Who are you repping today?
For the first time ever, Ausmusic T-shirt Day has rolled around seven months early to land on Friday April 17. Ausmusic T-Shirt Day is an annual, nationwide celebration of the vibrancy and diversity of the Australian music industry. In order to participate, all you have to do is rep some merchandise from your favourite local act.
Ausmusic T-shirt Day usually occurs in November as part of Ausmusic Month and to coincide with the ARIA Awards. However, due to our current circumstances, the day has been brought forward in order to offer up some support for Australian artists who are doing it particularly tough at the moment.
To get involved, chuck on some merch from your favourite local act and tag #AusmusicTShirtDay.
The idea was conceived in the UK by radio DJ Steve Lamacq back in 2007 while working at the BBC. The UK celebrate ‘Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day’ once a year where (much like here in Australia) everyone whips out their old and gold band shirts.
The idea was adopted by Australian broadcaster triple j back in 2013. The day was originally called Aus Band T-shirt Day before changing to Ausmusic T-shirt Day in 2015 to become more inclusive of all artists – whether they’re in a band or solo.
The team at triple j have also been encouraging everyone to tag the team and #AusmusicTShirtDay to get the love for our local musos circulating.
ARIA joined in on the hype in 2015 in order to help out the music industry by awarding prizes to people who wore the best and most creative merch. So by taking part in the day, people were able to win new threads or even tickets to the ARIA Awards.
Then in 2017, triple j partnered with music charity Support Act in order to elevate Ausmusic T-shirt Day into what it is today.
Last year was a massive year for Ausmusic T-shirt Day, with plenty of retail stores getting onboard to offer limited edition and exclusive merchandise to fans. Levis created a limited run of exclusive t-shirts with acts such as Ocean Alley, Angus & Julia Stone, Ruel, Parkway Drive, Tkay Maidza and INXS while Australian retail giant General Pants also sold a limited run of exclusive merch from acts such as Midnight Oil, silverchair, Baker Boy, Meg Mac, Vera Blue and Polish Club.
The hardest decision that comes with Aus Music T-shirt Day is choosing which act you’re going to represent. Are you going old school INXS or something a bit more recent? Maybe you’ll spend the day doing outfit changes to show off your collection of band tees.
What’s most important, especially in the current climate, is supporting artists however you can. So donate or buy merch if you are in a position to do so, otherwise dig out your favourite band’s threads and stand in solidarity with a selfie. It all counts.
Hashtag your selfies with #AusmusicTShirtDay and if you’re in a position to do so, you can donate to Support Act here.
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