new jersey state fireman's convention (1982)

label: ched
type: 50%/50%
era: 1982
where found: vestal dollar store, vestal, ny

well another post, another ched shirt. i found this particular one at a very cool dollar store in vestal, ny that took up shop inside an abandoned agway. if i remember correct, the place was called - what else - the "vestal dollar store". now what made the vestal dollar store one of my favorites was that the distributors for this place seemed to stop shipping goods in 1991. things like neon sippy cups and dominique wilkins school folders were all the rage here. i really loved this store and would love to go back sometime soon. that is if it's still open.

anyway, in the back left corner of this store was an old clothing rack and box below it filled with random t-shirts. the funny thing about this is that all the shirts fit into three categories: a) shirts about firefighters, b) shirts about wildwood, new jersey, or c) shirts about firefighters in wildwood, new jersey. this one obviously takes choice "c".

my roomate was quick to point out the extra space between the words "new" and "jersey". i never noticed it at first, but now it's all i can focus on when i look at the shirt. i first thought that it was for aesthetic reasons - to even the spacing of the words with the illustration, y'know? but taking a closer look, the bottom left of the new jersey illustration stretches almost an inch beyond the beginning of the word "new".

is this a design fail? or did we both miss the boat on something here?
oh ... shirt theory!

scan of the label:

farrah fawcett (iron-on)

label: ched
type: 50%/50% mos def
era: early-mid 1980's
where found: salvation army, latham, ny

i love this shirt and i think you do too. the color is such a freakishly bright yellow that it creates an invisible arrow pointing straight to the picture that we all know and love. it's really just that simple.

i've tried to take as good of care as possible with this guy. since getting it, some small holes have popped up and the print on the tag has faded away ... but hey, that transfer is still (knock on wood) pristine!

comfort-wise, there's really not much here. unlike the other ched shirts i've come across, which usually feel pretty quality, this one is very thin and cheap. the only reason to ever wear this piece is really just to say, "hey - i'm walking around with farrah fawcett on a loud yellow t-shirt,"

but that's not to take away from its greatness.

as said before, the shirt is manufactured by ched, but due to multiple laundering, the tag has completely faded. i assure you that the brand name is accurate.

which brings me to this week's important tip:

remember to practice safe iron-on washing! wash inside out on a cold and gentle cycle then hang dry. when not in use, be sure to keep the shirt inside-out to prevent the transfer from wearing away. not only will you feel smart, but you'll look it too!

scan of the label:

ask me about my hiney wine/wtry 980am

label: screen stars
type: 50%/50%, probably
era: 1980 - 1986
where found: salvation army, glenville, ny

when i saw this shirt originally, my first thought was "what the hell?". what is my "hiney wine", and why should people ask about it? with the radio station listing on the back i figured this had something to do with some country music station's early morning DJ. turns out, i was sorta’ right.

the "hiney wine" phenomenon began in the late 1970's as a radio bit created by terry dorsey, a morning DJ at a country music station in dallas, texas. the idea was to create subversive commercial parodies for an imaginary product (hiney wine – wine that comes in a 12oz. pop-top can). the spots, proclaiming the wine as locally made, were then played during the morning show’s actual commercial breaks, providing further false authenticity.

to make even more pandemonium, the ads were written to contain many innuendos and puns playing off the word “hiney”. They would ask you to grab a “hiney”, put your “hiney” in some of your favorite foods, or – why the hell not – put some of your favorite things in your “hiney”. references were also made to the different kinds of wine produced: “red hineys”, “white hineys” and “dry hineys”.

basically, the concept caught on and soon many other radio stations started to rock their own versions. all they would do was change the location of the winery to someplace near them. it appears that rick dees (also known for his novelty song “disco duck”) was one of the more popular users of the regional "hiney wine" campaign.

which brings us to this shirt. WTRY 980am is a radio station in Troy, NY (since 2000 it’s been known as WOFX). the station played top 40 pop music until 1986, when it became an oldies station and then switched to a sports radio format.

judging by how old the shirt looks and the popularity of the “hiney wine” craze, i’m guessing that it is from WTRY’s top 40 days, so i’m placing it in the 1980 – 1986 age range. the shirt is a screen stars; white background with green stripes variation, which you can just barely see on the tag.

i cannot find any information on mcdougall … so i can’t say that i do wake up with him in the morning. feel free to ask me about my hiney wine, though.

scan of the label:

AFTER SCHOOL PROJECT!: a winery in washington has started selling some vintages under the "hiney" name ... sadly they don't come in pop-top cans.

ski country lake placid (snoopy)

label: artex
type: 100% cotton
era: mid 1980's?
where found: salvation army, clifton park, ny

this shirt is dying a slow and painful death. every time i take it off there is at least one new hole or tear in it, which is sad because it is a really cool shirt. just the other day, our scottish (i believe) UPS delivery guy at work commented me on it. he told me he really likes lake placid.

i had never heard of the artex label before i saw this shirt. searches for them online bring up a TON of vintage t-shirt listings on eBay ... a number of which have snoopy on them. i'm left to assume that these guys had the (exclusive?) rights to snoopy t-shirts (but not the rest of the peanuts gang?). a close up of an artex tag on another site has the words "DIV OF JOSTENS" printed on it. is this the same jostens that tried to pimp class rings to us in high school? i dunno.

i have another snoopy t-shirt by artex that i'll be putting up here in the future. hopefully by then i'll have the label's mystery figured out. coincidentally enough, this shirt is also pushing tourism for new york - how many different types of these shirts are floating around? was this one of those deals where you customized a shirt with a print and your company's name? that would explain the jostens connection.

but, who knows?

scan of the label:

helderberg holiday tournament 1982

label: sportswear
type: 50% polyester, 50% cotton
where found: salvation army, glenville, ny

sportswear is my favorite brand of t-shirt, second to screen stars/super screen stars. their shirts, judging by my experiences, are almost always super stretchy and super soft. this shirt here is no exception. the 50%/50% blend makes it perpetually comfortable and the fit is just awesome - neither too baggy nor too tight. the design is also not too over the top, so it looks good under a jacket, hoodie or blazer. there's not really much more to say about this shirt.

i'm not too sure what the "helderberg holiday tournament" was, as a quick internet search yeilded no results. i'm left to assume that it was a basketball tournament held somewhere in the helderberg region of new york: knox? greenville? voorheesville? somewhere else in albany county?

scan of the label: