wednesday, September 10, 2003
news
the university daily kansan
7A
Vintage shirts making a comeback
By Alex Hoffman
ahoffman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Dust off those old T-shirts from the closet. They're back in style.
And put a Doobie Brothers album on the record player for good measure.
Vintage T-shirts, and newer shirts with a vintage look, have become big sellers nationally and in Lawrence. Old shirts of cartoon characters, college mascots, places in the United States and bands are finding their way back in fashion.
At Sugartown Traders, 918 Massachusetts St., customers donate unwanted shirts, and the store resells them. Besides jeans, T-shirts are Sugartown's top sellers, Tamyra Heim, store owner, said.
Sugartown Traders, 918 Massachusetts St, is a Lawrence merchant that sells vintage items, such as T-shirts. "People need to realize that vintage is not just the '70s there is a large variety — it's not just polyester pants," said owner and manager Tamya Heim.
Shirts range in price from $4.50 to $15. Some of the shirts they had were a Metallica T-shirt from their 1986 album, *Master of Puppets*, a Smokey the Bear shirt and shirts with Looney Tunes characters on the front.
Heim said the pure vintage shirts from the 1960s, such as Jimi Hendrix or Harley-Davidson, don't last more than 10 minutes before being sold. The prices for these shirts are the same as any of the others to make them just as accessible.
"If somebody wants to travel to
New York and sell them, let them do it," Heim said.
do it, 'Helm said.
But John Keddie makes vintage T-shirts a worldwide business. Keddie made from Yale in 2000 and got a job after college, but wasn't satisfied.
"I was at a consulting firm back East and I was bored stiff at my cubicle." Keddie said.
vintage look. In 2001, he launched vintagevantage.com, an online store devoted to original vintage shirts and some of Keddie's own designs.
The Web site has developed a loyal following. Keddie estimated he had sold more than 12,000 shirts online. He said college students bought more of the vintage clothing than any other age group.
"I think they're going for the more unique look, or something that will be a good conversation piece," Keddie said.
Kristen Jarboe, Lawrence freshman, bought a shirt with the Kellogg's Special K logo on it at Wet Seal in Overland Park.
Wet Seal in Gloucester.
"My nickname is 'K,' so it kind of has a special meaning to me," she said. "It's a fun shirt."
said. It's a small town.
Opinions vary on what is or isn't vintage material, but Keddie
sets his own guidelines.
"They have to be soft and thin, and from pre-1989, unless it's a funny 90210 shirt or New Kids on the Block," he said.
the Block, he said.
Clothing store chains continue to imitate the vintage look. American Eagle Outfitters did so blatantly, Keddie said.
American Eagle printed a shirt that said "Detroit was built for lovers," but vintagevantage.com already had a "Detroit is for lovers" shirt copyrighted.
"Right now, they've been responsive to us," Keddie said. "A few of my customers happened to be copyright attorneys."
Like Sugartown Traders, Keddie's shirts listed as "originals" are reasonably priced at $18.99. But shirts from his new Top Shelf Project have a higher price tag.
A 1982 Doobie Brothers shirt sells for $445 on the Top Shelf Project. Another shirt goes for almost $2,000.
“It's more there to generate buzz,” Keddie said. “We're not looking to sell them, really. We're looking to display them. But we have sold three shirts in the past week from there, though.”
ZETA: Closing stuns members
Edited by Scott Christie
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
have to do informal recruitment to keep numbers up this year, but were blinded by the national's decision. Zeta did not complete the recruitment process, but would only have gained 16 recruits during formal recruitment.
The colony ended last semester with 128 members, just short of its 140-member goal. Only 85 members returned after the summer, and after formal recruitment numbers came in, the decision was made to pull the plug on the colony.
thens, not outs.
Winniola said several factors kept numbers low the first year. The most significant, she said.
"We had no reason to believe we were going to be shut down," Winnika said. "The decision was theirs, not ours."
was lack of a sorority house
"These houses are mansions," she said. "That's a big part of being in a sorority at KU."
Connelly said Zeta had set aside $3 million to $5 million for a house, but was waiting for the colony to improve numbers before it bought property.
"It was a catch-22," she said. "Nationals wouldn't build a house because we didn't have 160 members, but we couldn't get 160 members without a house."
members withdrew. Winnika said formal recruitment numbers were strong, even better than some more-established Zeta houses, until the third round, which focused on touring houses. She said several girls had told her they were impressed with the sorority, but needed a house.
the sorority, but Leigh Baker, Wellington junior and former Zeta member, said she understood why the national
sorority didn't want to immediately spend money for a house, but said it could have done more.
but said it could have "I think even if we could have started small and done anything to say we had a place of our own just renting a place for meetings - it would have helped," she said.
said.
Keeping the sorority together was also difficult because members had no previous experience in sororities.
"We had no idea what being in a sorority was like," Winnika said. "They just stuck us together and said, 'You're Zetas. You're friends! I think it was a little overwhelming.'
