Threadless For Schools?

admin    T-Shirt Contests     Threadless, high school tees, school tees, t-shirt community, t-shirt contest

Now we all know how massively successful the Threadless t-shirt community is as a business model, there have been so many sites that have taken up the t-shirt crowd-sourcing gauntlet it’d be near impossible to compile a full and updated list these days. Nevertheless I still like to keep my ear to the ground, (or should that be eyes to the screen?), when it comes to t-shirt contest sites, especially when they’re aimed at a niche market. If you’re not or have never been in the t-shirt industry it might seem a little dull (O.K very dull) to be talking about business models, but just like any business on the net, capturing a market is essential if you ever want to make it as a major player in the indie t-shirt sector. So I was rather intrigued by an email I received yesterday from James Gallagher at www.wearurschool.com, sure the spelling wouldn’t win a prize but the concept could be big given the right coverage on the net.

50% Off At Hype Industries

admin    T-Shirt Discounts     Hype Industries, t-shirt discount, t-shirt sale

Join Hype Industries online for the month of September Birthday Spectacular Sale where ALL shirts will be 50% OFF to elebrate the birthdays of everyone in their team – yep they’re all born in the same month!  Simply enter the Sales Code: SeptemberBash at the checkout for massive savings.

If you need a reminder of Hype Industries style read our review at http://buy-tees.net/2010/08/do-believe-the-hype/.

High Class Smut Tee

Check them out in September at www.bewareofthehype.com.

Mary Mother of T-Shirts

admin    T-Shirt Reviews    

Religious or not you just no that LTD Tee’s latest t-shirt by Adam Isaac Jackson is going to get a lot of praise… Simply titled the Saint Mary T-Shirt, there is, as usual, plenty of comic book/Manga influences oozing from this design, to be honest it’s the best yet from the LTD Tee stable, absolutely gorgeous and for sale now for $26.99 from now until September the 5th. First come first served of course, so if you’re having a “teeligious” moment then say your Hail Marys and get on over to www.ltdtee.com and grab your own shirt in sizes S-XXL for men (why the ladies are missing out on this one I don’t know – I have the pic but the order page doesn’t have any women’s sizes) for $26.99 each box set. Use the discount code “buy-tees” at the checkout and save yourself… a very generous 20%!!

Saint Mary Tee Box Set by Adam Jackson

I have the pic but where’s the link for the women’s tee?

I’m taking a moment to soak this one in, you don’t normally find t-shirts that look this cool that often… as usual you get the full works from LTD Tee including

• T-Shirt
• SIGNED 8” x 10” art print
• Certificate of authenticity
• Screenprinted neck label with artist bio
• Custom box

I’ll email LTD Tee and see what’s up with the ladies’ shirts, hopefully this post will get an edit soon! In the meantime here’s a little info on this highly talented artist:

Adam Isaac Jackson spent most of his life growing up in Japan where he was surrounded by endless manga shops and books stores that filled his young mind will wild dreams. His love for fashion, comic books, rock posters, and cartoons, created a compulsive need to draw anything around him that sparked his imagination. Adam graduated from the Art Institute of Seattle in 2005, he has since been working in the apparel and fashion industry primarily as a graphic artist. If you want more you can read an interview with Adam Jackson here.

Back To School Sale at OMUNKY

admin    Charity T-Shirts, T-Shirt Discounts     OMUNKY.charity tees, eco tees, organic, recycled, sale, t-shirt sale

The creative eco-friendly t-shirt people at OMUNKY are holding a whopping great sale with items reduced to up to 40% off sale for the whole of this upcoming September. If you or your kids like your t-shirts to spread the eco message without getting everyone down in the dumps then OMUNKY have the solution. Funny wildlife tees printed on 100% organic or recycled cotton tees that offer up the eco message in a far more friendly way. No preaching to the converted here, you know the problem, you’re doing something about it, you just want to celebrate wildlife and nature, well what we have left of it anyway!

