Marty McFly Safari Shirt - Back to the Future

Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

OK. Check the button placement and where the pattern is positioned along the edge of the shirt in this photo against the one from the screenused.com auction:

shirt.jpg

That's clearly a different shirt. Also, check that photo I just posted against this one:

shirt.jpg

Although the top button position relative to the pattern is closer, it still looks like it's in a slightly different position.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?


Sorry if this has been answered before in another thread or on another forum, but can anybody tell me what's going on with this shirt about 3" either side of the buttons? Is that a seam? At first I thought it was a wrinkle, but it closes in at the top and the pattern gets really close together there. I don't know what purpose a seam like that would serve, though.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

I'll address a couple of the things I've read in here:

-If Shah Safari sold 100,000 of these shirts, I assure you someone would've found one by now. Literally every single article of clothing from the costume has been found, some in multiples. There are tons of Shah Safari shirts from the '80s all over the place, one would've turned up. The fact that one hasn't is what began my speculation about this in the first place.

-The shirts not looking the same in different pictures. You can't really go by that so much. I can't remember off hand, but there is a scene towards the end where the Screenused.com shirt matches every detail with the film. It is very likely that at minimum 3 of the shirts were purchased for the movie, of course because of the intricacy of the pattern its highly possible that each one might have minor difference where the stripes line up with the buttons.

-I do believe it's entirely possible the shirt in pts 2 & 3 isn't the same from pt 1. The watch he is wearing isn't, I don't believe the jeans are either. Lea Thompson's dress story certainly corroborates this theory. That's why I'm only basing my research around pt 1.

-The seam on the shirt…pretty sure thats just a stylistic design. Doesn't really have a function that I can see.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Is there any evidence to suggest that the shirt used in Parts II & III might not be the same as the one from the original movie? ...

... -I do believe it's entirely possible the shirt in pts 2 & 3 isn't the same from pt 1. ...

Shah Safari shirt in part 3? Did he ever dress this shirt again after changing his clothes in 2015? :confused
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Shah Safari shirt in part 3? Did he ever dress this shirt again after changing his clothes in 2015? :confused

Good point! I forgot that he was wearing everything from the '85 costume except for the shirt from that point in 2015 until changing into his Clint Eastwood costume in 1955.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Good point! I forgot that he was wearing everything from the '85 costume except for the shirt from that point in 2015 until changing into his Clint Eastwood costume in 1955.

You can't even see the Guess jacket and the Class-5 vest in the whole second and third movie, except for the shots they used from the first movie (the clock tower lightning scene). ;)
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

I know Marty's socks go from grey to white from part1 and part 2 :lol
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

You can't even see the Guess jacket and the Class-5 vest in the whole second and third movie, except for the shots they used from the first movie (the clock tower lightning scene). ;)

Well, if you want to get really technical you do see the Guess jacket in the window of Blast From the Past. ;)
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

You can't even see the Guess jacket and the Class-5 vest in the whole second and third movie, except for the shots they used from the first movie (the clock tower lightning scene). ;)

Without wanting to derail this thread much more, I thought I'd clarify what I meant: “I forgot that he was wearing everything from the '85 costume at the start of BTTF Part II except for the shirt from that point in 2015 until changing into his Clint Eastwood costume in 1955.

:facepalm
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Well, if you want to get really technical you do see the Guess jacket in the window of Blast From the Past. ;)

That's right. I forgot that small detail. ;)

Without wanting to derail this thread much more, I thought I'd clarify what I meant: “I forgot that he was wearing everything from the '85 costume at the start of BTTF Part II except for the shirt from that point in 2015 until changing into his Clint Eastwood costume in 1955.

:facepalm

Even at the start of part 2 there's no jacket and no vest. :)
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Even at the start of part 2 there's no jacket and no vest. :)

Exactly.

So – getting back on topic – do we think the shirt that was used in BTTF II was at least one of the original shirts used in BTTF?
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Exactly.

So – getting back on topic – do we think the shirt that was used in BTTF II was at least one of the original shirts used in BTTF?

I think so. I made four screen caps of two identical scenes from both movies. I chose scenes where you can see both Jennifers, so we can be sure that each shot is actually from the correct movie. To me it seems to be exactly the same shirt in both movies. Here is a GIF animation of a closer and sharpened shot from both movies, where you can see that the position of the pattern is identical. And the pattern itself is identical, too (number of diagonal lines).

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Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

To me it seems to be exactly the same shirt in both movies. Here is a GIF animation of a closer and sharpened shot from both movies, where you can see that the position of the pattern is identical. And the pattern itself is identical, too (number of diagonal lines).

Agreed. The lower button and pattern around the buttons seems to line up exactly too, yet that's a completely different shirt from the screenused.com auction and both those pictures I posted earlier.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Shah Safari has some original shirts from the 80's in their vault. I have discussed this shirt at length with Ronnie, the Vice President of Shah Safari.

