Snapshot, 1974: Student rags to riches

Students Gary Anusavice and John Gallagher, both 21, had $500 in the bank when they teamed up to offer pre-faded denim jackets and silk-screened T-shirts through adverts in Rolling Stone magazine. Nine months later they had grossed $100,000…

Their mail order business, Head Shed, was run from Anusavice’s home with the help of both his parents – who handled the orders and faded the denim. The boys bought the T-shirts for 90 cents each, silk-screen printed them at home with famous faces, and sold them on for $4.95. A tidy little margin with very few overheads. The photograph was taken in 1974, after they’d made their first $100,000, and it shows how the boys chose to spend some of the profits. An E-type Jaguar is a great choice of car, but we’d question the boys’ taste when it comes to that brash alloy wheel – an inappropriate choice that makes us wince. Then again, take a closer look and you’ll be relieved to see they’ve only been able to afford one wheel, so far. Let’s hope that by the time they made their next $100,000, their taste had improved.

Photo: Paul Slade/Paris Match via Getty Images