Tag Archives: Inspiration

Long Beach, California Event “Inspiration”


I went to an event on the Queen Mary in Long Beach called “Inspiration” which was organized by Rintaro Tanaka (My Freedamn photo book publisher/photographer).
I’m not sure if it’s correct to call it secondhand clothes for this event. Whether from Rintaro Tanaka’s photo book or the obsession in Japan over secondhand clothes culture, it’s been exported to California and it’s been very popular. The event is in its 3rd year and it was a great success.


The MQQN Equipped shirt on the left is made in Japan! No doubt it’s from the ’60s. The price will make your eyes pop out of their sockets. The one next to it had a shocking price too.


Left is 1960 catalog and right is 1968 catalog (when the shirts were originally sold).


Look at the tag, Made in Japan!! A long time ago, the cost of labor in Japan was similar to how China is now so a lot of things from foreign countries were made very cheap there. There were quite a lot of MQQN products made in Japan back in the day.
Searching for these items now are not for wearing but solely for the collector.


This was another shirt at a different booth.
Based on the neckline, etc. (from what I was told) it’s from the ’80s and priced at $100.


There was also Clay Smith too, with a Long Beach address!


Club jackets were very popular.


McDonald’s Aloha shirt!


This Street Racers jacket is famous.


An airbrushed shirt of Roth’s Outlaw


This shirt was auctioned off during the event.


STP and Budweiser items are always cool to see.