The shirt run from 2010 is not exactly the same as the shirt from the 80's. This was done for several reasons. First, the base cotton of the shirt is a finer grade of cotton then the original. One batch of the original shirts have a very very faint blue hue to them, and the cotton was a little rougher. Secondly, the printing of the shirts today is at a much finer quality then it was in the 80's.
As far a pattern matching, I own several dozen of these shirts and the way they are constructed guarantees that no two of them are exactly the same.

Any talk about the shirt in Back to the Future not being Shah Safari is nonsense. The company recognized it as their own as soon as the movie came out. No other company has ever made a claim to the shirt, and the BTTF Almanac confirms the shirt is Shah Safari.
 
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Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Shah Safari has some original shirts from the 80's in their vault. I have discussed this shirt at length with Ronnie, the Vice President of Shah Safari.

The shirt run from 2010 is not exactly the same as the shirt from the 80's. This was done for several reasons. First, the base cotton of the shirt is a finer grade of cotton then the original. The original shirts have a very very faint blue hue to it, and the cotton was a little rougher. Secondly, the printing of the shirts today is at a much finer quality then it was in the 80's.
As far a pattern matching, I own several dozen of these shirts and the way they are constructed guarantees that no two of them are exactly the same.

Any talk about the shirt in Back to the Future not being Shah Safari is nonsense. The company recognized it as their own as soon as the movie came out. No other company has ever made a claim to the shirt, and the BTTF Almanac confirms the shirt is Shah Safari.


I already mentioned this previously, but I'll address it again…
Just because Shah Safari thinks they recognized their product in BTTF doesn't really prove anything. Now, don't take that for me saying this shirt isn't Shah Safari, because it very well could be. However, it has been 30 years, and not 1 single person has been able to produce 1 piece of concrete evidence to prove it was made by Shah Safari, not even a picture.

I've heard, and again I don't know if this is fact or not, that a member here had to donate his similar (but not exact) Shah shirt, so that they could use it to make the pattern for the 2010 replica. If Shah Safari had any originals in their vault, they wouldn't have needed that. Also, they would've been able to produce a much closer looking replica.

I saw you mentioned that the pattern wouldn't match because no two shirts are the same, but that simply isn't accurate. The cut might be slightly different, and the exact placement of the pattern might not fall in the same spot on each shirt, but the actual pattern itself would most definitely be the same on all the shirts (i.e.: the amount of diagonal lines in the pattern would always be the same.

Lastly, the BTTF Almanac while a great resource, can make any claims they want, but without proof (namely, a photo of an original), then we are still no closer to really solving this mystery.

Another thing to consider…no matter how many Shah Safari shirts you look at (and I've looked at hundreds, if not thousands, over the years) I have NEVER seen another shirt with the exact same cut, and with 2 pockets on the front.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

You are correct about 1 and only 1 thing here. I misspoke, yes the pattern is the same, the cut is not. I find it funny that you are the only person challenging Shah Safari. Shah Safari in the 80's sold the vast majority of their shirts oversees. Not everything ever made shows up on ebay, especially a 30 year old shirt that was probably thrown away in the mid 90's from being worn out. Jackets last a whole lot longer than shirts.
As far as the claim that someone had to "donate" a shirt to Shah so they could re-make the McFly, that claim is laughable. Shah has in their archives an example of every shirt they have ever produced for sale. The shirt pictured on the first page is a SHAH but not the shirt used to base the re-release on.

The BTTF Alamanac was edited and endorsed by Bob Gale himself. Bob Gale recognizes the shirt as a Shah Safari so end of discussion. Your claims are wrong, without any proof, and based on speculation and third or fourth hand stories. The rest of the Fans acknowledge and recognize the shirt as Shah Safari. No one has to prove anything to you when the maker of that shirt is an established fact

MJF's entire outfit in BTTF1 was off the rack with the exception of the Jacket Guess made specifically for the film, and even that is just the marriage of two styles that they were currently producing in the US. We all know this was due to a cramped production timeline after the firing of Eric Stoltz. But SOMEHOW you are claiming that 1 piece of non-critical clothing was not off the rack? If you need to prove anything, show me another manufacturer that says the shirt was theirs. NO WAY they would have kept silent on this for 30 years. The simple reason that has not happened is that the true producer of the shirt is a well known established FACT.. SHAH SAFARI.
Shah shirt in the Almanac.jpg
 
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Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

You are correct about 1 and only 1 thing here. I misspoke, yes the pattern is the same, the cut is not. I find it funny that you are the only person challenging Shah Safari. Shah Safari in the 80's sold the vast majority of their shirts oversees. Not everything ever made shows up on ebay, especially a 30 year old shirt that was probably thrown away in the mid 90's from being worn out. Jackets last a whole lot longer than shirts.
As far as the claim that someone had to "donate" a shirt to Shah so they could re-make the McFly, that claim is laughable. Shah has in their archives an example of every shirt they have ever produced for sale. The shirt pictured on the first page is a SHAH but not the shirt used to base the re-release on.

