TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I was very disappointed to see a not insubstantial rise in the price of the Cropredy t-shirt this year. The quality of the design was good but that of the shirt itself less so. I bought 2 t-shirts in the village for less than the price of Cropredy one and both were much better quality cotton.

You are not the first I've heard say similar Peter...

didds

I did like the design, and bought one, but I am not sure it will last as long as my 1994 one, which is still going strong.

Paul

The T shirts are very thin quality, and I think mine has shrunk a bit in the first wash!

I hope the T-shirt I bought doesn't shrink in the wash too.

It's already way too small for the quoted size. The label on this year's says 3XL because last year's 2XL wasn't really 2XL size.

Luckily it fits my son perfectly and he usually takes XL, and if it does shrink I've got grandchildren!

At least it will save me money next year as I now know not to bother with the T shirts again.

That seems to be a perennial problem, possibly aggravated by the inability of Far-eastern manufacturers to grasp the extraordinary British weights and measures system! On a recent visit to UK, I wasted an hour in a major store having clothes ferried backwards and forwards to the changing rooms trying to make sense of XL, 2 XL etc, all of which were totally random.

It wasn't always like this. I still wear vintage Cropredy Tshirts which were durable and had sizes which fitted.

Ha - I also have a '94 shirt still going strong - I wore it at this year's festival. Particularly like the sheep detailing.

Those were the days, when Cropredy had proper T-shirts. Not this namby-pamby rubbish we get nowadays. I don't know what the festival's coming to, I really don't.  ;)

unlike previous years, there were adult shirts and infant shirts and nothing in-between. strange move. had to get my 9 year old daughter a vest to wear as a dress (in order that this cropredy attendee of future years did not feel forgotten about).

I wonder if the price increases were related to the low ticket sales? They have to recoup their costs somehow....

I thought they were of reduced quality too btw.  Shame.

In terms of actual quality of t-shirts over, say, the last 5 years, I think 2015 (Crop til you Drop) were amongst the better ones. The last couple of years not too much to write home about. The designs weren’t too bad but the quality of the actual tees lacked something IMO

By Friday lunchtime they had run out of the blue guitar t-shirt in larger sizes and I didnt fancy any of the others. I noticed some XL from last year that obviously hadn't sold, but I dont think enough had been ordered this year. I also had concerns about the quality. Phil tried on a black 3XL (usually needs 2XL, but that looked too small) and it was clinging to him, so no buy there either. Chinese sizes?

Interesting...I bought my usual L size but it is slightly too big  :o  :-[

I still regularly wear the 1993 T.

I stopped buying Fairport tshirts around the 2010 tour I think, when suddenly the quality of the cotton went down hill and the sizes changed to less than generous. Shame really because i have plenty of  pre 2005  ones that are still in great nick even though they have been constantly wornn and if the quality had remained the same I would have continued to buy each year, even at a higher price, because 15 plus years of wear constitutes pretty good value.

To paraphrase Norma Desmond: "I am big, it's the T-shirts that got less than generous!"  ;)

I might of course be biased due to my Blackpudlian roots, but I think the best bit of merchandising Fairport ever did was the sticks of folk rock - a brilliant idea - guess they didn't catch on though. I have two uneaten sticks proudly displayed...

An aside !
I have never worn my Fairport  T's at Cropredy or a Fairport gig.
Anybody else ?

I wear my own couple of custom-made ones. Each to their own I know, but i can never understand why people wear the brand new this year's t shirt at Cropredy. It's l like telling people you were there, but they already know that cos they can see you....

Nope never worn a 'home' shirt at a gig or festival.  Will wear other festival t shirts at Cropredy and Vice Versa.

I do have a bit of thing for watches (not the expensive ones, never spent more than £60)  my favourite is the WKWTTG one bought for £25 from merch at Cropredy (I'll guess 12 years ago) and still going strong

Why not?

I was wearing a 5 Seasons tee shirt when I bumped into Ric in Brum many years ago - I don't know who was more surprised.

I was told by a friend of many years attendance you only wear the Cropredy shirt from your very first one. So my 2002 gets a run out each year (which also ensures it lasts). I like seeing the really old ones on show and give respect to those who have spent a lifetime in that field.

Saves on the packing maybe?

At rock gigs when I was younger, some people insisted that you must NEVER wear a tour shirt of the band you are there to see because that wouldn't be cool, and you have to be cool.  8)

Others believed that you SHOULD wear the headline bands shirt, but it should be the oldest one you have, because if somebody has a 1981 tour shirt, and you are wearing a 1979 tour shirt....well, that means you have been a fan longer than them, and are further up the hierarchy of fandom than they are.

I usually grab a few shirts off the top of the pile and put on whatever I pull out of the bag first on the day.

HOWEVER......

On the Thursday, you will see me wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt that I was wearing on the first day I ever went to Cropredy, and has been all over the world with me for 28 years ever since, but that's just a pointless personal tradition.

Thumbs up!

Because it's about the only place I'll wear it where people will understand the significance!

Wear what you like as long as you feel OK..

I must admit to wearing Merry Hell or Tankus the Henge T shirts politically though.
The idea being that Gareth might notice, and see they have a following and book them.

Hasn't worked so far!!!

Makes sense to me.

My very first one was 1984. I don't think I'd fit into it now

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My very first one was 1984. I don't think I'd fit into it now
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Mine was "Farewell Farewell" and unaccountably  it has shrunk in the wardrobe since then.

Can anyone still fit into their Fairport scanty panties?

Jules

No, but I can still get into my Kinks ones. They're frilly, nylon and I have to pull them right up tight. Dedication, I call it.  ;)


As for my Farewell, Farewell '79 t-shirt... that lasted nearly 15 years before it was recycled into a duster by my then girlfriend. Pah!

I was impressed by the person I saw at Cropredy few years ago who had unpicked an old cropredy tee and restitched it onto a larger size.

That is impressive!  I have a pile of tshirts that I've grown out of, not all Fairport/Cropredy related, and I'm saving them to make a big patchwork quilt for the campervan. Someone in my class did one of her son's motorbike tshirts and it was really effective, very soft and snuggly.