Tidbits

“You often find this shirt for under $5 at thrift stores here in Atlanta because the National Museum of Patriotism is here. I haven’t met anyone who knows what that slogan means.”

SARAH DALTON,

Atlanta, GA

“ This is manufactured by the association JPFO, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. It’s from a clearance sale at a charity shop in Stockholm. The people that ran it used to do road trips to the states every summer.”

ELIN UNNES,

Stockholm, SE

“I scored this vision of divine feline fashion in an L.A. thrift shop. It was a gift to a Monday-HATING (she finds them absolutely ODIOUS), lasagna-LOVING gal pal.”

BENJAMIN CHO,

New York, NY

“ My gay friend Pablo brought this back from Brazil for me.”

KIM MUND,

Minneapolis, MN

“ This cost me $2. I think it’s for homophobes who work out.”

COLIN SACCO,

Jersey City, NJ

“ I’d heard about this cunnilingus instructions shirt and eventually found it at Spitalfields Market. It begins with the line, ‘Gently pull the lips apart and look at her inner lips’ and gets worse from there.”

ANDREW ROSS,

London, UK

“ This seems to be a white rasta baby on drugs that’s reaching for the stars. I got it from a car boot sale in Milton Keynes.”

MELANIE STANDAGE,

Nottingham, UK

“ This was two bucks at Big Bud’s. It’s the cheapest material I’ve ever touched. One grade above diapers.”

BLAKE JACOBS,

Ottawa, ON

“ This was from a Cancer Research shop in Brighton. The old lady behind the counter said she knew the “designer” who’d made it and he was French. I dunno about that.”

MARY DAVIES,

Brighton, UK

“ This is from a friend of my mom’s who rents out costumes for a living. The leaves are supposed to be maple leaves but they look like pot. It’s kind of itchy but I love it.”

DEBORAH WEGER,

Montreal, PQ

“ This Shriner bomber cost me $10 and the patches say weird shit like, ‘Oriental Band’ and ‘Stop Burn Injuries’ which I like to pretend has to do with burning people via riffs.”

BIG PINKY,

Brooklyn, NY

“ I guess this shirt is for people that bust shit. The back says ‘Rocky Mountain Pwod’ and I got it at one of those flea markets on 26th and 7th for about $5.”

DAVID CROSS,

New York, NY

“ My friend William bought me this shirt of a gorilla wearing a bra from Japan. I thought it was something to do with Asahi beer but apparently it’s something to do with getting an erection in the morning. Weird.”

ANITA CRAPPER,

London, UK

“I love the smokes pocket on this because I could never really pull off the Schneider thing (where you insert the pack of smokes into your shirt sleeve and roll it up and over like a fajita).”

ANDREW GEDDES,

Ottawa, ON

“This picture of Kate Moss, complete with massive thighs, looks like something a guy who murders women would draw while serving life in prison. I got it from Brick Lane.”

PEGAH FARAHMAND,

London, UK

“This is the best T-shirt I have EVER seen. Can you believe it? I found it at Beacon’s Closet in New York. I had to fight over it with a guy wearing the most amazing nerd glasses and trashed leather jacket who almost bit me with his gold teeth.”

MILENE LARSSON,

Gothenburg, SE

“Savers is a thrift store here in Madison that’s not really hip but still charged me $12 for this.”

SARAH SHANIHAN,

Madison, WI

“The 9th Ward was the badass part of New Orleans. It’s gone now so I guess this shirt is worth a lot of money.”

JOSH LEFEVRE,

Los Angeles, CA

See Comment Below

“These are both from Value Village. They’re made from a space-age textile called Tyvek, also known as ‘paper.’ The second one says ‘The Law Enforcement Torch Run—Special Olympics’.”

BETTY YORK,

Vancouver, BC

See Comment Below

“I got these at the mall in Jersey City. They were in the window as demos but they sold them to me for $20. I actually saw the guy from the Clinton one at the gym but I didn’t have the shirt on me so I didn’t say hi.”

JENNY SEBLADANK,

Newark, NJ

See Comment Below

“My boyfriend bought me this great tank top on the same day he got me these amazing rollerskates that, apparently, have an “Advanced Technology Torsion Beam” in them.”

TOM SMALL,

London, UK

“My brother got me this from a huge store in Canada that sells rejects. It looks like something aNYthing or Rockers would put out.”

BETH CATALINO,

Brooklyn, NY

“ I picked this up at Wasteland in L.A. for $20.”

AMY ROYKO,

Los Angeles, CA

HOSER: Josh Grace

These leather pants are about as cool as Canada gets but I became a fat fucking pig and I can’t wear them anymore.

This is from a biker store in Montreal and it means “Flying into liberty” which has a real kamikaze feel to it, especially after 9-11.

This was one of the few political thrash metal bands. Nobody could hear what they were saying though so why bother?

This sweatshirt cost me two dollars and I wouldn’t sell it for anything less than five.

HOSER: Andrew Geddes

The Frankenstein Hat my mother bought for me on a very sunny day during a family trip to Niagara Falls (Canadian Side) on July 11, 1977.

See Comment Below

The Bob and Doug Shirt you had to order from an insert that came with the 12" vinyl version of their comedy album featuring Geddy Lee of Rush. The shirt is a size small, which I was at the time. Couldn't part with the shirt, so as I grew I just kept hacking away at it to make it fit. It now exposes my beer gut, lint filled "innie" but still gets pulled out for the annual Canada Day Piss Up every year.

The Harvey Wallbanger toque I got from Ryan Baxter's grandfather who used to work at the LCBO. He set me up with a whole Harvey Wallbanger outfit. Toque, shirt and suspenders. I remember hanging out in his basement being surrounded by boxes of Harvey Wallbanger merch. This stuff was just collecting dust. On the back of the toque it says, "I can be made". It said this on all the stuff. The shirt even had the drink recipe on the front. Turns out that the ad campaign to promote the drink died a quick death when word reached the rest of the spirits industry that 21 Brands (the importer of Galliano) did not have ownership of the name Harvey Wallbanger. 21 Brands immediately stopped promotion of the drink in 1971 and sales began to slow and eventually stopped.

Can't remember where I got the Finger Lickin' Day toque but it’s perfect for those winter days when you feel like eating a lot of fried chicken outdoors and you don’t have any serviettes (that’s Canadian for Kleenex).

HOSER: Blake Jacobs

Make love not par. These are ladies golf shoes but they fit me. The only thing more humiliating than my swing is my footwear.

I love this shirt because I always wanted to live somewhere that’s colder than Canada and has higher taxes.