James (Jimmy J) is a pioneer in the world of vintage t-shirts. He founded Defunkd in 2004, as an online vintage t-shirt boutique, which went on to sell more than 10,000 tees and become an eBay award-winning operation.
In 2008, Defunkd created the world's first vintage t-shirt community via a blog and a forum dedicated to formally documenting prints, tags, and other relevant news and trends. Late in 2009, Jimmy and the community laid the blueprint for modern authentication when they began openly discussing and evaluating t-shirts for authenticity and value. Forum users were invited to post t-shirts in the "Real or Repro?" as well as, "What's is Worth?" sections for evaluation.
James continues to be at the forefront of t-shirt authentication – authoring several comprehensive guides on the subject of vintage t-shirt authentication and appraisal, as well as maintaining an online archive of 14,000 vintage t-shirts and brands.
During his nearly 20 years in the vintage t-shirt business, he's developed strong relationships with former employees at old t-shirt brands, t-shirt artists, merchandise tour managers, and vintage t-shirt collectors whom he can consult with during authentications.
Use authenticator code DEFUNKD during checkout to have your authentication performed by James.
