The vendor ran the Elvis Presley Fan Club in New Zealand from 1963-1973. From November 1968 to January 1969, she visited Memphis and Los Angeles, met Elvis and Priscilla Presley and members of the entourage, and spent time with Elvis' Uncle Vester and cousin Harold Lloyd in the guard shack in Memphis. Whilst there she was invited to private screenings of movies that Elvis put on at the local Memphian theatre and was also invited on to the set of The Trouble With Girls, which Elvis was filming in Los Angeles. She even went to Elvis' private New Years' Eve party. A few years later, she went to see Elvis perform in Las Vegas and to present him with a New Zealand R.C.A. gold presentation disc for In The Ghetto.

Elvis apparently gave this shirt to his Uncle Vester and his cousin Harold Lloyd to present to the vendor on her birthday on 8 January, 1969 as a memento of her trip.