The Art of Rhetoric - Persuasion by Design

RhetoricTshirts.com officially launched on October 4th. An American clothing company focused on if not driven to the core by high-concept design. Their mantra states the use of the medium of T-shirts bears out two distinct design directives:-

Prints inspired by innovative examples of pop art, fringe sub-culture and youth.
Shirts that are custom manufactured from the finest textiles and materials including pima cotton.

In combination these two directives herald a direct challenge to the quality and integrity of competitors’, and t-shirt design and production in the general market.

Rhetoric is founded on the belief that the X and Y generations have adopted the t-shirt medium as a form of personal rhetoric, a means of expression, an arts medium for the public forum that is the street and the urban lives we live. Avoiding the usual clichés and crutches of slogans, and reverence to populism Rhetoric marks it’s own territory with aplomb, carving a niche with a deft and precise array of talent and artistic values unbeknownst to many in the transatlantic t-shirt markets.

Bottle Rocket Frog T-Shirt by Dylan Dawson. A highly nostalgic celebration of a boy’s childhood, when firecrackers, frogs, insects, mud, and other simple pleasures in life were the be all and end all. Girls not welcome!

Their diktat maybe bold perhaps even grandiose when one considers the elevated quality of artistry, design and manufacture so many of us expect these days, fortunately they deliver on their promises, offering a feast of art fashion pieces that would look at home in any haute-couture hotspot of our day.

Rhetoric source a diverse array of talent and imagery to create their iconic pieces, commissioning artworks from graphic designers, painters, illustrators and even those of an architectural bent. Cultivating long-term relationships with some of the most respected avant-garde creatives of the day Rhetoric aims to provide a ’safe harbour’ for high quality design with the intent of invoking thoughtful nostalgia and emotional feedback from their already growing and highly enthusiastic customer base. If you believe you can match their requirements and raise the bar set by their current stable, they offer an open invitation to artists of the highest calibre. Prepare your digital portfolio before contacting them for further details at army@rhetorictshirts.com. Be warned their expectations are unsurprisingly higher than the usual crop of t-shirt companies in the industry.

The Breeze T-Shirt by Dylan Dawson. Extremely evocative design reminiscent of many illustrated Victorian children’s books of the past. A revelry in nature and the season, the cycles of birth, life and death, secreted in the innocence of the new.

Alongside their highly original range of graphic imagery, Rhetoric continue the theme by producing uniquely fitted tees, the shape derived from an ultra-modern “American” style cut with custom adjustments that reinforce and enhance durability with the intent of dramatically lengthening the life of the product. After extensive worldwide research Rhetoric use only woven Peruvian cotton for their shirts which is far softer than Egyptian and out washes every other cotton on the market. Whilst their thread is nylon, which is highly flexible and virtually unbreakable. All components are retroactive and won’t bleed or fade.

Sling Shot Bird T-Shirt by Dominique Millàn. Perhaps my favourite (and most definitely Rhetoric’s) of their current collection. A highly engaging and dynamic design, once more delving into nostalgia, whilst dealing with the interplay of life, death and innocence. Man and nature as one, both as vulnerable as each other.

Rhetoric’s ethos is one of celebration, a manifestation of the diverse and the absurd of modern culture, and of the quirky nature of its principal founders Lish Cayro and W. Dylan Dawson. Both students of architecture, they have utilised their formal training to bring a more clinical assessment to the needs of the urban fashion market, whilst sharing their personal joy and celebration of art, life, culture and the spectrum of emotions that come in between. Their company is deeply committed towards protecting the environment. The Rhetoric staff does not tolerate waste or exploitation in any aspect of the retail system.