OT -- Michigan Apparel (High Quality)
A number of years ago, I purchased a super cool Michigan shirt from Van Boven (in the Nickels Arcade). It's my favorite Michigan shirt by far. The brand was "Red Jacket" and it's essentially a double-weave, super high-quality t-shirt which I've never seen anywhere else. Since then, I've purchased a few other Red Jacket shirts, and they're always good for a compliment or a "where did you get that shirt?" Not gonna lie, they're super expensive. I seem to recall $50 for a t-shirt and $100 for a sweatshirt, but well worth it if you like superbly made stuff.
Anyway, this week I went to peruse the brand online for the first time in years, and I'm sad to report that not only was the company purchased by American Needle (who are these people), but they no longer carry college branded products. Wtf?! The shirts aren't available anywhere. Not even eBay or Amazon. They do have MLB and NHL shirts (which are kinda cool), but not helpful for Fall Saturday afternoons.
So, with Red Jacket no longer an option, I'm wondering if any of you have a niche brand of high-caliber gear you go to when you don't mind paying a few extra bucks. And if you say "47" brand, I'll assume you're being snarky...
A little known soccer brand used to make good Michigan apparel... Adidas
I'm not sure if you're serious but the Adidas Michigan gear for the years leading up to the switch to Nike/Jordan was straight trash. The material was twice as bad as it is now
Only Adidas gear that stayed together was my Michigan sweatpants. Every shirt I bought fell apart and quickly.
Yep, I bought a few pieces of apparel from the Adidas years and the only items that were somewhat decent were a basic navy cotton shirt and a hat. The 2 Adidas maize dry fit equivalent shirts I bought were so bad. Felt like you were wearing itchy plastic and it was so transparent you could literally see my entire torso through it. Not mention the terrible neon maize color
It was sarcastic, guess I should've put the /s in there
Adidas did make that nice tear-away basketball jersey. But since it was Michigan, the refs didn't call a foul when it happened. "Maybe the shirt tore itself"
I remember a discussion about Adidas being the only incompetent Germans.
.gif)
Peter Millar has college branded golf shirts and 1/4 zips and it's good shit Jedd, but not sure that's what you're looking for.
In the same vein of shit that works best on an expensive boat or golf course, I think Vineyard Vines does as well.
Good luck finding quality made apparel though, nearly every big brand related to athletic wear has their work done in underdeveloped countries with little to no labor laws.
Sadly I think you're 100% correct....
Quality doesn't have anything to do with labor laws. If a company does not want to put in enough quality control, it doesn't matter whether South Carolina's make the apparel or Lesotho. Your general point stands that the big brands go to countries with lax labor laws in search of lowering their cost. It's a wholly different matter that the brands don't invest in quality control.
I will be curious to know where those "Red Jackets" were made.
@Tex, you're right - the usual line of conditioned thinking is poor quality = cheaply made, but that isn't necessarily the case anymore. Nike/Adidas/Vineyard Vines/Peter Milar/Under Armour are all made in the same types of environment with lower labor costs, but with different targeted markets so therefore different price points that are passed along to the consumer.
The point about quality control is interesting though - I think we can all agree that apparel from VV or Peter Milar tends to last longer/be of better quality than the stuff made by the big 3 athletic companies (Nike, Adidas, UA). That probably starts further up the supply chain when they are sourcing their materials.
Disclaimer: I have seen VV (not seen Peter Miller) but wore neither of those two. So can't comment on their quality.
I agree with your observation. Sourcing better material is costly. These companies are buying fabric in massive quantity. A few cents per piece would show up as a huge expense. So I can see them trying to spend as little as possible on material itself. That's the quality control that they are not doing right. If one buys a cheap tshirt but can't wear it in summer or fall or winter or spring, then what's the point? (Says the man who always goes to the clearance section of pricey shops.)
Got a couple vineyard vines shirts and they are great for each activity ??
Does anybody know the cut of the Peter Millar Michigan performance polos? The site says 'tailored fit' but are they actually that slim fit? average?
Nice try, WD
The fact that this wasn't a WD thread is the most surprising event of the offseason.
Key tell it wasn't: "high quality."
This might be blasphemy, and frankly I don't care if it is, but I am a pretty big supporter of Homage (Columbus based company, judge me all you will). Shirts are incredibly comfortable and soft and they have a pretty wide variety of brands. Some of their best stuff is NBA related. Also if you're into wrasslin' they have some awesome WWE gear.