Although the colony was dissolved before members were initiated, Zeta Tau Alpha will offer alumni status to interested colony members after they graduate.
gone to Zeta were placed with other houses when possible. Winnika said Zeta also refunded members their initiation dues. After paying bills, the national sorority will return whatever is left to members, based on how long they paid dues.
Angela Carr, coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said those women that would have
Former colony members also have the opportunity to join another KU house through open bidding. None of the members interviewed wanted that option.
Members still get together periodically and had a barbecue at Clinton Lake last weekend. Some are hoping to form a service organization to continue benefiting the sorority's philanthropy, Breast Cancer Awareness.
"There's no other sisterhood for me," Connelly said. "I can honestly say that I love each and every girl that I called my sisters, and still do call my sisters."
-Edited by Ehren Meditz
world
Sharon: Hamas leaders marked for death
JERUSALEM—Hamas leaders are "marked for death" and won't have a moment's rest, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned Sunday.
Hamas threatened unprecedented revenge, with spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi saying Israel had "opened the gates of hell" with the attack on Hamas founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury.
Israel declared a high security
alert and imposed a blanket closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Security officials said the Shin Bet security service tightened protection of Israeli leaders.
Sharon told the Vediot Ahronot newspaper that Israel's campaign against militants would continue.
"They are marked for death." Sharon was quoted as saying, referring to Hamas leaders. "We won't give them a moment's rest. We will continue to hunt them because they have only one objective: the destruction of Israel."
The Associated Press
Call 864-KUCE (5823)
Or visit the Continuing
Education Building
1515 St. Andrews Drive
Take a KU Independent Study course to help stay on track to your degree. To view the Independent Study catalog, go to www.kuce.org/isc Consult with your academic advisor before enrolling. 2009 that are available through Independent Study:
ENROLL ONLINE
www.kuce.org/isc
Closed courses? Enroll and begin anytime!
DISTANCE LEARNING THROUGH KU INDEPENDENT STUDY
offers more than 160 online and print courses
AAAS 106 The Black Experience Americas
ANTH 100 General Anthropology
ANTH 104/304 Fundamentals of Physical Anthropology
ANTH 108/308 Intro. to Cultural Anthropology
BIOL 100 Principles of Biology
BIOL 305 Principles of Human Physiology
CLSX 148 Greek and Roman Mythology
ENGL 101 Composition
ENGL 102 Composition and Literature
ENGL 203 Topics in Reading and Writing: The Literature of Sports
ENGL 209 Intro. to Fiction
ENGL 210 Intro. to Poetry
ENGL 320 American Literature I
ENGL 322 American Literature II
ENGL 325 Recent Popular Literature
ENGL 332 Shakespeare
ENGL 351 Fiction Writing I
AAAS 106 The Black Experience in the Americas
Courses closed on campus for fall 2003 that are available through Independent Study
Civil War HIST 129 History of the U.S. after the Civil
ENGL 362 Technical Writing
ENGL 466 Literature for Children
FREN 110 Elementary French I
FREN 120 Elementary French II
HSES 260 Personal and Community Health
HSES 330 Prin. Health and Nutrition
HIST 100 World History: An Introduction
HIST 128 History of the U.S. through the Civil War
HIST 128 History of the U.S. after the Civil
HIST 129 History of the U.S. after the Civil War
HA 100/300 Intro. to Art History
HDFL 405 Children and Media
HWC 204 Western Civilization I
HWC 205 Western Civilization II
LAA 100 Latin American Culture and Society
LAT 104 Elementary Latin
MATH 002 Intermediate Mathematics
MATH 101 Algebra
MATH 115 Calculus I
MATH 116 Calculus II
LUNCH SPECIALS INCLUDE SALAD, APPETIZER
NIGHTLY DINNER SPECIAL
NIGHTLY DINNER SPECIALS
WONDERFUL ATMOSPHERE BANQUET ROOMS AVAILABLE
THAI HOUSE $1 OFF DINNER MENU WITH YOUR KUID!
MATH 365 Elementary Statistics
PHIL 140 Intro. to Philosophy
PHIL 148 Reason and Argument
PHIL 160 Intro. to Ethics
POLS 330 Intro. to Public Administration
PSYC 104 General Psychology
PSYC 300 Statistics in Psychological
effects
LUNCH SPECIALS START AT $5.95
• PAD THAI • HAWAIIAN CHICKEN • CURRY TOFU
• BANGKOK CHICKEN • GOURMET TOFU
CONTINUE LUNCH SPECIALS INCLUDE COOKED AND RICE
Research
PSYC 370 Brain and Behavior
PSYC 566 Psychology and the Law
PSYC 642 Psychology of Families
REL 107 Living Religions of the West
REL 124 Understanding the Bible
SOC 130 Comparative Societies
SOC 220 Sociology of Families
SPAN 104 Elementary Spanish I
SPAN 108 Elementary Spanish II
TH&F 405 Children and Media
TeL 351 Teaching Reading in the Content
Areas
Areas T&L 450 Foundations of Education