Basically, I was wondering what the issues might be with printing shirts with the signs or logos of businesses that have gone out of business long ago. I'm talking mostly about mom and pop type places (diners, arcades, etc), not major brands that were bought out or changed names or logo styles. The idea would basically be "vintage" shirts of nostalgic local places. I assume in at least some cases somebody alive still owns the rights, or maybe not? How would you even research something like this?
I can accept that this might be a terrible idea, but have always been curious... I have done it for personal shirts here and there over the years and ALWAYS get comments about them and asked where I got it.