How much could your vintage Oasis merchandise be worth? Experts explain what to look out for

• Vintage Oasis tour shirts have seen an explosion in value since the band announced their reunion.
• Some online auction sites have seen shirts sell for upwards of £2,000 in some cases.
• But before you start to load all your tour merchandise on eBay and other platforms, there are some things you definitely should research first.

That Oasis shirt that you used as bedding for the dog before they announced their long awaited reunion? You might want to give it a good clean this weekend.

Since Liam and Noel Gallagher announced their reunion, interest in the band has exploded once again including the faithful band shirt that many held onto after their break-up in 2009. Research has found that since the announcement, vintage tour t-shirts for the band have increased 355% in value. 

That is an average of £122 for the shirts, with some of the top earners selling for up to £2,000. 

But before you start listing any and every tour shirt on eBay, there are some things you might want to consider, and for those looking to jump on the bandwagon or, more than likely, pick up a replacement “Definitely Maybe” shirt after becoming too big for it a few years ago.

What are currently the most valuable Oasis vintage tour shirts?

According to SpreadShirt, who offer print-on-demand and know how to spot something authentic and something that has been printed direct-to-garment, they found the following Oasis shirts were worth the following amounts based on previous auction sales.

1. 1994 Definitely Maybe Tour - up to £2,000
2. 1996 Knebworth & Loch Lomond (unofficial) - up to £1,100
3. 1996 (What's the story?) ...Morning Glory - up to £764
4. 1997 Oasis European Tour - up to £641
5. 1997 Oasis Be Here Now Tour - up to £550

The data, which is part of a larger research project, places classic Oasis merchandise among the most valuable vintage band tees sold this year. Others to appear in the list are an original 90s Nirvana “In Utero” t-shirt, a rare 80s Sex Pistols t-shirt, and a vintage Pink Floyd ‘The Wall’ t-shirt.

What should I look out for if I want to buy a vintage Oasis shirt?

Louisa Rogers, Director at Trendlistr and Assistant Professor of BA (Hons) Fashion Communication at Northumbria University, reveals how to identify if your vintage items hold value:

“There are two layers which determine the value of an item. The first relates to its 'intrinsic' value: what materials is it made of? What is craftsmanship like? And how many of these pieces are surviving/out there in circulation? “

“The second consideration relates to the external factors that will influence the value of a piece. We've seen a renewed interest in Britpop style since the announcement of the Oasis reunion.” 

“Khaki parkas, bucket hats, and paisley prints always tend to come back at this time of year, and the reunion has supercharged it.”

Is there any advice if I want to sell my Oasis merchandise?

Maeve Tutte, who lists items on eBay professionally for a large charitable organisation, is the first to point out that what an item is going for on eBay is not what the item might sell for eventually.

“It’s true - you look at some of the live listings on eBay for vintage Oasis shirts and there are some shirts that have a £400 starting bid. But that doesn’t mean it will sell for £400 or more. If it has no bids on it either, there is no guarantee it will sell for that price.”

“For a more accurate amount of what a shirt could sell for, instead filter on the left hand side under ‘sold items’ on eBay; that is more of an accurate representation of what a shirt could be worth and what the marketplace is looking like when it comes to how much people are willing to bid.”

“Say for example you have a shirt and you saw it sold previously on an auction website for £300. For me, I would check what method it was sold through - was it an auction or was it a buy it now?”

“With that in mind, you can roughly gauge if you had a similar shirt. You can generally get an idea of the demand for an item through how many bidders tried to win the item. It’s not just official merchandise either - I’ve seen a couple of bootleg shirts from their Knebworth 1996 shows that have sold for well over £600.”

“It’s exactly what Louisa Rogers has said; the external factors sometimes mean that even a bootleg shirt might hold significant value over a shirt that H&M have reproduced in recent times.”

Do you own any of the Oasis shirts mentioned in this article, or have you had success selling old vintage band shirts on online auction websites? Let us know your advice, thoughts or experiences as a buyer or a seller by leaving a comment down below.