Tiger Match Vintage Tee

虎印マッチ (torajirushi matchi): "Tiger Brand matches."

Matches were one of Japan's big exports in the Meiji era, and most of them sailed out of Kobe and Osaka for ports across Asia. Every factory had its own brand and its own paper label, often with English lines like "Trade Mark" for buyers abroad. Hyogo prefecture still produces most of Japan's matches, and collectors trade the old labels the way other people trade stamps.

The back is laid out like one of those labels: a striped tiger turning on a patch of grass with flames climbing behind it, framed by banners reading "Best Tiger Match." Square fret seals sit in the lower corners. On the chest the same tiger roars inside a round label.

Whoever still lights the grill with a real match, or saves the old labels, will get it straight away. It has the look of a label that spent a century in a drawer, and the 230gsm cotton hangs well under a work jacket. More stripes are a scroll away in our tiger tees.

• Fabric: 100% combed cotton, 230gsm, pre-shrunk and soft-washed
• Print: direct-to-garment (DTG)
• Color: washed black
• Fit: unisex, regular; size up for a boxier, oversized look
• Sizes: S to 3XL
• Size reference: 6 ft 2 in wears L; 5 ft 7 in wears M

Measurements for every size are in the size guide.