Chunk T-Shirts – The Essence of Cockney Style

I really wanted to write about “Cockney Empire”, there’s a tiny little mention of them at Margin.tv and this picture is all I could find on them. Cockney Empire is the brainchild of an ex-senior designer from Chunk T-Shirts, don’t ask me which one because I honestly don’t know. I did a little detective work, okay I Googled “Cockney Empire” and found a completely empty site at www.cockneyempire.com and so I assume I’m a little too early for the party and thought I may as well do the next best thing and review the beloved t-shirt label Chunk.

Sure this post is nothing new, anyone who knows anything about cool t-shirts will have heard of the name, they sell their tees everywhere from TruffleShuffle.com to UrbanRetro.co.uk to MoreTvicar.co.uk

Chunk started as do all great British institutions over a pint in a pub between mates. A mutual friend had just bought a beaten up Ford Capri Mk1 and as luck would have it, it came with a Haynes manual. She was so proud was she of her new purchase, she took the manual to very same pub and as the future members of Chunk sat around admiring the cover someone said “wouldn’t that look great on a T-shirt”. And that, as they say, the rest is history.

The Chunk t shirt company was soon launched and began to get attention from some leading British stores including Harvey Nichols, The Dispensary, Richmond Classics, and as the name and the range grew quickly the wide-eyed team gave up their jobs, sold their houses and concentrated on making Chunk a solid UK fashion brand. Within a short period they quickly relocated to the first Chunk Towers (a 200sq ft room in Shoreditch with a glass roof and no heating) which they quickly outgrew before they quickly moved into the existing Chunk Towers, 25F N17 Studios, 784-788 High Road, London, N17 0DA.

Chunk’s ethos was and still is to produce iconic t-shirts with a strong line in Great British humour at an affordable price, and by jove I think over the years they’ve certainly achieved that…

Here’s a few Chunk tees just in case you’ve never heard of them, in the meantime, if you happen to be reading this article and have anything to do with Cockney Empire, do let us know and we’ll give your label a big splurge!

Mad Skills T-Shirt by Chunk

If there’s one thing I’m jealous of, or at least I used to be, well let’s say a little envious, it’s someone who can mix like there’s no tomorrow. To be honest I can do it digitally, I can do it with tape, but when it comes to the decks I’m all fingers and thumbs. If the previous sentence doesn’t apply to you then this is the perfect tee for you, if not you could buy it and wear it anyway although I wouldn’t like to see the next DJ battle you’re invited to, not unless I was drunk and up for a laugh :p

Mad Skills – Charcoal men’s tee available in Small to XX-Large sizes at £ 24.95.

Top of the Cat T-Shirt by Chunk

Top Cat meets Top of the Pops! Yep it’s rather a thin joke as puns go but graphically it rocks, I always loved the old Top of the Pops on BBC as a kid, the eighties ruined it with numerous badly mimed performances and a whole series of jiggered attempts at new logos and theme tunes. The BBC even dragged it back for a Christmas special last year which sucked of course. I used to watch Top Cat too, although I think the USA knew it as “Boss Cat”, I once read it was taking a jab at Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack not to be confused with the awful Brat Pack of the eighties. The eighties weren’t as cool as today’s kids think they were. Ah well, still a funky number from Chunk.

Top of the Cat – Black women’s tee available in X-Small to Large sizes at £ 19.95.

Kapow T-Shirt by Chunk

This one is hilarious. Even as a kid I had my suspicions about Batman and Robin, well at least way back when, the awful Adam West TV series that just about every channel would pump out till you couldn’t watch another Kapow or Zowee ever again. Unlike the latest and in my opinion near impeccable movies starring Christian Bale, Adam and his sidekick Burt Ward were perhaps the worst thing to happen to DC Comics in it’s long and respected history. Sure it was funny, sure it was 60’s camp, but if it wasn’t for the baddies I’d never have coped with watching two fully grown men wearing pants over their tights and punching their leather-clad fists into their sweaty palms every five seconds. In all honesty those two deserve a little lampoonery, I am just surprised it hasn’t come from more sources. Chunk as always were there first, ribbing those who hadn’t yet had the pleasure.

Kapow – Navy men’s tee available in Small to XX-Large sizes at £ 24.95.

I Love LP’s T-Shirt by Chunk

There was a time when Dark Side of The Moon was the ultimate in aural pleasure, if you were tripped out on something or other, or had the misfortune to buy some cheap weed from an old hippy, you would have more than likely been subjected to an hour or so of Pink Floyd’s greatest offering, one of the best selling albums of all-time or more precisely one of the best selling LP’s. I’m really showing my age here, but LP’s or as they were known by their technical term Long Players, did anyone actually say that? LP’s had one distinct advantage, great big cover art, so big you could hang it up like a mini-poster (if you didn’t mind losing the collectible value) but apart from that they sucked, they scratched in about, hmm, five minutes, unless you were ridiculously anally-retentive and held everything by its sides, used special cloths and inner sleeves, and alphabetised your collection. Which a lot of old hippies did seeing as they had the time for it. Still at least you could put your finger on an LP when your stoned friends were looking particularly monged out and give everyone a bad trip

I Love LP’s – Black men’s tee available in Small to XX-Large sizes at £ 24.95.