Field Report: Museum Tees Are the New Band Tees
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Fall is right around the corner, which means that a season of hoodies and sweaters is quickly approaching. To commemorate the season, California beach brand Pac Sun—which you might remember from your local mall—has launched a new collaboration of art-printed hoodies for…some reason.
Why did one of the most important art institutions on the planet feel the need to partner with a clothing brand that filed for bankruptcy in 2016 only to illicit the response, “wait, Pac Sun is still around in 2016?” Nobody is really sure. The bigger takeaway though is that this was unnecessary because museum merch is cool already on its own.
Nobody needed the alley-oop from Pac Sun, when a Gildan or Champion shirt from regional museums have been spotted more and more on the streets—with iron-on logo or branding being the silent signifier the way that band tees echo a kinship for your favorite group. It doesn’t need to be for the mega-famous museums like The Met either. Some of the smaller modern and fine art museums around the country are boasting the coolest merch around. Best of all: they’re available to buy online.
Cooper Hewitt Tee
Would you expect anything else from a modernist design museum and school than a simple black tee with block letters?
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Tee
SFMoMA plays it a little cooler with blacked out lettering, keeping things a little more subtle for your wardrobe than shouting out that you also like art.
Phoenix Art Museum Tee
Be the guy at the gym who’s working out while also coded telling people you love art.
Oklahoma City Museum of Modern Art Crewneck Sweatshirt
This might be museum merch at its finest. The play with the museum description placards is a nice touch.
Center for Maine Contemporary Art Crewneck Sweatshirt
It’s pretty easy being green. Half the fun of contemporary art is the simple structure of it that can be interpreted a number of ways—the same applies for the fashion choice with this crewneck.
North Dakota Museum of Art Ringer Tee
Who doesn’t love a ringer tee? This might be the main reason to go to North Dakota.
Denver Art Museum, Print Tee
This is having your cake and eating it too. This shirt is branded with the museum’s name and logo and doubles as a graphic tee depicting Wide Lands of the Navajo.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston Hoodie
For something a little cozier, MFA Boston’s hoodies are straight to the point with just the embroidered logo.
National Portrait Gallery (UK)'s Paul McCartney Exhibition Tee
For some foreign flare, the National Portrait Gallery in London is currently showing thousands of Paul McCartney’s photographs documenting the early days of Beatlemania from the band’s perspective. This shirt is really simple, with a front chest pocket and a small logo on the back.