Apocryphal Affiliates Shirts

I love, love, LOVE the Apocryphal Affiliates Shirts. I’m super excited to have finally completed my collection of Apocryphal affiliates with the addition of the Botswana Bowling League Tank Top. These are some of the most fun items in the catalogue, just bursting with imagination.

The series of 4 was only sold in the summer 1986 catalog, and advertised as being in limited quantities and very rarely show up on eBay. The team at BR must have had a ball inventing these fictional sporting clubs and creating logos for each of them. They were extremely high quality items, with big generous embroidered logos on the backs of very fine cloth shirts.

This idea was resurrected in the Summer 1988 catalog as a printed tank top featuring new graphics. Less expensive and easier to produce, these are harder to find than the already difficult to find bowling shirt counterparts.

I asked Patricia about their design process and this is what she told me: ” Oh yes! These were such fun! We were really just playing with possibilities, brainstorming. And our wonderfully creative team jumped right in, designed the logos and got them made. I still wear my Bengal Bridge Club shirt. The ideas just flowed in and no one claimed ownership. I probably just sketched the ideas as they flooded in, probably showed them to Mel …he probably named them Apocryphal Affiliates, we edited down to ones we liked best, turned them over to art department to refine logo, then to production department to get samples made for my approval…then samples went to creative department for copy, which Mel approved after it was edited by Bonnie Dahan, then illustrated and put in a page layout for catalog by art department…”

Fantastic stuff, thank you, PZ!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This idea was resurrected in the Summer 1988 catalog as a printed tank top featuring new graphics. Less expensive and easier to produce, these are harder to find than their already difficult to find bowling shirt counterparts.