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Banana Republic Old English Wildlife Engraving T-Shirts

August 24, 2020 By In BR Logo Gear, Unisex 7 Comments

Possibly the most famous and recognizable items from the Banana Republic Travel & Safari company, the Old English Wildlife Engraving shirts looked great and were a popular inexpensive item to grab if you wanted to capture the BR magic without breaking your wallet. Due to their ubiquity, they show up on the current eBay market with some frequency and can get pricey because they are so collectible. 

Over recent years contemporary BR has issued reproduction shirts that are identical save the tags as well as shirts closely inspired by these designs. 

The Old English Wildlife Engraving t-shirts debuted in the Holiday 1984 catalogue on the order form. Interestingly, they were first promoted with a photograph. The first offering was for Elephant, Safari scene, and Giraffe.
My current collection.
The stacked logo seen on the Zebra Shirt.
The pocket on the front had a Stars and Banana crest.
Printed tags.
At only $10 these were popular buys!
Some of these images were sourced from the Dover clip art book of animals.
By Spring 1986 there were six designs including the Tiger, Zebra and Camel.
Summer 1986 brought new designs including the Jungle Scene, Rhino, Monkey and Lion.
Spring 1988 included new designs for Macaus and a Leopard.
The Summer 1988 catalogue did not have any Old English shirts, but the final catalogue, Fall 1988 introduced all-new, color illustrations of Bison, Llama, Kangaroo and Iguana.

Reproductions

From time to time, contemporary Banana Republic re-issues these shirts in various forms; Sometimes the art is on the front instead of the back. Often in other colors and with art that wasn’t used in the 1980s. They did the one below sometime in the 2000s that is more faithful to the original. with the Coat of Bananas on the chest pocket and faux-weathering on the artwork.

Banana Republic Summer 1986 No. 28 Old English Wildlife Engraving Shirts, Jungle Hat, Evelyn Waugh and Isak Dineson Travelogue 5 Banana Republic #27 Spring 1986 Old English Wildlife Engraving T-Shirts, Pith Helmet, Gurkha Shorts Banana Republic #25, Fall 1985 Ventilated Shirt, French Army Bush Hat, Old English Wildlife Engraving T-Shirts Banana Republic Catalog 37 Fall 1988 Odyssey Shirt, Travel Umbrella, Old English Wildlife Engraving Shirts Banana Republic #23 Summer 1985 Banana Republic Spring 1987 Yukon Shirt, Old English WIldlife Engraving t-shirt Banana Republic Catalog #35 Athletic Shorts, Banana Republic Safari Cap, Old English Wildlife Engraving T-Shirts Banana Republic Catalog #22: Spring 1985 Sahara Shirt, Old English Wildlife Engraving T-Shirts Banana Republic Holiday 1985, Old English Wildlife Engraving T-Shirts, Safari Shorts, Safari Socks, No-Polo shirt, Roy Blount Testimonial
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About The Author

Robyn Adams
Robyn's fascination with Banana Republic began in 1984 when her Alaskan adventurer father began buying the clothing and giving her the catalogs. She loved the clothes and as an artist she was drawn to the illustrations. She went on to study illustration at art college in BR's hometown of San Francisco and worked for years as a background artist for animation. She is now based in Oakland, CA as a graphic designer and illustrator with Secret Fan Base . She's been collecting and archiving at Abandoned Republic since 2011.

7 Comments

  • Nuno Barbosa on July 27, 2019

    Hi
    Love those T-shirts!
    Any chance of buying some(L)?
    Thanks
    Nuno

    Reply
  • Raymond Neal on August 8, 2019

    The t-shirts I see here and in the catalogs are all white. I could swear the Tiger I had was olive-ish. Am I misremembering or is that something they might have had in-store that wasn’t in the catalog? Probably would’ve bought it around 1987-89.

    Reply
    • Robyn Adams on October 12, 2019

      Never seen that variation. It’s always possible but I think you may be misremembering.

      Reply
  • Rena on January 30, 2022

    I had the kangaroo. Are you selling??? What price? I’ll even pay with my right arm
    I got mine in Chicago at water tower place. Jeep, rocks, terrain, full experience. We all got one. I would absolutely wear this again. Thank you for posting vintage retail treasures. I’ve been a retail and trade show merchandiser for 30 years. This stuff makes my heart sing!

    Reply
    • James Pennington on October 29, 2023

      I like to buy a size large or xl do u sale them

      Reply
  • Annabel on July 7, 2022

    I just got the llama one! My boss was renting out some storage space to a online vintage shop, they were moving out today and she bought it off them for £20 for me!! I love to so much, the print is beautiful <3

    Reply
  • John cottingham on March 24, 2024

    Love animal tees. Can we buy them.

    Reply

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