Save some money, spread the word, and enjoy life a little more with OMUNKY!

5% of all orders will be donated to WildAid

Remember the sale starts on September the 1st so if you’re a nature lover with a sense of humour there’s only one place to go…

Tiger Turmoil Tee

Baby Monster Tee

admin    T-Shirt News     Brutal Manic Apparel, cartoon tees, doodles, horror t-shirts, monster t-shirts

Check out this little oddity, cute but rather terrifying, I expect to see big things in the future from the spanking new Brit t-shirt label Brutal Manic Apparel . I also expect to see small things, ugly things, mutant things and well you get the picture ;) Here’s what they have to say for themselves:

“The aim has always been to take the doodle style artwork and transform it into something awesome and fashionable. Our original goal was to solely create the designs and then sell them to bands, but we later realized that we wanted to sell the stuff ourselves instead and from their Brutal Manic Apparel was formed. Our goal is to grow and grow with lots of fresh new designs that UK stores really seem to lack in accomplishing for some reason.”

Baby Monster Tee

A rather strange blend of cute and abhorrent oozes from every pore of BM’s Baby Monster Tee. Kinda’ like aww… ahhh… uuugh…. arrgghhh! A lavishly doodled yet uniquely weird t-shirt available for guys and girls at £12 each in various sizes and colours.

Confound Clothing

admin    T-Shirt News     British t-shirts, UK, confound.confound clothing, graphic tees

British t-shirt brand Confound at ConfoundYourFriends.com has only been running a month but they’ve already got three strong designs on offer and are offering worldwide delivery so you can tell they’re serious. Created by Dean Claydon, James Hayday and John Greene. They first met at high school in Essex, the three have featured in multiple bands together before all moving on to university. Now either graduates or entering their final year, their passion is to build a fashion brand that literally ‘confounds’ the expectations of the mainstream. Within weeks of launching the site they’re marketing the label hard, grabbing favours wherever they can, and adding on all those little extras you expect from more established indie labels. There are even free wallpapers of their designs on offer.

Right now Confound are looking for new artists if you fancy touting your wares to this savvy trio, there’s a great feature on the process of design at their label and details on how to submit your own here. If you’d rather leave the hard work to others and simply keep up with all the latest goings ons including new designs and special offers then you can contact them via Facebook, Twitter or read up at their blog. In the meantime check these three tees out…

Float On Tee

Cute, probably not the strongest design of the three but the illustration has been given something of a gentle touch, which I’m sure will appeal to girls. Reminds me a little of movies like E.T and Le Ballon Rouge. I’d scrap the text, or at least improve the typography, it looks like a generic handwriting font. Something that “rises before the eyes” would make more sense, like steam perhaps, although steam isn’t known for either being easy to write with or draw lol. Still nice, a nice design, a warm feeling tee with a night time slant by one of Confound’s founders Dean Claydon from Essex who  usually specialises web based design but dabbles with illustration from time to time too! Get it for £13.99 in sizes S-L.

Shark Bite Tee

It’s the classic JAWS get out clause, if you’ve got a killer shark on your tail throw something explosive or at the very least combustible in its mouth and shoot! Not sure if dynamite functions as well when its wet but the composition is strong and the timer is a nice touch. I’d have liked to have seen the tail on the back of this tee, but that’s a little tricky for a new label. Still am I the only one who still likes all-over printing? Nevertheless a bold design by Sarah Yu London based illustrator, character and graphic designer, the girl definitely has talent, look at those creepy eyes and perspective of the nose and teeth, cool. Get it in all sizes for men and women at £13.99 each.

Howling Wolf Tee

This is their best-seller and you can tell, it’s a really strong design, but lightly illustrated to appeal to girls and guys, it’s rare to find greys in a t-shirt print these days but it works. Moody but not too moody, the wolf really has some character. Designed by Holly Ringsell a talented young illustrator and photographer from the South East of England. Get it in all sizes for £13.99 each.

