image via jimihendrix.com
Hendrix Tees Go Fashion
The market for rock-music merchandise is more than $3.1 billion, according to a 2017 study from the Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association.
The great majority of rock merch is T-shirts, hoodies and caps. But fashion and merch companies Authentic Hendrix, Epic Rights and Perryscope Productions want to push the boundaries of what rock merch can be. In 2019, they are scheduled to partner with Los Angeles fashion label Libertine to release a high-end line inspired by the fashion styles of guitar master Jimi Hendrix.
On Nov. 12, they gave a taste of the upcoming line at the Libertine shop-in-shop at Fred Segal in West Hollywood, Calif.
The limited t-shirt features a graphic of a famous photo of Hendrix in Manhattan’s Central Park with the other two members of his band Jimi Hendrix Experience. The tee bears the name of Hendrix’s 1968 album "Electric Ladyland."
The album’s 50th anniversary was recently observed with a box set reissue, which features a remix of the album and concert performance at the Hollywood Bowl. The 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of "Electric Ladyland" retails for $109.98 at amoeba.com.
While the music industry is not nearly as powerful as it was 20-years ago, buying a concert T-shirt is part of a concert experience, said Dell Furano, chief executive officer of Epic Rights. He started in the rock-merch biz in the early 1970s when he sold T-shirts for the Grateful Dead. Rock merch has influenced fashion, he said. “It’s vintage, vintage, vintage,” he said of the merch look. “The art work is great. There’s an authenticity.”
