Blog

The Missing Banana Republic T-Shirt

I hadn’t noticed this shirt before because it is hidden within a folded order form at the center of the Fall and Winter 1984 catalogues. When I first scanned them my copies didn’t have the order forms in them, they’d been torn out. Subsequently I’ve found complete catalogues and finally saw this shirt. Hence, “The Missing BR T-Shirt”. But it’s also missing because I have never seen one come up on eBay, but now I won’t be surprised when it does. Also note below a sweatshirt with the same logo design.

This “stacked logo” is most often seen on the clothing descriptor tags. I don’t know when these were introduced.

It’s interesting and timely because I had just posted about the mysterious banana (see below) with the “stacked logo”. Lo, and behold, that is the same logo on the breast pocket of the t-shirt! That could place the bandana in 1984, but really, it could have been made at any time.

This also has led me to discovering a new clothing tag! This stacked logo tag is found on one of my Banana Republic shirts (see below). These Yukon style shirts have a pre-Gap logo design on the breast and were sold from before the Gap purchase all the way until 1988. One has a Healthknit tag in it (which leads me to believe it is early in the run) whereas the other has this stacked logo tag. I have no idea where that tag fits on the timeline, it’s the first I’ve seen of it.

Stacked Logo Tag
The Banana Republic Shirt. Showing both tags.

About The Author

Robyn Adams
Robyn's fascination with Banana Republic began in 1984 when her Alaskan adventurer father began buying the clothing and giving her the catalogs. She loved the clothes and as an artist she was drawn to the illustrations. She went on to study illustration at art college in BR's hometown of San Francisco and worked for years as a background artist for animation. She is now based in Oakland, CA as a graphic designer and illustrator with Secret Fan Base . She's been collecting and archiving at Abandoned Republic since 2011.

No Comments

Leave a Reply