Concrete Hermit, who have been bringing us great tshirts, art, books and more for a while now have opened a shop/studio/gallery at 5a Club Row London. To kick it all off they are having an exhibition and book launch by frequent Concrete Hermit collaborator Ian Stevenson. The exhibition is on from the 5th to the 21'st of October (for more info see their site).
Also, there is a new Concrete Hermit t-shirt out by Berlin based JuJu's Delivery called Betty Ford.
Express your literary intellectualism! Represent your stance on social acceptance! The Affair is yet another start up label, and at first glance their tshirts just look like... well, really cool tshirts. Look a little bit harder though, and you will see that they are actually inspired by topics of substance, and convey a good deal of social commentary. Ok, they only have two shirts at the moment, but they sure are nice. And if you're of the nerdier persuasion and find cool web design more impressive than cool shirt design, check out their website anyway - it's pretty freakin good.
As seen on: Lost At E Minor
You may have seen Lamstok already if you check out some of the other tshirt blogs. Well they contacted me too, and because I have a big desire to help out Australian designers, and an even bigger desire to own really cool tshirts, I hit 'em up for a tshirt to review. How would this newborn label fair? Well the tshirt, and the results, are in.
What can I say....? Lamstok dominates. They pretty much do everything right. In fact, Lamstok could be used as the manual for how do start a successful label.
1. Cool designs. The designs, such as the banana they sent me, are cool, quirky and unique.
2. Quality. American Apparel tshirt (I'm not necessarily promoting them but they have a good reutation and fit so well), quality printing, swing tag and packaging.
3. Well promoted. Get your stuff out there and if it is cool enough, and you are nice enough, every tshirt blog under the sun will be giving you free promo.
4. Good website. I cannot stress how important this is. The shopping experience should reflect the mood of your brand and be easy to navigate. A good website encourages buyer confidence too, while a bad website makes people think you may be a bit dodgy. Right?
5. Little extras. How sweet is it when you get a badge or a stylin' sticker or something for free? Lamstok packaged this shirt in a pretty nifty printed zip-lock bag. Now my sandwiches look shit-hot too.
Ok ok, so Lamstok gets a tick in every box. This shirt is great. It's original, well made and fits great. I wore it to a party on the weekend where I knew hardly anyone and had 4 random strangers comment on the shirt, which I think is a sign that they've done the job well. The rest of the range is awesome too and each shirt comes in a range of colours. Things are looking good.
RRP: $45 (Australian)
GET IT HERE
Want your shirt reviewed? Get free publicity and a link in our tshirt stores section. Email deathbytshirt@gmail.com
These days productivity is key. Although the digital age promised a reduction in human workload and more time for leisure, we now work, on average, more hours a day then anyone in the last 100 years. As a result many of us end up working several jobs, participating in assorted projects and squeezing our recreational pastimes in between. Labels release new lines of clothing every season, month or even week as time pressed customers vacate the pavements and hit the internet for a massive selection and to save precious minutes.
But there are exceptions. New Zealand label Commune releases only one series of tshirts per year, so when they do we get excited. Sure Commune founder Jeremy Bennett knows as well as anyone the stresses of multi-tasking, splitting his time between Commune and fulltime employment for architectural firm JASMAX. But when your label puts out stunning shirts by top artisits such as Catalina Estrada, Adam Cruickshank, Josh Gajownik and Ronald Kurniawan I guess you only need to release new stuff once a year.
Now if only I could get away with writing only one blog entry per year...
I was just checking out the HipHipUK thsirt blog (as I do) and saw this neat little video. In the age of digital everything it's pretty cool to see the iron, ruler and projector getting a run.
Some great new shirts out at Threadless this week. My pick of the bunch would be La Gran Reunión (top) by Matheus Lopes Castro (whose portfolio is spectacular and definitely worth a quick peek), and the mystical Northern Ice Pilot (bottom) by Ryan Lin. Get in quick before they sell out. There are five more new shirts to take a look at, and if you want to get $3 off your order click here and use the coupon code rubberdanpants at checkout. Sweeeet.
