A go-to purchase at every Star Wars Celebration is the t-shirt. Over the past 25 years and 15 events, the scope and design of Celebration tees has expanded dramatically, featuring everything from location-themed art to screen printing done on site in the Celebration store. Let’s dive in and follow the t-shirt timeline, from Celebration I all the way to present day!
Celebration I – Denver, CO – 1999
At the first Celebration in Denver, merchandise was definitely in it’s early stages. If we focus on just the t-shirts…well. There was only one.
This simple white t-shirt featured the beautiful and now legendary poster art for the event, done by prolific poster artist John Alvin. The back featured the “estimated worldwide release dates” for the fast-approaching Episode I. This tee was available all weekend, and was also made available through the Jawa Trader in Star Wars Insider #45. The shirt also sold on mosespa.com until at least October of 1999.
Star Wars Collector’s Archive also lists a staff t-shirt, which counts as far as I’m concerned! It’s a red baseball tee with the logo on the front and “STAFF” on the back. I haven’t found many pictures of staff members wearing the shirt besides the one seen below, featuring “Joe”.
Celebration II – Indianapolis, IN – 2002
By the time Celebration II came around three years later, the venue and crowd were bigger, and the merchandise was a bit more extensive. That includes a few more shirt designs! 2002 was all about Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and the color scheme was black, white, and a sort of sky blue. In addition to promoting the upcoming film, 2002 was also the 25th anniversary of Star Wars. Both of these occasions were honored in the shirt designs. This first blue shirt features the event logo on the front and a poster design on the back. Hayden, our brand new Anakin at the time, is parallel with Vader’s helmet, surrounding a classic poster design and the words “The Saga Continues”. The dates and location are also listed.
The next design on a black t-shirt has the logo on the front and “25 Years of the Force” with dates and location on the back. I want this one, lol.
Two more styles of shirt were added this year with an embroidered logo on the front, including a baby tee and a knit shirt in polo style.
If you look at the picture below of the full store set up, there seems to also have been a black version of the polo shirt available with a sort of stripe. I cannot find a close up picture of this shirt anywhere, but this shot does prove it’s existence and shows how the shirts were displayed. [UPDATE 8/23/24: Found a photo of this shirt being worn at the event!]
There is also evidence of some fan-made shirts being at this event, something that would become a staple as the years went on. The 501st Legion seems to have had a shirt that said “got armor?” in the classic “got milk?” style, and it appears occasionally in crowd photos. You can see it here on the lovely Michonne Bourriague aka Aurra Sing.
Celebration III – Indianapolis, IN – 2005
By 2005, Revenge of the Sith was hot on our heels and Celebration was starting to really establish it’s identity as an event. This is reflected in the t-shirts & merchandise, with more options available than ever before. Check out this link for a PDF (via the Wayback Machine) featuring all the merch that would be available at the convention center.
CIII was all about flames and a whole lot of Vader. There was a classic burgundy shirt featuring the logo of the event, dates and location on the back. A slightly different black shirt with a glowing helmet logo featured the classic “wretched hive of scum and villainy” quote on the back.
With the hype for Obi-Wan and Anakin’s final (at the time, shout out the Kenobi show) epic battle growing to a fever pitch, this shirt featured a promo image of the two Jedi with the logo underneath.
Another theme of this Celebration was animated character designs, as Genndy’s Clone Wars had wrapped up it’s third season a month before the event and a few of the characters were pictured on the event badges. A blue women’s tee featured four of Tartakovsky’s character designs. There was also another kind of cartoon style featured on a second women’s shirt. The shirt came in red or black with a caricature of classic ANH Leia, and it wasn’t the only place that art style would be found.
On the Saturday night of the weekend, April 23rd, there was a big party in Hall B of the convention center. Dubbed the “Celebration at Celebration III”, the party was four hours of food, music, and activities. For an additional $15, fans could buy tickets in advance for the evening event. Special shirts were on sale at the party, described on the official SW site as “edgy commemorative (…) ringer t-shirts”. I’ll let you be the judge of how “edgy” they are, but they are very 2005 and according to SWCA, they sold out fast. (There was also a Yoda design, not pictured.)
Another new development at CIII was wearable merchandise for kids! The same Tartakovsky design was available on a kid’s t-shirt, as well as a stylized Vader that was printed on a onesie. Unofficial Celebration shirts continued to grow as different companies and clubs would have event shirts, including ones like this Official Pix shirt for volunteers working the autograph area.
CIII also offered multiple sweatshirts, jackets, and tank tops, further expanding the exclusive merch line. After what was reportedly a chaotic shop experience during the event, a number of the official items were made available on StarWarsShop.com from May 2nd to May 9th, 2005. It was clear that the desire for official event merch was growing with each Celebration, and by the time CIV and the 30th anniversary came around, all bets were off. Stay tuned for a future post continuing the history of SWC t-shirts!
the celebration database 
