Throwback Tees: Making Design History
ACC Maintenance team Unearths long lost treasure
What were you doing in 1979? Maybe you were out bagging peaks or maybe you were just a twinkle in your daddy’s eye. While you were out minding your own business, the ACC was getting busy creating some of the most iconic fashion to have ever graced the mountain style circuit. And then we got busy forgetting all about it. This is the story of one legendary t-shirt’s miraculous revival.
design inspiration
The story begins with a simple t-shirt design competition we held in 1979 that attracted a number of great entries from our members, and resulted in the winning design you see above; one that maintains it’s charm and stylish relevance after more than four decades.
The design was created and submitted by Tapani Knuutila (a professional illustrator with an impressive resume), of Canmore, AB, who won himself seven nights’ accommodation for two at an ACC hut (a selection that included about six huts we managed at the time, vs the 35 we have today)!
Tapani’s design was inspired by a photo of long-time ACC Maintenance Manager Dan Verrall (below) on the summit of Mt. Lefroy after having climbed up from Abbot Pass Hut. The photo was taken by cameraman and producer Glen Crawford, another long-time friend of the ACC.
The image was then printed on t-shirts that — in the dark days before online shopping, and mail, apparently — were available only by arriving on foot at the national office in Banff or at the Canmore Clubhouse.
Lost and Found
Decades passed and as the t-shirts sold out, their story disappeared with them. None of our staff had ever even seen one. Then one summer’s day, our maintenance team unearthed a single perfectly-preserved orange shirt, along with the original silkscreen, like a fossil from ACC’s prehistory, from behind some plumbing materials and old Coleman lantern parts in the ACC maintenance shop.
Urged by our members and friends, we digitized the original design and now print it on Smartwool Merino wool t-shirts that are available for purchase online in our store!
Do you have one of the original tees in your closet? Or have a photo of yourself wearing one?
We want to see it! Tag us in a photo of yourself wearing the original tee on Instagram (@alpineclubcan), or send it to us via email. Or if you really want to blow some minds, walk into the Canmore Clubhouse/National Office sporting one. Long live old-school cool!