For the first time in over 30 years!
Gecko Hawaii's Original "ISLAND REEF: WALL PATTERN 'All Over' Belt Print"!
This tee is belt printed front and back and is one of Gecko Hawaii's most iconic tees!
Perfect for the Gecko Hawaii Fan that wants that 80s throwback/retro look & feel, it somehow is loud & subtle all at the same time!
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2X Puffed Ink & GLOW In The Dark Pocket Logo!
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Classic 80s Fit!
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One of our most popular/iconic shirts that ran for nearly a decade!
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100% Ringspun 6.1 Oz Combed Cotton
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Super Soft & Printed In The USA at Gecko HQ
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80s Puff-Ink Front Logo
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Hard to Make & Rare to Find!
HISTORY OF GECKO WALL ALL-OVER BELT PRINT
Gecko Hawaii was THE VERY FIRST brand to make a Belt Print tee with a graphic printed on top of it! And this exact tee -- "Gecko Wall" -- was one of our most popular belt print designs EVER. The hand-drawn art was so popular that for the next decade, we used the design on all sorts of awesome apparel.
Originally released in 1987, "Gecko Wall" was about 5 years ahead of it's time. Belt printing became very popular in the early 90s -- around 1991.
Today, there are VERY FEW Belt Printing machines left in the ENTIRE country -- so these tees are extremely hard to make, and rare to find.
Each one is hand screened - a lengthy and time consuming process.
Until Gecko's "Forever Gecko" and "Gecko Wall" belt printed tees (with graphics stamped on them) were released in '86, '87 & '88 -- many brands did not want to create such a shirt for two main reasons:
1. The design was so different, that they were not sure how people would react to it, or if it would sell.
2. It uses 4X the amount of ink and took twice as long to make (because the design was on both sides -- plus the additional printed graphic).
But Gecko Hawaii was all about risk taking -- and the "Gecko Wall" Black Tee sold out so fast, that at first it was tough to keep up with the demand. Then, of course, other brands took notice and jumped on board once the concept turned out to be a success.
This tee is a thicker cotton with a slightly larger collar -- just like back in the 80s!
We are super stoked to bring it back -- but we will know that it will sell out quickly. These are really rare tees, as we mentioned, belt printing machines are almost non-existent these days with the expense, the advent of digital printers -- and that it takes a specialist to make them -- which there are even less of. We don't know how long we will be able to continue to replicate it -- we also plan on making other colors eventually -- but it only comes from one place, one specialist -- so it takes time.
Get yours while you can!