How to Age T-Shirts In 6 Easy Steps: Introduction (Part 1)

Tools of the trade

 

The transition from stiff, new tee to soft, threadbare keepsake is an uncomfortable and lengthy drag… but your friends at Found Item Clothing are here to help! How you ask? By way of our super secret time machine advanced scientific processes, naturally. Let us introduce, then, the very first installment of a new project, Aging Tee Shirts The Found Item Way, that will explore these, and related issues, methodically, but also with a crafty, DIY sensibility.

From left to right: brand new, stressed lightly, stressed heavily, stressed by everyday wear.

 

Along these lines, we’ve subjected our esteemed tees, both the actual garments and the screen prints that adorn them, to a series of rigorous field tests, each experiment conceived to challenge (or confirm) the conventional wisdom and bring a degree of needed clarity to the subject matter (which as it stands right now, is scattered willy nilly amongst various sites on the Infotainment Super Highway). In the chapters to come, we’ll present our initial findings to you in the form of a comprehensive guide to what works — and, conversely, what doesn’t — when aging t-shirts.

Let us make three additional points:

1. Readers are encouraged to follow along at home. All of the materials used here are readily available off the shelf at your local supermarket.

2. Your results may vary; always exercise caution and safety around chemicals.

3. Finally, this is an open-ended project and we’ll brainstorm new stress tests in the future. Likewise, if you have any suggestions, tips, or recommendations — complaints, too — that might contribute to our scholarship, hit us up: travis [at] founditemclothing.com.

Next: Acetone!