Tommy Bahama makes great shirts, and I salute your taste if you are trying to buy one.  But, as with almost anything you purchase these days, you have to check the labels to know what ingredients are inside. 

New Tommys are expensive.  Used Tommys are reasonable.  Fake Tommys - at any price - are a crime.  Bear in mind that to call a Tommy a "classic" is a bit of a stretch, as the earliest ones were made in 1992.  True classics have been on the market sixty years or more.  They are still cool.

This information has been gleaned in part from the excellent reference work Hawai'i Unbuttoned: A practical Guide to Buying and Selling True-Vintage Hawaiian Shirts by Craig Callaway (Copyright 2009).

Now, some counterfeiters are clever enough to forge authentic-looking tags.  Since that is the case, and if you are considering shelling out serious money for a shirt, this guide should not be your final arbiter of truth.  These tips will, however, keep you out of the clutches of some of the jackals and many well-intentioned sellers who just don't know what they are doing.

All Bahamas have a "title" label in the collar. 

(More to follow.  Thanks for visiting.  Please don't vote on this unfinished work.  Thanks.)