The BTTF Alamanac was edited and endorsed by Bob Gale himself. Bob Gale recognizes the shirt as a Shah Safari so end of discussion. Your claims are wrong, without any proof, and based on speculation and third or fourth hand stories. The rest of the Fans acknowledge and recognize the shirt as Shah Safari. No one has to prove anything to you when the maker of that shirt is an established fact

MJF's entire outfit in BTTF1 was off the rack with the exception of the Jacket Guess made specifically for the film, and even that is just the marriage of two styles that they were currently producing in the US. We all know this was due to a cramped production timeline after the firing of Eric Stoltz. But SOMEHOW you are claiming that 1 piece of non-critical clothing was not off the rack? If you need to prove anything, show me another manufacturer that says the shirt was theirs. NO WAY they would have kept silent on this for 30 years. The simple reason that has not happened is that the true producer of the shirt is a well known established FACT.. SHAH SAFARI.
View attachment 438150

Look, I see that you are a passionate fan, and that's great, but I have no idea why you seem to be so wound up over this topic.

I started this thread for one reason and one reason only, to uncover facts, proof, evidence. So far you haven't been able to provide any of those things. No one is disparaging Shah Safari, no one is saying the Almanac isn't a great book, or anything else.

Bob Gale endorsing the book doesn't mean anything to this conversation though, sorry. Bob's a great guy, who knows an absolute ton of details about these films, but he wasn't the wardrobe stylist. I really doubt amidst shooting BTTF he went over asked MJF if he could take a look at his shirt tag. A great example is Marty's sunglasses, for years and years fans were trying to figure out who made them, and when they asked the Bobs, their answer was that they thought it was some kind of endorsement deal, but they couldn't remember. Then an early draft of the script came out that said they were Porsche sunglasses, but it wasn't until many years later (just within the last few years, in fact) that a fan discovered their actual manufacturer as being Zeiss. Same thing with the vest, go back and look at how many tons of sources inaccurately listed it as being made by North Face, until it's true manufacturer was finally discovered a few years back.

As for it being 30 years old, I own the maroon T-shirt MJF wore, so I'm pretty sure if that held up, this would too. I also own the jacket, which was purchased off the rack by the way, it is not a custom piece. Also, I should tell you just because they aren't speaking up in this thread, I am certainly not the only person out there trying to uncover this info. The truly hardcore BTTF fans, the ones that probably have some of the most impressive collections, don't always want it known what they have, and they are searching EVERYWHERE not just ebay. The Class-5 vest was first found at a thrift store, for example, but regardless, even on ebay there is clothing from hundreds of years ago for sale, so while it might be incredibly rare at this point, if it truly was a mass manufactured item, someone, somewhere, must still have one.

The picture you posted from the Almanac is of the 2010 release, so again, with respect, until someone can turn up an exact original, this discussion certainly remains open.
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

Look, I see that you are a passionate fan, and that's great, but I have no idea why you seem to be so wound up over this topic.

I started this thread for one reason and one reason only, to uncover facts, proof, evidence. So far you haven't been able to provide any of those things. No one is disparaging Shah Safari, no one is saying the Almanac isn't a great book, or anything else.

Bob Gale endorsing the book doesn't mean anything to this conversation though, sorry. Bob's a great guy, who knows an absolute ton of details about these films, but he wasn't the wardrobe stylist. I really doubt amidst shooting BTTF he went over asked MJF if he could take a look at his shirt tag. A great example is Marty's sunglasses, for years and years fans were trying to figure out who made them, and when they asked the Bobs, their answer was that they thought it was some kind of endorsement deal, but they couldn't remember. Then an early draft of the script came out that said they were Porsche sunglasses, but it wasn't until many years later (just within the last few years, in fact) that a fan discovered their actual manufacturer as being Zeiss. Same thing with the vest, go back and look at how many tons of sources inaccurately listed it as being made by North Face, until it's true manufacturer was finally discovered a few years back.

As for it being 30 years old, I own the maroon T-shirt MJF wore, so I'm pretty sure if that held up, this would too. I also own the jacket, which was purchased off the rack by the way, it is not a custom piece. Also, I should tell you just because they aren't speaking up in this thread, I am certainly not the only person out there trying to uncover this info. The truly hardcore BTTF fans, the ones that probably have some of the most impressive collections, don't always want it known what they have, and they are searching EVERYWHERE not just ebay. The Class-5 vest was first found at a thrift store, for example, but regardless, even on ebay there is clothing from hundreds of years ago for sale, so while it might be incredibly rare at this point, if it truly was a mass manufactured item, someone, somewhere, must still have one.

The picture you posted from the Almanac is of the 2010 release, so again, with respect, until someone can turn up an exact original, this discussion certainly remains open.

You have an original Guess Jacket with the movie stars lining? I really want to see that!

Thanks
 
Re: Does anyone own an original Marty McFly Shah Safari shirt?

You have an original Guess Jacket with the movie stars lining? I really want to see that!

Thanks

The movie stars and paisley lining were added by wardrobe, the jacket itself is the off the rack part. I was referring to how it had previously been mentioned that the jacket was custom made for the film by marrying two other styles of jackets they were selling at the time.

So unfortunately, unless someone can locate the screen used one, I don't think we're ever gonna get a good look at the movie star lining, sorry! :(
 

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