Single stitch
Single stitch refers to the construction of T-shirts from the 1970s up until the late 1990s. The distinctive characteristic of this style is found on the sleeve of the T-shirt. Since the early 2000s T-Shirts have two rows of stitching along the sleeve. Contrary, single stitch constructed shirts have only one row of stitching. Although this is a subtle difference, single stitch T-shirts are widely sought after and a key indicator of vintage nature.
Tags
Another way to determine if a piece of clothing is vintage or not is identifying its label. All companies that have produced vintage clothing have since updated their branding or are no longer in production, thus identifying these certain tags will tell of the year it was manufactured. If a T-shirt has a screen printed tag, it is indefinitely from the 2000s which may affect its worth. However, if one were to find a t-shirt that looks vintage but was unsure, there are plenty of comprehensive photos and guides online that will tell of the piece’s year of production depending on it’s tag.
Dates
The most obvious method in identifying vintage clothing is looking for a date on the actual piece of clothing. It is not guaranteed, but oftentimes vintage graphic tees will have the date the shirt was manufactured in small print. In addition, band tour shirts and sports championship shirts will have the year of the event easily visible. However, in recent years, bootlegs and fakes of these vintage items have begun to surface. When one is unsure if a thrift find is a bootleg or authentic, it is important to check the tag in order to validate its authenticity.