GREENVILLE — Area resident Todd Wexler stunned friends and family Tuesday when he revealed that the faded Journey concert tee he’s been proudly wearing as a ‘vintage fashion statement’ for the past three years was, in fact, simply a shirt he forgot to throw away in 2009.
The revelation came during a dinner party when a guest complimented Wexler on his ‘incredible thrifted find,’ prompting him to check the shirt’s tag for the first time. The tag, barely legible, confirmed the garment was purchased new at a mall kiosk and had merely endured over a decade of neglect in the back of his closet.
‘I told everyone I found it at an estate sale in Ohio,’ Wexler admitted, visibly shaken. ‘People were asking where I got it. I made up a whole story about a dead man’s record collection. Turns out I just never did laundry properly and the colors ran.’
Local fashion consultant Priya Patel weighed in on the incident, noting that the line between ‘curated vintage aesthetic’ and ‘general household decay’ has become increasingly blurred. ‘Honestly, at this point, half of what people call distressed denim is just denim that’s been through a divorce,’ Patel said. ‘We’ve stopped asking questions.’
Wexler says he plans to continue wearing the shirt, but has stopped correcting people who assume it’s from a rare 1978 tour.
