Gildan T-Shirt Tag Guide: A Year-by-Year Timeline
The Evolution of Gildan T-Shirt Tags by Year
How I Determined the Years for These Tags
When dating vintage t-shirts, the year printed on the graphic doesn’t always match the actual copyright date printed on the shirt. Copyright dates reflect when the image was copyrighted, not necessarily when the shirt was made. So, sorry—your Snoopy tee probably wasn’t printed in 1965.
A more reliable way to determine a shirt’s age is by looking at dated event graphics, like a 1984 World Series tee or a 1979 Annual Chili Cook-Off shirt. These are more likely to be from the year stated—unless the design was popular enough to be reprinted later. However, there’s always the chance that a printer used an older blank shirt, leading to different tags on shirts from the same event year.
Since we don’t have an official tag history from Gildan itself, this is an ongoing research project rather than an exact science. The tag years listed below come from event-dated shirts rather than copyright dates. As I collect more examples, I’ll continue updating this guide—it's a resource for me, and now for you too.
Gildan Activewear - Ultra Cotton Heavyweight - Heavy Cotton TearAway - SoftStyle Ring Spun - RN93846
1990s:
1997
2000s Y2Ks:
2000 Y2K
2001
2002
2005
2007
2010s:
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Links To Other Tag Histories:
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