Back in 1981, K-Mart had a few exclusive Spider-Man outfits and one was this little piece that sported a John Romita Sr. Spider-Man. Pretty much to coincide with the 1980 animated series. These tank tops were a hit with kids, my friend had one and how I came across it recently. I learned that these shirts were discontinued a year later over some product disputes with comic book outfits. So, if you missed out of this cute little tykes Spider-Man tank top in 1981, you were only going to find it at garage sales or a collectors shop.
The Spider-Man K-Mart exclusive Tank Top
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I know, these days kids just think its normal, but during the late 70s to early 90s. Seeing something like this at your local department store was such a rarity they disappeared quick. Even parents knew they wouldn’t see them that often. Now, you have them everywhere and even people making their own on Etsy and so forth. How times have changed.
It was an interesting era wasn’t it? Spider-man stuff wasn’t found just anywhere so when you saw Spidey related anything you had to jump on it!
Its interesting when I was looking for the history on the shirt that found its way into my possession about some of the other stories that were associated with it. It was a fun little part of Spidey merchandise from the time from an error that only people in our generation really remember.
Did I have this shirt? No I didn’t. Never saw it before. But I will say most definitely that this wasn’t made to promote the 1981 solo spidey show. That show wasn’t released on any of the major networks, and had no promotional toys or materials associated with it. It was added to the 1960s show in syndication and played on local uhf stations only.