Deftones and Dickies Release Official T-Shirt Collaboration After 32-Year Legal Dispute

Deftones and Dickies released an official merch line on Nov. 4. This ends a fight that kicked off with a cease and desist letter back in 1993. Fans could buy items through the band's web store.

This partnership traces back to bootleg shirts the group made before their first album hit shelves. Chino Moreno saw a fan clutching one of those original shirts at a show and told the story. "They were oven baked in Abe [Cunningham]'s oven back in '93," said Moreno during a live performance, according to The Nu-Metal Agenda. "They sued us, well, they didn't sue us but they sent a cease and desist."

The Fort Worth-based clothing brand fired off the legal notice after the band created unauthorized merch using the company's logo. That bootleg design circulated among fans for more than three decades, becoming something of a legend in its own right. The group hadn't yet released their debut album, Adrenaline, when they cooked up the unauthorized merch.

The alt-metal group from Sacramento showed off the first look at this line over the weekend at their annual festival. Fans who attended the San Diego celebration got early access before the web store opened. The band will headline the inaugural Texas edition of the Sick New World festival on Oct. 24, 2026. 

The team-up resolves a conflict that started when the group was still building their career in the early 1990s. The cease and desist letter stopped them from continuing to sell the bootleg design at that time.

Fans can purchase items through the band's official web store at shopdeftones.com. The line includes five color options for shirts and two choices for hoodies.