Valuable Vintage Clothing You Could Have In Your Closet

Year(s): 1979
Est. Value: $10,000*

Led Zeppelin is one of the most successful rock bands of all time. During the band’s heyday, Led Zeppelin played just two shows at England’s famous Knebworth house, which made this concert t-shirt a rarity.

Led Zeppelin's Knebworth Concert T-Shirt @ledzeppelin /Instagram

Hardcore Zeppelin fans, the kind who blast the band 24/7 from their Airpods, have sought after Knebworth 1979 concern tees for decades. When one went up for sale on eBay, it sold for $10,000 to an Australian fan.

Year(s): 1986
Est. Value: $599.99*

Animal Boy was the punk rock band Ramones’ ninth album, released in May of 1986 by Sire Records. To promote the album, the Ramones went on a rollicking tour titled the Animal Boy Tour. During this tour, they sold a lot of merchandise.

The Ramones Animal Boy Tour T-shirt @ella777111/Pinterest

Fans of the punk rock band can find vintage concert tees from that tour for $599.99 on online sites. While new shirts featuring the Animal Boy tour cost $20, you’ll have to shell out almost $600 for a piece of vintage, pre-Ticketmaster Online rock history.

Year(s): 2008-2009
Est. Value: $380,000*

$380,000 is the price of a nice house in America. It is also, apparently, the going rate of the Himalaya Birkin, one of the most famous purses in the world. Made by Hermes, the Himalaya has a lot of high-profile owners like Jamie Chua, Heart Evangelista, Victoria Beckham, and more.

The Himalaya Birkin ©Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images

Named after the Himalayan Mountain Range, this “Holy Grail” of bag collecting is made from expertly dyed freshwater niloticus crocodile skin, which contains larger-than-average scales. The Himalaya is more than 8,000 times more expensive than the average handbag at Target.

Year(s): 1990s
Est. Value: $50-$7,000*

If you want to know whether you’re looking at an authentic Adidas jacket, you should look at the tag. The tag should have the jacket’s copyright year, and to be vintage, the jacket should be manufactured from 1991 or 1992.

Adidas Jackets ©etsy

Adidas’ popularity soared in the nineties, with its shoes and track jackets at the helm. Now, you can find a new track jacket on Amazon for $64-$80, but, if you want a vintage piece from the ‘90s, you’ll have to shell out far more than that.

Year(s): 1992
Est. Value: $11,111*

Marilyn Manson burst onto the music scene in the late eighties, and he was almost immediately a lightning rod for controversy. He had millions of fans and detractors, all of whom helped make him even more popular than he already was.

Marilyn Manson Graphic T-Shirt @usweekly/Pinterest | @vintagerockshirts /Instagram

This image, which features pop star Justin Bieber wearing a vintage Marilyn Manson t-shirt from 1992, showcases a wardrobe item more expensive than you may think. The t-shirt in question is signed by Manson and worth $11,111, as it is a rare piece of vintage music history. Bieber can afford it, as his net worth is reportedly $300 million.

Year(s): 1980s
Est. Value: $250 apiece*

How could we forget the bomber jackets of the eighties? These tried-and-true staples were featured in a ton of blockbusters (remember Top Gun?), as they allowed people to showcase their individual sense of style and distinguish themselves from a crowd.

Bomber Jackets ©Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

Your usual bomber was made from real leather, and it had elastic cuffs and a waistband made of the same. In addition to its pockets, bombers from the eighties, which you can find for $250 apiece on vintage sites, often had patches and pins meaningful to the wearer.

Year(s): 1960s
Est. Value: $200-$3,000*

The 501 Levi’s jeans are a special pair of pants. They were popular in the 1960s, and they were groundbreaking for Levi Strauss & Co. Firstly, the 501 was, according to Fashionista, the first “proper product” from the brand.

Levi's 501 Jeans ©levistrauss.com

It was also the first riveted pant, made with not only rivets, but also Arcuate stitching, a button fly, and a watch pocket. These iconic ‘60s denim staples are hot sellers on vintage markets, with prices ranging from $200 to $3,000 (the latter for never-worn, like-new jeans).

