Being environmentally friendly, saving money, slowing down rapid fashion, and getting amazing vintage clothing, like Jacob MacDonald’s collection, are all benefits of being socially aware.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, MacDonald, a former St. Thomas University student, began collecting vintage sportswear. He has spent hundreds of dollars on apparel from stores like Tuck and Roll in Charlottetown and Freddy Vintage in Fredericton.
It’s a costly excursion, but you end up with something truly special, according to MacDonald. Even though he supports the Washington Capitals, Chicago Bears, New York Knicks, and Yankees, he will occasionally wear gear from other teams.”Sports fans might be fanatical about their clubs, but there are moments when you just have to enjoy a nice shirt. I’m extremely eager to wear [items] of any sort if the brand or design appeals to me.
MacDonald describes himself as a nostalgic man who collects baseball cards, vinyl records, and McFarlane sports figures. However, he is aware that his love of retro style extends to his taste in vintage apparel as well.
Starter is MacDonald’s go-to brand for recycled athletic wear. It has been producing bomber jackets for the four main North American sports leagues since 1971, and in 2021 it will mark its 50th anniversary. Because his elder sister had told him about how amazing the coats were, he decided to wear them.It is legendary. People from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s will recognize you wearing them if you wear them today, he claimed.
The memories associated with the teams and players from earlier eras are one reason why sportswear from previous decades has made a reappearance in wardrobes all around the world. The antique t-shirts, coats, caps, figurines, and posters placed in rooms serve as a reminder of the moment you first became a fan or the moment you witnessed something extraordinary.
In MacDonald’s opinion, it’s preferable to flaunt them. “They make such fantastic and distinctive streetwear. It would be a travesty to just keep them locked up, MacDonald remarked.
His New York Knicks bomber jacket, which has an eye-catching orange and blue striped pattern when worn, is his cherished piece among a sea of memorabilia. As horrible as the Knicks have always been, I’m a big fan. People comment, “Wow, that guy is wearing something flashy,’ because of the bright colors and design,” said MacDonald.
Generation Z and millennials are style-conscious, and when it comes to vintage sportswear, they look to the sportsmen for inspiration. The NFL, MLB, and NBA all have Instagram profiles with content designed for “tunnel fits,” which are the clothing athletes don while getting off the bus and heading to their various clubhouses before games.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar LeBron James, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the Toronto Raptors’ Scotty Barnes all put them on display. However, from where do the clothing come? Despite MacDonald’s skepticism, online marketplaces like eBay and Etsy are where individuals go to sell their old items.
“Avoid eBay if at all possible. They are not subjected to quality checks by those who deal with antique clothes. Someone may want to sell their vintage but fail to see deterioration, he said. Physical stores with an excellent selection of vintage apparel from various eras include Tuck and Roll on Prince Edward Island. Robbie Carruthers realized that no stores in Charlottetown had decent retro pieces in the early 2010s, so he started assembling old goods for his business, which debuted in 2017.
Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan, as well as then-new teams like the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies, boasted “crazy colours and insane prints in true ’90s fashion,” so he stocked his store with items that fit that description. “The clothing industry knows that 90s fashion is in right now, so it’s just copying everything.” A store like mine has to satisfy a niche market by selling unique things that can’t be duplicated. You’ve got to have those sick throwbacks, Carruthers proclaimed.
The Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, and Winnipeg Jets of the NHL are embracing their legacy and have just returned to their original ’90s logos and uniforms, as their fans fervently asked. Customers are clamoring to purchase the newest pieces of memorabilia at stores like Tuck and Roll and Freddy Vintage as a result of this big surge of vintage sports apparel returning to the fray.
In addition to being conversation starters, as MacDonald said, apparel from the 1970s to the early 2000s also offers distinctiveness and color combinations that are uncommon in today’s sports scene. According to Carruthers, “Individuality is one of the reasons I think vintage has become so popular.”