Iso50 (aka Scott Hansen) has released a beautiful new version of his Paths tshirt, aptly named Paths 2. Perhaps even more exciting is his new blog-like website. This definitely gets my vote for one of the best looking new sites I've seen lately, especially in the often cluttered blog format (as my site may demonstrate...) If you're not already familiar with Scott's awesome work you have to check it out, and if you are familiar with his old site, well, you have to check it out. Get my point??
There are four great new tshirts available from Design By Humans, adding to their already awesome lineup. These tshirts offer just a bit more than your standard screen printed tshirts, making the most of specialised processes such as extra soft water-based inks, gloss and glow in the dark highlights and suede effects (such as the suede leaves on the "Seed" design above. "They must be expensive," I hear you wonder. Well, no, they aren't. Grab 'em now for only $19.
Kids. Aren't they great? They eat and spew and burp and fart and crap and snot all the time. But they're just so damn cute and innocent no-one cares. In fact we even think they are all the cuter because of their limited control over what comes out of their assorted orifices. The crew over at Prpl Nrpl have decided to celebrate the bodily functions of little people (amongst other things) with their collection of onesies and tshirts. While this formula generally ends in lame and tacky kids apparel that is best suited to dodgy market stalls, Prpl Nrpl have successfully used clever puns and beautiful design to create this quality collection. And if you think it'd be funny to get around in a "I'll have the boob du jour please" tshirt, they are only available in baby sizes, thank goodness. Tshirt sizes are available for kids up to six, but boob related designs are tastefully omitted.
Here's a sweet new shirt for fontophiles and designerds alike. A Girls Want My Fonts shirt is also available for the guys and both are available from the Chop Shop.
Jon Burgerman has some great new stuff on his site including his own range of toys, some limited edition slip mats, and this Pumpkin Horse tshirt. It is printed on a 70% combed cotton 30% bamboo blend, which is apparently extra smooth, and uses environmentally friendly, water based inks. Goodness on so many levels.
If you're sick of seeing people all over town in the same shirt as you, or you just don't want to risk it, why not get a customised tshirt? Jordan Mattos creates custom, hand drawn, one off tshirts that are sure to be as unique as your fingerprint. You even get to let him know what you want on your shirt - all for a casual $150. Just don't wear it when you're sticking up a bank.
Following up from the post I wrote about You Work For Them's first tshirt release, Anthropomorphotosynthesis, I got an email from YWFT co-founder Mike Cina, letting me know about a couple more new tshirts that are coming soon. Mike is a somewhat iconic designer. With a background in typeface design, he went on to co-found the design collective We Work For Them in partnership with Michael Young. WWFT has an impressive clint list touting such names as Adobe, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, DC Shoes, Emerica, Etnies, Es Shoes, ESPN, HP, MTV and VH1, so you've probably seen some of their work somewhere. Cina and Young have yet again flexed their creative muscle with these new shirt designs for YWFT, which I'm told should be released some time in the near future. Stay tuned.
Filthy Panda is a small, mysterious Australian label that was started by the enigmatic Billmund. They have a range of shirts on offer at their store, that mix bright colours with strong imagery that is influenced (not so subtley) by popular 20th century cartoonery. The result is a wonderful, unique style that is instantly recognisable and gives a dirty, electro vibe (dirty, electro vibe??... Who am I?) despite it's older influences.
The shirt they sent me for review is entitled Pure Filth and, as you can see, they aren't pulling any punches.
The illustration work is fantastic and very true to the Disney style (perhaps this is what Mickey would've looked like if Fantasia was made in 2005 and had a dirty house soundtrack) and the colouring is sensational.
The American Apparel shirt ensures that the quality is top notch, and in my opinion these are one of the best fitting shirts on the market.
It's hard to find something bad to say about this shirt - design-wise it's awesome and the garment quality is great. The only downside would be that you'd have to wear this tshirt selectively (definitely not in front of your Nan) unless you're a complete prick and don't care what people think. Sure some people will hate the dance music references and mild profanity, but I'm not a huge fan of either (well dance music is good) and I love it. Grab one now before they get too popular and Disney sues.
Filthy Panda will also be attending Shirty 07 this Saturday - say hi from me!
RRP: $39.00 (Australian)
BUY IT HERE
If you would like you're tshirt reviewed, drop me an email. You will get some great free exposure right here and get a link in our t-shirt stores section.
