Bootleggers will often get lazy and use a slightly different font, slightly larger font, or get the placement wrong. While authenticating you should examine the copyright line and compare it with known originals. If a shirt does have a copyright, is it authentic?īootleggers usually copy every detail on the shirt as best they can, so the presence of a copyright line doesn’t make it authentic. To make matters more confusing, companies like Giant didn’t always include a copyright line. A lot of bootlegs that are 20+ years old are actually original, uncopyrighted designs that aren’t licensed.īut if we’re discussing a modern counterfeiter attempting to knock off a vintage print, why would they go through all the trouble of copying a print, and then leave out what is likely the easiest part of the print to duplicate? They clearly are not afraid of copyright infringement. But we should also get into the bootleg discussion here. T-shirts don’t always have copyright dates and are still 100% vintage. If a shirt doesn’t have a copyright, is it fake? Remember, merchandisers, are well aware that nostalgia sells, so it also plays to their favor to have an old date on modern print, so don’t get duped. The other three are likely from the aughts. Of the four I have, only one of them has a Giant tag, but it features Giant’s URL on it, so it certainly isn’t 1994. The majority of the ones floating around have a 1994 copyright date (despite the original versions being from the 1980s.) This shirt continued to be printed with a 1994 copyright into the 2000s, maybe even longer. Let’s examine some Metallica ‘Ride the Lightning’ tees. There are no requirements to update a copyright every year, or at all. Which is not necessarily the date the shirt was printed. It can, but the copyright date you see on your t-shirt is the date the copyright on the design was completed or registered. Does the copyright date indicate when the t-shirt was printed? But just like single-stitching, it comes with plenty of exceptions that make it unreliable as a stand-alone signal of age and authenticity. Copyright lines, that tiny text that often appears near the edge of the print on a t-shirt, is another tool in your vintage t-shirt authentication toolbox.
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