Year(s): 1980s
Est. Value: $25,900*

Iconic artist Keith Haring created designs and works of art that people all over the world instantly recognize. The ‘80s, NYC-underground street artist printed his own buttons, shirts, and pins, all of which he sold at his New York City Pop Shop.

Keith Haring's Silk Screened T-Shirt @fermgallery/Instagram

Haring was a marketing genius, and some of his eighties creations have gone on to sell for eye-popping prices. For example, a hand-screened Haring shirt sold on Etsy for $25,900. The shirt featured the artist’s cartoonish scenes, and it even had paint drippings from Haring’s creative process.

Year(s): 1984
Est. Value: $49.99*

This original “Where’s the Beef?” Deadstock t-shirt is a Wendy’s classic, and it is worth $49.99 on collectors’ markets (though who knows, as that price could easily go up with how fickle collectors’ markets are).

NWT Wendy’s Original Where’s the Beef Deadstock T-shirt ©riotfest.org

This “small piece of Americana,” as Riot Fest put it, was a promotional t-shirt that Wendy’s released in 1984. ’84 was the first year Wendy’s introduced its now-famous “Where’s the beef?” slogan, which went from a fast food chain logo to an all-purpose phrase used in a multitude of contexts.

Year(s): 1950s/1960s
Est. Value: $8,654*

Pictured here is actress Romy Schneider, the star of movies like Sissi, The Swimming, The Things of Life, The Old Gun, and more. Schneider and Chanel, a couture brand, are inextricably linked, as the former became synonymous with the latter.

Chanel Tweed Blazer ©Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

Do It In Paris says that Chanel helped the actress build her personal style, with designers becoming her “personal mentor[s].” Schneider could pull off a vintage tweed blazer like this one like no other. If you want to mirror Schneider’s love of Chanel, blazers such as these cost over $8,000.

Year(s): 1990s
Est. Value: $200-$1,499.99*

“Judge None Choose One” was the slogan behind JNCO Jeans, a company that defined the nineties with their unique-looking pieces of denim. Original, rare JNCO jeans can cost thousands on resale markets.

Jnco Jeans @tiesdotcom/Pinterest

They are the feather in the cap of any true nineties fashion collector. The jeans were always pricey, as they were so wide-legged, they required a large volume of denim fabric to create. JNCO is still around, though nothing can top its ‘90s-era heyday.

Year(s): 1967
Est. Value: $19,000*

In October of 2021, a Grateful Dead t-shirt from the mid-1960s sold for an eye-popping amount at auction. Someone bought the vintage t-shirt for over $17,000, setting a brand-new record for the most expensive vintage tee ever purchased at auction.

Grateful Dead T-shirt @bustledotcom/Pinterest

Grateful Dead merchandise has become increasingly valuable over the past years due to its rarity and age. Also, as Inverse states, the band’s iconography has emerged as a “streetwear staple,” worn by both major fans of the band and those who have never heard a single song.

Year(s): 2000s
Est. Value: $200-$350*

Let’s not forget the absolute grip that Juicy Couture had on the Y2K era. If you really wanted to showcase your style, you simply had to get your hands on one of these tracksuits in the 2000s. Just as Amy Poehler from Mean Girls or Madonna.

Y2K Juicy Couture Pink Track Set @DatDamnBlondie/Pinterest

Vintage JC tracksuit sets are available on sites like eBay, and they cost anywhere from $200 to $350. Back in the 2000s, these sets were priced at around $155. They weren’t cheap, but they were accessible to most, which was why they became such a culturally-iconic statement piece.

Year(s): 1950s
Est. Value: $85*

Hawaiian shirts aren’t a recent invention, and they’ve been around since the 1940s, if not sooner. The ‘50s were when the classic Hawaiian shirt really came into style, and you can find examples of these vintage pieces of clothing for $85 a shirt.

Hawaiian Shirts @ebay/twitter.com

Before the shirt made it to the mainland, it was really only popular with Hawaiian tourists. Life was good in the ‘50s, as it was the booming post-WWII era, and men wanted to celebrate by wearing colorful, floral-patterned, fun shirts.