5/17/2023 0 Comments Grateful dead shirt![]() ![]() A fixture of this new scene is designer and decades-long friend (and collaborator) of Warner, Jeremy Dean, better known as on whose designs have caught the attention and collaborative efforts of John Mayer, has never considered his shirts to be strictly Dead bootlegs. These designers are creating ever more sought-after shirts that maintain the spirit of the original bootlegs that defined so much of Grateful Dead fandom, but with references to pop culture that are more relevant to today’s streetwear consumer. Not just an archivist, Warner is part of an active group of Deadheads that produces modern takes on the Grateful Dead bootleg. “At the time in the early ’90s you had Bootleg Bart at places like Compton Swap Meet, but at the same time you literally had that shit at Grateful Dead parking lots.” He compares the bootleg lot tee to another popular bootleg tee phenomenon: Bootleg Barts, which were bootleg Bart Simpson T-shirts that were popular during the show’s heyday in the ‘90s-’00s. “I don’t think bootleg culture or T-shirt culture existed then but I’ve seen stuff that’s way more clever than anything that’s come from. “I’ve seen T-shirts from the late ’60s and early ’70s that were fan-made,” he mentions, referring to just how far back Grateful Dead bootleg cultures goes. With From the Lot, Warner documents the Grateful Dead’s history through the lens of the bootleg “Lot T-shirt” (referring to the parking lot outside of a concert), posting photos of shirts and occasionally other merch that tells the band’s story. It’s a history that Mason Warner, with his blog and Instagram account, From the Lot, has taken upon himself to record. Scenes like these have defined what is now a near-half century-long history of bootleg merch. ![]() “I don’t think bootleg culture or T-shirt culture existed then.” “What would be pretty typical,” she remembers of a Shakedown Street, “is someone might have one of those old olive green rucksacks and they’d have T-shirts… hanging from the backpacks, and maybe different styles hanging off different sides.” If a ‘head saw something they liked, the seller would grab their size and sell them the hand-designed shirt for cheaper than they could find in the venue. ![]() Known by Deadheads as “Shakedown Street” (after the Grateful Dead song of the same name), these were mobile bazaars where enterprising concert-goers sold and traded everything under the sun, from snacks to ‘shrooms, to what are now much sought-after bootleg Grateful Dead tour T-shirts.Įlisa Seltzer, a longtime Dead fan who attended shows in Illinois and Michigan as far back as the late ‘70s and ’80s, recalled the scene outside a show. ![]() However, given streetwear’s current obsession with bootlegs and tour merch, it might not be such a surprise that bootlegs sporting skeletons and roses, known affectionately by Deadheads as Bertha, and the famous “lightning skull”–both iconic Grateful Dead imagery–are making their way into the fashion world.īootleg merch has been a key part of Deadhead culture since the group’s early touring years. From the ‘70s up to the band’s end in ‘95, venue parking lots and surrounding streets gave home to a community of vendors. In addition to his solo work, Mayer has been touring with Grateful Dead reboot Dead & Company, acting as a conduit between hypebeast and Deadhead cultures, and along the way collaborating with designers and archivists that are doing their part to bring the Deadhead bootleg culture into 2017.īut even with the “Mayer-effect,” it’s admittedly a bit bizarre for a jam band that broke up in 1995 to suddenly become relevant in 2017 streetwear culture (unless you’re Wes Lang, who was designing Grateful Dead merch decades before he created his famous Yeezus tour imagery). Some of the credit for this unexpected convergence can be given to John Mayer, everyone’s favorite visvim-collecting pop-rock star. Though the stereotypical stoner uncle Deadhead might seem several cultural light years away from the young, streetwear-savvy Kanye fan, Grateful Dead bootlegs have recently carved out an ever-growing niche in the streetwear world. ![]()
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