million of them because they're everywhere and super fun, but I wanna keep my closet small.
I really like my postal service tour shirt. I always try to get a shirt at shows cause i feel like its a good way to directly support so ive ended up with a bunch of shirts for bands i dont care tooooo much about
But i wear em anyways and just rotate through them in the warmer months
I get shirts whenever I see a band, and sometimes I get them online if it's an artist I really love that I haven't been able to see live.
Hardest band shirt i know of tbh
I have a gojira tee from when I saw them in 2012, and its probably the item strangers comment on the most.
I had this giant stack of tees from bands I loved but never wore and finally got rid of them
Now I buy vintage tees from bands that broke up before I was born whose music I never listen to
Band and company tees are zoom attire only 😂
I got this button down made by one of my favorite electronic artists, I think it's neat
great for summer, will probably show up in waywt in a few months
very lightweight fabric
the designs on it reference visuals from his live show at the time
Usually good bands have good merch and bad bands have bad merch 🙃
I tend to avoid words or direct logo references on my clothes as much as I can, but abstract stuff that isn't immediately obvious as merch is up my alley
Good words are good
You just gotta know which words are good
this is true, just a me thing
def seen good word fits in here
That’s fair
I also find just the album art on a t shirt kinda boring and uninspired
Like you can’t tell the difference between that and a bootleg
good art usually leads to more good art
I follow a few bootleggers I like
I like the super gaudy hip hop bootlegs
also "if I like a thing, I like their other things"
yeah def (@ char's album art message), if the album art was really cool art and also not well known I might go for it. that Unknown Pleasures album art the OP joke image is referencing would go hard but I feel like everyone recognizes it at this point so it's not just "cool art" anymore
currently the band tee i want most
What band
Everyone Asked About You
I assumed that was the album name haha
cool graphic though
This like twee emo band with a pretty good EP and a decent album
Oh that makes sense
the thing I always think about with graphic tees is how it'll look under an open coat or flannel, this is also why words are iffy for me in those cases because you can have things get cut off by the outer layer. that shirt you posted, those cool color blocks might get covered by an outer layer.
I have this other shirt from a festival I went to that is styled like:
S E C
O N D
S K Y
and I just think about wearing it under an outer layer and people only being able to see "ENK"
i have the mcfarmhouse tee from underscores & its real cool
Omg so cool
yeah those go hard
clarence clarity also does some rlly fun stuff
used to have 2 & 3 but i lost #2
this is insane i love this
Clarence rules
My therapist was wearing this t-shirt when I showed up yesterday, so that was cool.
Band tees are fun to wear and fun when you meet someone who knows the band. These are my additions from this year.
Also easy to justify spending money on them to support the artists
for real!!
I used to wear a lot of band tees before I got more interested in fashion. I still have some in rotation but sometimes the material can be awful, even as someone who isn’t vehemently against polyester. However, some of my favorite shirts to wear now are band shirts.
Here are some I like
hell yeah george clanton
I love George
I never get merch at shows because it’s always too fuckin expensive but I did get the George shirt because the show blew my mind and I just needed a souvenir
I can’t find a picture of it but I also have a shirt that’s a 2012 YouTube screenshot of the music video for video games by Lana del Rey and that gets some compliments in public which I am not accustomed to
what tour was it? i went to the one in uhhhhh 2021 w/ vitesse x & magdalena bay and then another one in like 2023 w/ frost children & death's dynamic shroud
oh sorry zeo
It was the 2023 one with DDS and frost children
greatttt show
Fr
If I’m too lazy to put on some interesting layering piece I’ll just throw on a band shirt
I have two black cats so I love this shirt but it doesn’t fit me anymore https://www.coldcutsmerch.com/cdn/shop/products/TITLE_FIGHT_KINGSTON_CAT_SHIRT_MOCK.jpg?v=1619624510
I need more cat stuff in my life that isn’t cutesy corny
my audiophile credentials are low but i do have ththis rep tee from suddenly, tammy!, a band that broke up multiple times five years before i knew they existed
given their music is mostly "vibes" i imagine it's hard to capture their essence in visuals but the cartoon three mile island at least hits on their origin in PA
I have like 2 or 3 band tees from concerts, one of them being Wu Tang lol
I like it, it has a cat on it
Raf Simons joy division and new order
This is the only band shirt I have I think. I haven’t worn it in a bit because I also thought I should “start dressing like an adult.” Definitely wearing this when summer hits
Unrelated, but i kinda notice myself reaching for tees considerably less in summer when its really hot, because an airy shirt is just much more breathable.
Anyway. Band tees and similar merch are great, particularily if you either got it at an event or really like the band.
My three concert tees
I have a decent amount of metal band shirts
Kinda grew tired of wearing them once i got into fashion tho
Still mad about losing my white Sunn O))) shirt though
Had this sick design of this ancient monolith with the Sunn model T circuit schematic etched into it
Found a pic
I have a Young Jeezy t-shirt from a designer named DBruze
