FashBlog.com

The other day I was shopping at my favorite discount store (the one with the red bulls eye in their logo). I was looking for a few casual clothing items like shorts and t-shirts to get me through the end of the summer.

Imagine my surprise when I came across all of the cool retro t-shirts they had on sale. A light blue t-shirt with "The Partridge Family" logo on it. A t-shirt featuring Bo Duke from the Dukes of Hazzard (not from the newly released movie, but John Schneider himself, from the old school Dukes of the early 1980's). A t-shirt with Oscar the Grouch on it. A t-shirt featuring the characters from my all time favorite childhood storybook, Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are". I loved looking through the racks of these tee-shirts-- they were great!

Later that day, at another discount store, I was amazed to see some glittery Led Zeppelin and Guns 'n Roses t-shirts. There was also a "Blood, Sweat and Tears" tee. Now this store is not normally known for their hip or trendy attire so I was impressed.

And during a recent trip to the mall, a sometimes-scary store usually aimed at teenagers featured such fare as Care Bears t-shirts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tees and Strawberry Shortcake tees. But hey, these shirts were not meant for kids-- they came in adult sizes only. More true to the store's form, there was a "scarier" t-shirt available, emblazoned with that ridiculous "Chucky" doll from those awful "Child's Play" movies from the 80's. Apparently some people are nostalgic for the guy.

So what is up with these blast from the past tees? Personally, I think nothing is funnier than seeing an old guy wearing a Fonzie "Sit On it" t-shirt. And even though I'm a mother of three, I'm not past wearing a Jim Morrison/Doors tee. My twenty-something year old sister recently bought a t-shirt during a trip to Philly's South Street that featured "Sesame Street's" Snuffolupogus. The shirt said "I'm Real" and people stopped her on the street to ask her where she got it.

At stores like Kohl's Department Store, I have seen tees with the "Cocoa Puffs" and "Wonder Bread" logos. I've also seen "Bazooka Bubblegum" tees and "Orange Crush" tees. My son bought a bright green tee-shirt with a "7" on the front and the word "Up" on the back.

There are many online outlets that sell retro tee-shirts as well as other retro attire. You can buy a shirt with David Hasselhoff as "Night Rider" on it, Sylvester Stallone as "Rambo", Starsky and Hutch (old style with Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul), Mr. T. from "The A-Team" or a shirt with that kid from "The Karate Kid" movies. Heck, I even came across a t-shirt with "Quincy" Jack Klugman on it.

It just goes to show that there is a market for anything. And with so many unique retro t-shirts to choose from, you can easily find one that will have people asking you, "Hey, where did you get that?"