For many years I’ve quite enjoyed my t-shirt collection. My t-s have always been super comfortable as well as free. Unfortunately, most of their comfort came from the fact that I always got them two sizes too large and their “freeness” meant their content was restricted to the genre of high-tech schwag that has fed my habit over the years.

I suppose it was deciding to look (just) slightly more presentable as well as the plethora of ads for t-shirts on the blogs I read that opened my eyes to the t-shirt culture that I guess has always been there. I realize now that t-shirts are a really neat, relatively inexpensive canvase for wearable art and social commentary. Cool. Even cooler is watching brilliant businesses like Threadless grow and make a great living from this artform.

The other day I bought a bunch of cool shirts for me and the fam at Threadless and Oddica. Only once I started wearing one of my cool new tees did Jenny point me to this amazing little business – Trunk LTD. (Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for well done sites with wood paneling in the background.)

Trunk licenses vintage concert and band t-shirts and reproduces them in high quality. Combined with limited runs these definitely have the “collector’s item” vibe. And honestly, they are wicked cool no matter what this guy says (scroll down to “slick dick”). I admit, I really love this tee, but there’s no way I’m spending $81 on a t-shirt for myself much less for one of my kids that will destroy it in a heartbeat.

Note: Unlike threadless and Oddica, Trunk is owned by LiveNation – an enormous public company that makes lots of cash off of many of the concert tickets you may buy. Not passing judgment, just interesting who’s cashing in. Jenny points out that Trunk uses product placement in major movies to push their products. While we don’t know whether Trunk is paying for the placement or just spamming Hollywood wardrobe departments with freebies (I bet they’re paying) this definitely makes it clear that these shirts are big business.

I realize I’m late to the party in noticing this little hotbed of cash and creativity, but better late than never.