GYD History: T-shirt, Vol. 2: Photograph found!

Back in January and February we here at GYD published a number of posts chronicling the label’s t-shirt history. In all we have produced five different shirts since 1999. However, until today, we were unable to locate t-shirt #2: a white “ringer” with royal blue trim. Nor did we have any photographic evidence of said shirt. Thankfully our correspondent Jim B. from New York City sent me this message today, along with an exciting photograph:

Hope all is well with you, man.  I was at the annual fantasy football draft last night at Burx’ place and Mike gave me “Incident on Dixie Street,” which I’m about to listen to.  I was perusing your history of GYD section of your website and was reading about the t-shirts, and I saw the part about your search for evidence of the second version of the t-shirt.

Oddly enough, my girlfriend and I were sorting through my entire wardrobe on Sunday night (I had to seal all of my garments in trash bags for a precautionary fumigation for bedbugs).  She was encouraging me to get rid of as much as I could, as I have a tendency to collect stuff and never throw it away.  At one point she held up GYD Vol. 2 and suggested it go in the trash.  I said, “What?!”, and then remembered that she didn’t know the history of GYD or the t-shirts.

Anyway, I just put the t-shirt on and snapped this photo (attached).

Thanks, Jim!

GYD History: T-shirts, Vols. 1, 3, & 4

GYD co-founders MAM and WCG took time off from the company’s annual December meetings to take some photographs of a few GYD shirts.

MAM (on the left) is modeling the 1999 original: Vol. 1. WCG (on the right, who you will notice bulked up to 255 lbs. for this photo shoot) is wearing GYD t-shirt Vol. 4, produced circa 2001/2002. The grey-long sleeve model we are holding is Vol. 3, produced circa 2000.

Meanwhile, MAM and WCG continue to search for tangible or photographic evidence of t-shirt Vol. 2, a white and royal blue “ringer” with royal blue print.

MAM (left) and WCG, Hoboken, N.J., December 2008

Notice the look of excitement on our faces.

GYD History: T-shirts, Vol. 1: Found photo 1

I had forgotten about this photo:

WCG eyeing the meat, Athol, Mass., June 2008

GYD History: T-shirts, Vol. 1: Reader Submitted Photo 1

Thanks Jay Ell! Wow, the shirt looks almost brand-new compared to the ones below.

Jay Ell, New York, 2008

GYD History: T-shirts, Vol. 1

Get Your Dad Records has yet to officially release a record in its 10-year existence (a fact that will soon change). Yet it has been making t-shirts since 1999!

This post is the first in a series chronicling the history of GYD’s t-shirt releases. There have been five in total, but none improved on the the original: royal blue 50/50 tees with red writing on the front. I still own and cherish my one and only example of this shirt. I don’t remember the exact number produced, but I would guess it was in the neighborhood of 25.

This shirt is unique in that it has a consistent fading pattern. Those who wear this shirt regularly report that the red “GET YOUR DAD” fades in the middle, but not on the ends. Photographic evidence of this phenomenon is below.

If you have photographs of you or others wearing this tee, send me pics at wcgillis [at] indiana [dot] edu, and I’ll add them to the post!

WCG

MAM (left) and Drewsy, New Orleans Jazz Fest, 2003

The above photo was the inspiration for this painting:

"Man and Beast," W. Gillis, 2005

Drewsy, Athol, Mass., Summer 2006

WCG with injured wrist, Bloomington, Ind., Summer 2008