I could spend a few minutes telling you about Shirty - the new not-for-profit one day only t-shirt market that is being held in Sydney this weekend... or, I could spend a few seconds copying and pasting from their highly informative (and very cool) website.
Hmmmm... I'll go with option B
About Shirty
Shirty07 is a new not-for-profit design initiative - a market selling only t-shirts.
It's an event that fuses fashion with art, music with culture; where guests can purchase unique t-shirt designs direct from independent designers, enjoy live music and chill out at the bar with a drink.
Prices are capped at $69 so everything's kept accessible.
SHIRTY will run from midday to midnight the first in an ongoing annual event - a yearly shindig to kickstart the spring.
Why?
To create a new platform for up and coming t-shirt designers to reach a mainstream audience. Celebrate the power of the humble tee, believing that while a t-shirt slogan or design may not change the world, it can sow the seed of thought.
p.s. why not.
Where and When
September 15th 2007
Midday - midnight...
Newtown Neighborhood Centre
Town Hall
1 Bedford Street (opposite the train station)
Newtown, NSW
Who?
The designers: (In alphabetic order)
2x4tshirts, Bill Chen Meet Tyrone, Bill Ross, dj Jose, emShop, FunkdUP, Imok, Lethal Clothing, Marion Hertford, Nicholas Martin, Nipple Cripple, OKTOKIO, Once smitten twice shy, People Like Us collective, Salad Days, Sweatshop Productions, Thirteen Army, Two salty, Zoe Sadokierski
Alexandra De Bonis, Alyson Pearson, Anna Pigott, Ellen Williams, Glamourpuss, Glen Martin, Mark Iaria, Monique, Natasha Hammond, Pat Grant, Peter Strong, POFO, Stefano Lentini , Sylvan Doyle, Tara Bennett
You Work For Them has for a long time been a great resource for the artisticly inclined, stocking art and design books, posters, stationary, typefaces and, in particular, vector stock images. Now YWFT have released a tshirt entitled Anthropomorphotosynthesis, designed by Eric Carlson and Maddy Nye. Yes it's a bit mental, but sometimes that's the most fun right? It's printed on an American Apparel Standard T and is available for $19.95 here.
"Through the act of Chory and appropriation, we initiate a Desi phenomenom." Don't worry, I'm not exactly sure what it means either
This is the mission statement of independent Brooklyn based tshirt label Chor Bazaar. While it may not make a lot of sense to most of us, it refers to the company's aim to create clothing items that are relevant to, and inspired by Desi (south Asian) life.
To be honest, I didn't expect too much when the guys from Chor Bazaar said they were going to send me a shirt for review. Their website seemed a little clumsy, and while graphically some of their designs are ok, there are some that really aren't so great.
However, when the package arrived from the states I was very pleasently surprised. What this company lacks in flashy websites and ground-breaking graphics they more than make up for in quality. Shirt, print and packaging quality are all top notch.
Product presentation and packaging was up to retail store standards - wrapped in plastic and beautifully tagged with printed card and string. Once i ripped the plastic off I noticed a whole bunch of nice little extras including a logo printed on the back of the neck and a sewn label on the bottom front.
The shirt itself is printed on an Alternative Apparel blank which has a great cut to it and is 100% cotton (and made in Honduras if you're interested). The quality of the screen printing could be a bit better, but I've seen heaps worse. My only real problem with the shirt is the sewn on Chor Bazaar logo on the bottom of the shirt - it's a really cool logo but the positioning is all wrong. When I put the shirt on it is almost right in the middle and, well, it just looks weird. It needs to be moved over about 6 inches...
All said and done, this is quite a nice shirt. While Chor Bazaar isn't going to be your first stop for amazing artistic tshirts, they do have a unique and interesting range that is worth checking out, especially if you want to celebrate Desi-ness.
RRP: $25 (US)
BUY IT HERE
If you would like you're tshirt reviewed, drop me an email. You will get some great free exposure right here and get a link in our t-shirt stores section.
I love emails with surprises. I got one from a label I'd never heard of called Changethethought, and the shirts looked sweet so I investigated to find out more. Turns out Changethethought is a triple treat extravaganza of a website, consisting of the Changethethought apparel store, a really good art/design blog and the jaw-dropping online portfolio of the man behind it all Christopher Cox (who also blogs for Design Is Kinky).
Surprise me