You can order any of these from just about anywhere in the world, the shipping costs are free for the UK, £5 for Europe and a very reasonable £7.50 for the rest of the world. Take a closer look at Confound Clothing at www.confoundyourfriends.com.

Hawaiian Shirts Are Dead In The Water

admin    T-Shirt Reviews    

The kind of gear that surfers and snowboarders wear these days puts the past to shame. Surfwear has been particularly bad in the past, there was the retro period, the day-glo era, a dragged-out obsession with big-panted Australian fashion, and a few other humdingers, but now, even if you’ve never stood on a board in your life you can easily find boardwear that will put even the most niche and clique urbanwear to shame. Take Kamikaze Boarding from Brighton UK for example… Ah Brighton, I “studied” my arts degree there, alongside class C narcotics and sexy babes, but that’s another story. Kamikaze definitely have a slick operation going on here, their site is super savvy, some nice little Flash movies and some very tight designs in their collections.

I’d have liked a zoom navigation on the product images, but then again I may just be picky, what do I mean “may”! Still, the thing is their designs look even better really close up, but sticking my nose to the screen isn’t my favourite of pastimes. What impressed me most about the collection is that it managed to throw a few surprises at me, for instance their Ride T-Shirt takes me back to the beautifully minimalist design ethic of magazine layouts in the early 80′s, you know iD, Face and so on. Although I’m not keen on all the logos everywhere, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The thing about fashion logos if you have to be really really big, I mean to the point you have factories and international distributors before you can plaster it over everything in your collection. Nowadays even the (evil) mega-global corporate brands out there have realised the public are sick of advertising their wares, almost to the point where they’re begin to hide the logo, or at least secrete it somewhat.

Talking of evil corporations, Kamikaze Boarding are what you might call their nemesis when it comes to business practice, I mean these guys are greener than green and fairer than fair. They use fair trade manufacturers for their shirts and the whole process of production from start to finish has a 90% reduced carbon footprint – which is kind of amazing really. Then again you could say that their business relies more heavily than most on us having a clean environment, who wants to surf oil or board down a dry mountain?

Ride Tee

Boneyard Tee

Hot Chicka Tee

See more of Kamikaze’s slick boardwear at www.kamikazeboarding.co.uk!

Sneak Peak At Seventh Ink’s Fall Collection

admin    T-Shirt News     7th Ink, Fury Shirts, Seventh Ink, ghosts, horror t-shirts, horror tees, preview

Here’s a real quickie for you, my mate at 7th Ink Matthew Johnson, has sent me over some sneak preview pics from their blog at FuryShirts.com which should give you a clue to the quality and creepy splendour of their Autumn/Fall Collection simply entitled “The Haunted Collection”. A little bit scary but a lot of fun too, these are sure to fly off the shelves like a Poltergeist ;) This is just the first series in the collection and although the t-shirts won’t be limited as such, they will run out and there will be a delay of at least a month for the next batch. So if you fancy something a little more spooky for the end of the Summer do keep your eyes peeled over their way.

Hearts of Kings Tees

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     fashion tees, hearts of kings, lifestyle, spiritual

I always admire t-shirt brands that focus on bigger things than fashion and the bottom line, the thing is they’re not always successful, which is a shame, because there are plenty more ways to improve a company’s image than simply going down the environmental route or donating a little of their profit to charity. The fact is that t-shirt design is still regarded as the poorer cousin in the family of visual arts, but with the best intentions, a little bit of luck, and a decent range of original tees one can work miracles, however small those miracles might be.

I’m sure that there are plenty of examples throughout history where t-shirts contributed to political change, social consciousness, or generally a more positive attitude to a generally grim life for many out there. Positivity is rather thin on the ground at the moment, there are plenty of reasons to get down in the dumps, which is why it’s always refreshing to see labels like Hearts of Kings put content over style, message over media, and a belief in humanity over the usual suspicion most of the media peddles these days.