Their Michigan collection has dwindled quite a bit, but they're always coming out with new stuff and often have pretty great sales/promotions. They used to have Michigan Starter jackets, if you need to be convinced. Regularly priced T is $32.
Clearly I have underestimated the quality of clothing you seem to be looking for - can't say I've ever had a need for a $50 t-shirt. I stand by my shameless plug of a Columbus based company
Seconded. They've got a few Grateful Dead concert tees that are awesome. For the Cincinnati show shirt, they even went the extra mile and made the dancing bears bengals.
Hippy.
Strongly encourage people to check out Homage. I have way too many shirts from there. Most of the shirts are fantastic quality. A couple different colors run a little bigger for some reason so be careful.
Buy the shirt you want then get them custom finished at a clothing shop in AA that has has an official license to use the brand and image via embroidery, screen prints, etc.
But what if there's no room for that on my Affliction shirts?
Do it on the inside and make them reversible Affliction shirts. That way you can go to/from the game and not have to carry extra gear.
I’ve never bought a t-shirt hoping that I’ll still have it 10 years.
I still own and wear a black Adidas tee shirt that my mom bought for me to wear in gym class..in 9th grade about a quarter century ago.
I have plenty of t-shirts that are that old but I’ve never bought a Nike or Adidas t-shirt and thought to myself “I wish this was a higher quality t-shirt”.
Sounds like a Jim Gaffigan bit.
Went to my parents’ house recently and found an old U2 concert t-shirt—from The Joshua Tree tour. Of course, it wasn’t worn for about 25 years which might explain why it was in decent shape. I have another t-shirt that’s almost as old, but I wear it regularly, often when playing pick-up basketball. Printing has faded a bit and it has a few small holes, but nothing too major. I recently found a picture of me wearing the same shirt when I was at Michigan in the mid-90s.
Can check these guys out though they don't carry t-shirts, just sweaters and sweatshirts:https://hillflint.com/collections/michigan
T-Shirts: https://www.homage.com/collections/university-of-michigan
Generally you want to look for companies that make their own apparel (physical garments) as most everything lower end is just retagged manufactured junk t-shirts from Gildan/Hanes/FotL,etc...
I'll vouch for Homage. The quality of the shirts is great. I have more then several Homage shirts and wear them regularly. Most are WWE as I am still very much a child with my wardrobe.
Hillflint sweaters are fantastic. High quality, slightly retro styling. I can wear it to the office, and I get compliments. Can't do that with a cheap sweatshirt.
Michigan shirts are temporary, full body michigan tattoos are forever.
I thought for sure that this would be a Wolverine Devotee Threads thread.
Edit: Now noticed HP already snarked it!
Tommy Bahama has some nice Michigan apparel on their website
It's not sports related clothing, but, on topic of high priced Ts, the Lacoste pima cotton t-shirts are divine.
I have one and second this.
Try the Victors Collection at mden.
Skilled child artisans produce a majority of my clothes.
"47" Brand
Whatever happened to the guy who wanted a Michigan Armani muscle t? Maybe he has some tips...
Also was expecting this to be a repeat of WDs thread from a few days ago but with 4K photos.
I picked up my one of my fav UM t-shirts from Champs (washed that thing at least 200x and it’s still alive) 10 years back.
Once a year or so I’ll stop into one of the Fanatic U stores for UM and Detroit apparel. I’d have to check the labels for specific brands.
(In addition to M Den, Campus Den, Rally House, Dicks, dept stores, etc..)
Van Boven still has a pretty robust collection of very, very nice Michigan stuff. I'm partial to the very classy Hillflint sweaters, especially now that they have the skinny Block M.
Of course, the best place for high-quality Michigan apparel used to be Moe's, but the MDen had something to say about that.
Only Champion shirts for me. On sale.
Because I'm cheap. And Nike fits weird.
They may not have exactly what you're looking for, but check out Ebbets Field Flannels, ebbets.com. Very top end stuff, very pricy. Happy shopping.
Homage makes very soft shirts but I’m in between sizing. An OSU guy I know also gave me crap about a UM guy buying Homage stuff.
I like some of the brand Original Retro has some cool looking stuffthough there selection is very small. Mitchell and Ness but unsure if they still make college teams or not.