What’s in a tee? Plenty of history, according to Stussy’s founder and ex-owner, Shawn Stussy. Through a series of Instagram posts, Stussy has been showcasing and retelling the stories behind some vintage Stussy tees from his archive.
When looking at one of his oldest tees released in 1991, Stussy admires the quality of construction of tees back in the day. For him, “the weight of the tee, the neck ribbing, the feel of the old-style ink, the fit of the thing, the spirit of the piece” cannot be replicated.
“No matter how much things are sliced and diced, photoshopped into submission, tweaked for financial gain, the real is always going to be the real,” he writes in a caption accompanying the post of that tee from ’91.
In another post, Stussy highlights a blue t-shirt which harkens back to the ’80s, when he would produce on-trend colorful tees by hand-dying and then washing the tees out at a neighborhood laundromat.
Not all the tees featured on his Instagram are designed by Stussy, but they stand out anyway for what they inspired. One of his posts in the series is a fake Chanel tee which he purchased from a bootleg store along with a trucker hat just days before Chanel shut the store down.
“I was off and running… enough inspiration to start a fire”, he writes in the accompanying caption. This bootleg Chanel tee would eventually lead to his creation of the iconic double-S Stussy logo.
Stussy’s history lessons captures the weight of the humble t-shirt, each representing a moment in time of the brand he created. Nothing wrong in going back to basics, follow @shawnstussy and pay attention.
All images: Instagram/ @shawnstussy