R.E. Dietz Company Blizzard Lantern 1840 Vintage Women’s T-Shirt

At age 22, in 1840, Robert Edwin Dietz bought a small lamp and oil shop in Brooklyn, NY. Robert, with his brother William, called the company Dietz, Brother, and Company. One of their first products was a candle lantern; they later made sperm whale oil lamps, girandoles, hall lamps, and chandeliers. Three more of the brothers joined the company in 1855, and the name became Dietz and Company. That same year, the brothers built a large factory in New York City, which was later destroyed by fire in 1871. The next year, 1856, they patented a flat wick burner to burn coal oil, a much cheaper fuel. In 1868, Robert sold his interest in Dietz and Company and partnered with Absalom Smith to form a new company, Dietz & Smith. When Smith purchased 6,000 velocipedes (a mid-19th-century bicycle) on company credit, Robert decided he was a bad business partner, bought Smith’s interest, and continued the company as R.E. Dietz. Robert would push on to make R.E. Dietz Company into one of the largest manufacturers of lighting and hazard warning devices in the world that would thrive until it’s sesquicentennial when sales hit an all-time low leading to the firm shuttering operations.

Like all our designs, this one is treated with our signature ‘relic-ing’ process which includes our own secret recipe of hand-painted chipping, cracking, fading, and just the right touch of yellowing to ensure that it looks the part of a true vintage imprint.** We lay these works of art down on premium Next Level 3900 Premium Women’s tees, aka ‘the boyfriend tee, one of the softest, best-wearing women’s t-shirts available today. We utilize state of the art direct to garment (DTG) printing which allows us to create a vintage effect that simply can’t be accomplished with other printing methods. In short, these shirts are everything you’ve dreamed of and more – it feels soft and lightweight with just the right amount of stretch making it both comfortable and flattering while the feminine fit and shorter sleeves add a special touch to this classic missy cut tee.

Not sure what size is your best fit? We recommend taking one of your current t-shirts, laying it flat and measuring it. The measurements in the chart below are taken with the shirt laying on a flat surface. To get the length, measure from the high shoulder point down to the bottom of the shirt. To get the width, measure approximately 1-inch below the armhole, across the chest, from seam to seam. The Next Level 3900 is a fitted women’s t-shirt, so if you are looking for a roomier fit, we suggest going up a size or with the unisex Bella + Canvas 3001 we print our men’s t-shirts on as they are the same super soft ring-spun cotton that feels like an old favorite. While our tees are all made using premium, pre-shrunk, ring-spun cotton, there can be some shrinkage depending on your personal wash and dry cycles. With that said, if you’re on the fence, we always suggest going up a size.

*Heather colors are 90% ring-spun cotton and 10% poly. **Due to the nature of the printing process and different sizes of shirts offered, imprint position and scale may vary slightly from the product images, but we do our best to be as accurate as possible.