Here’s what Terrell Lewis from HOK had to say about their t-shirt collection “he brand and name attempts to inspire and encourage, while always maintaining perspective and having fun.  It is about that thing inside of you that drives you to accomplish all you seek to do.  No posers. Just being you and being the best individual you can be. Hearts Of Kings is about that ideal and attitude.”

See if any of these shirts can lift your heart…

The Hearts of Kings Tee

This is their signature shirt available in black and white, the whole ethos of the label revolves around the ideas of strength and perseverance. A very tidy design, perhaps not the best of the bunch but punchy all the same. It seems a natural course for HOK to consider something along the lines of the Richard The Lionheart for the future, the idea of urban knights and street chivalry could be a winner. Get the Hearts of Kings Tee in a range of sizes for $20 each in the current sale.

Unbreakable Hearts Tee

A nice blend of vector and tattoo styles available for girls and guys for $26 each in a range of sizes, a nice if a little sentimental for anyone who’s experienced their own dose of tough love, a bad break up, or even losing that “one that got away”. Wean yourself off those broken romances and relaunch in style!

Hearts of Kings Track Club Tee

People are far too afraid of failure these days, at one time or another in history we garnered wisdom through our mistakes, through trial and error the human race has produced great athletes, artists, scientists, philosophers. No one is born a genius, or rather few who are ever “do anything with it”. I love the motto on this shirt “Fail Fast, Learn Faster”. Available for guys and girls in white and grey for $26 each.

“The brand is inspired by music, sports, art, street and urban culture, and life growing up in the 1980′s, 90′s, and 2000′s.  Designs will include fun, creative, and original designs that will seek to be substantive and define the heart of a king.” See more of their tees at www.heartofkings.com.

Running Moms Tees

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Fluid Flair, running tees, sport tees, sports t-shirts

Fluid Flair are a Chattanooga-based t-shirt brand run by two running moms (well seeing as I’m British they’re running ‘mums’ but let’s not let one letter cause a transatlantic scuffle). Inspired by their own experience, including running half and full marathons, Julie and Amy want to share the highs and lows of their sporting endeavours with marathon mad mothers around the world. These two are a perfect example of ‘multi-tasking’, a skill that’s usually attributed to women (although right now the guy writing this post is making tea for the builder, working on his latest artwork, arguing intermittently with some drain inspectors in the street by the nearby church, talking on the phone to the local council and emailing his GF. Still, that’s just me I suppose :p ).

Building on a love for fitness and fashion, what began as a hobby is quickly building into a full-time business for these two feisty mums. They really understand their market and it shows, with colourful and cute designs, quality printed on super soft tees suitable for running, a night on the town, or even lazing around the house (if you ever get the time). There’s a real community feel to Fluid Flair’s site, they actively encourage their customers to set up small fun run groups with other mothers, to hook up at their Facebook page and even receive free tees for all their hard work.

If you want to show the world you are the mother of all runners then take a look at these for starters…

Fly Girl Tee

Very cute, the design almost looks like a piece of patchwork and a nice spin on a familiar phrase, it’s reduced from $24 to just $15 right now and is available in sizes S-L here.

She Goes A Mother Mile Tee

A play on words and a cool subdued retro style, the ‘She Goes A Mother Mile’ tee is available at $20 (reduced from $34) in S-L sizes here.

Runnin’ Groovy Tee

Now this as niche as it gets, running mums with a penchant for the Psychedlic Era should love this one, there’s another hippyish tee called Peace Love and Run in case you want to double your groovy quota. A cute design, I’d like to see it printed on a ‘less busy’ t-shirt and perhaps scale up the image to fill more of the tee. Still I am sure it sells well as it is. You can buy the Runnin’ Groovy tee for $25 (reduced from $36) in sizes S-L here.

For more running mom tees visit www.fluidflair.net.