Vintage T-shirt sale back at Alabama for fifth year
It’s not often someone can get an official concert T-shirt from a band without attending the show, but this Thursday at the Ferguson Center will offer that chance for anyone whose favorite band may be broken up or passed on.
The vintage T-shirt guy, Brandon Gardner, will bring his biggest collection of T-shirts yet to the University for the fifth consecutive year.
“It’s all real stuff, real shirts from the 70s or 80s, not just reprints from the mall,” he said. “Each T-shirt is like a little time capsule where you either show some weird product that doesn’t exist anymore on the T-shirt or it’s your favorite band when they actually had a show. You can get the shirt that was at the show.”
This year a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a tornado relief fund, although the specific one hasn’t been picked yet.
“I freaking love Tuscaloosa, I’m a huge Roll Tide guy even though it doesn’t look like it by my clothes,” he said. “I was so devastated by what happened down here that for the first time ever I’m actually going to give money away instead of all the proceeds going to Brandon.
Licensees find loyal fans make for good business
As owner of Fan Creations, a Cumming maker of licensed products for colleges and professional sports teams, he now pulls for any squad that will help him sell more of the logo-bearing furniture and wall art his company offers.
"I'm an Auburn grad, but I love Alabama," he says, laughing at the heresy. "They're a great seller."
While football fans across the country follow the on-field action Saturday, some 3,000 collegiate licensees like McClary will focus on the off-field action at campus stores and on websites where they sell merchandise ranging from T-shirts and caps to ceiling fans and bar stools, to magnets and tissue box covers, all bearing school marks.
It's a huge business and the recession hasn't stopped it.
Atlanta-based The Collegiate Licensing Company, which acts as the agent between schools and manufacturers, says the retail marketplace for college licensed merchandise was $4.3 billion in 2010, up from $3.9 billion in 2009 and $4.2 billion in 2008. While sales have been flat overall lately, CLC noted that the industry has "been able to sustain the economic downturn.
At no track is the love affair with Dale Earnhardt Jr. more visible than at Talladega Superspeedway. It is as if Earnhardt Jr. is a native son of the Heart of Dixie, and, of course, he is not. He is not even an unofficial member of the Alabama Gang,
The two sides have created T-shirts and bought space on billboards to express their disgust with each other; not shockingly, some messages exceed the bounds of good taste. Just when you thought Illinois coach Ron Zook was on the hot seat and needing to
After he left Alabama, Gardner started working with his parents, who own an antique store, but realized that wasn't exactly what he wanted to do. “One thing led to another and I became the Vintage T-shirt guy,” he said. To find T-shirts for his sales,
