In 2007, Complex published a story in its August issue titled, "An Oral History of the Graphic T-Shirt". We did a series of interviews with streetwear's elite, and the story provided a look into how things got from surf tees to all-over prints. We wanted to archive this story online, but we thought it was important to bring the history up to date as well. So we did a few more interviews, finished out the piece, and here it is. Click on to read Complex's History of the Graphic T-Shirt, as told to you buy the game's greats including Eric Brunetti of FUCT, Rick Klotz of Freshjive, Bobby Hundreds of The Hundreds, Paul Mittleman and Adam Weissman of Stussy, Jeff Staple of Stapledesign, and more.
Original interviews and story by Rebecca Louie with additional reporting by Noah Johnson and Bradley Carbone
RealBikiniJoe May 23rd, 2011 at 10:02 PM
In 1971 After being in a Band we did some of the very first Rock "Roadie" Tees and record stores thought we were crazy then..Fast Forward 40 yrs
RealBikiniJoe May 23rd, 2011 at 10:38 PM
In 1971 After being in a Band we did some of the very first Rock "Roadie" Tees and record stores thought we were crazy then..Fast Forward 40 yrs
HUNDREDS IS WACK May 24th, 2011 at 06:08 PM
The Hundreds are wack as hell, rather wear a blank than anything they've ever produced. They might have other people gassed but not this one...
Ira Graves May 24th, 2011 at 06:19 PM
Complex did this already back when all over print shirts were popular. And I remember the creator of Fuct saying Nigo stole his whole Planet of the Apes idea.
COME ON MAN, FOREALDOE. May 25th, 2011 at 08:21 PM
TRIBAL GEAR SINCE 1989, BEFORE ALL O'THAT. YOU BETTER ASK SOMEBODY, ANYBODY. REAL MUTHAFUCKAS KNOW, RECOGNIZE. RESPECT DUE- HAZE, STUSSY, RISK, THIRD RAIL, GFS, TRIPLE FIVE SOUL, KARL KANI.
not allergic to shellfish May 26th, 2011 at 11:00 AM
eric brunetti's comment sums it up perfectly how everything was a wrap after haze stussy freshjive and fuct....been saying that myself for years and i'm 31 yrs old now. tribal gear was wack my friend, it was the white trash wannabe cholo apparel worn by dirty korn fans and the like(who had tribal tattoos!GTFOH). WACK! ecko could have had something going and it did when it first came out but then it grew to the point of having fred durst!?!?!?! in their ads. this magazine sucks too by the way:)
Tshirtbandit May 28th, 2011 at 12:11 PM
I think its lame and pathetic that Stussy the original company to do parodies sued that other company(Not assed looking back through article) for paroding them.
Sushilove May 28th, 2011 at 10:01 PM
this should be turn into a book or a documentary, there's so much to be told about streetwear...
WS June 21st, 2011 at 01:38 PM
Nice article, but you gotta go back further if you want to talk about the history of graphic tees. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth pretty much invented them in the late 50s-early 60s. Before that T-Shirts were strictly underwear. This was street wear http://talesfromthecoast.blogspot.com/2010/02/kandy-kolored-monster-from-id.html