410BC – An Age of Teemocracy

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     410BC, 410bc.com, NY fashion, designer, designer t-shirts, ethical fashion, hip hop, indie, political tees, punk, sweatshop free tees, urban wear

410BC is a New York based clothing company and arts collective with their finger on the pulse and their eyes on the horizon of change and equality. With a strong ethical background and a total commitment to the ecology and conscious consumerism in every aspect of the brand, they focus on strong conceptual design in equal measure favouring a wide spectrum of subculture arts including skater, punk, hip-hop, indie and D.I.Y. There is a really strong sense of community at their site www.410BC.com and they actively encourage participation from both their wide and loyal customer base and their eclectic band of designers and artists.

I usually ‘wing it’ when it comes to t-shirt reviews, preferring not to get to bogged down with subjective ideas from designers and focus on what I see the way I see it, sure it’s not particularly objective but it can be informative for both the label and the general t-shirt fan to see a different point of view to the traditional bog-standard interview format. However I have to admit I cheated a little when it came to the name of this particular brand, Nicole co-founder of 410BC enlightened me to its origin – “410 BC stands for the year Democracy was restored in Athens. The Athenians were at war, but they managed to restore their own institutions by fighting for what they believed in. We chose that name because it resonated with us strongly. Through the company we promote conscious consumerism and fighting for what you believe in. We believe in supporting artists, sending a positive message, only using sweatshop free and organic cotton tees and giving back to our community.” A rather admirable mantra for any fashion brand I am sure you will agree.

The company have definitely stuck to their roots from day one, unlike many brands in the market they like to stay as connected with their audience wherever possible, from their humble beginnings they have certainly picked up plenty of good habits, constantly pushing their positive message and encouraging public interaction all the way. Do have a read of their blog if you have a moment – there are some great fashion, style and other features going on there and whilst you’re at it check out their LookBook which features plenty of photos of past customers donning their marvellous clothes. Plus of course you can also meet and greet 410BC via Myspace, Flickr and see their latest vids at Youtube – oh and check out their latest contest too!

However ethics asides what’s as if not more satisfying for me is that their creative stance is as powerful as their ecological one with a cornucopia of great designs available at the store, an ecelctic range of sources and ideas for their particularly unique style, and to top it off a rather fabulous website to showcase their work. Let’s take a trip to 410BC and see exactly what makes them so special in the market today…

Save Me From Technology Tee

Unfortunately I can’t link directly to any 410BC tees as they’ve embedded the links but all of them (along with a whole range of clothing and skateboards) are available at their store. Save Me From Technology is available for men and women at $20 in sizes small to large (up to x-large for the guys), I do particularly like this design, it reminds me of quite a few New Wave album covers of the alte 1970s and early 1980s as well as a few magazines at the time such as i-D and The Face. The iconic style at the time infused the last generation of expert photo-montage artists (before the arrival of such software applications as Photoshop) and a hankering for shock value to get a message across as quickly and powerfully as possible. I feel the same kind of vibe is going on in this t-shirt, possibly the trendiest and most stylish political comment t-shirt of all time, I have to admit I am in full agreement with its sentiment. Ironically, unless you don’t mind living like a hobo you’ll have to be pretty well off to escape the clutches of overbearing political and corporate interests around the world. I’ve always wanted to live a more basic lifestyle without the need for all this technological garbage we have to wade through these days. But if you’re not connected to the hive we call society you won’t make money, and without money you’ll starve. Sure you could grow you own food and generate energy but that still takes an enormous amount of time, money and land to be productive enough to live a trouble-free life. Take it from me, the world is doomed, at least we can watch a few videos-on-demand whilst we wait.

Loose Lips Sink Ships Tee

This rather fab t-shirt seems to be the best seller right now and I can understand why! It’s pretty damn fine as tees go, again just $20 and available for men and women, the image features an enormous pair of lips rising on the crest of a wave on the verge of engulfing a ship (looks more like a boat) crossing its path. Based on the old WW2 propaganda Loose Lips Save Ships, some other favourites at the time were ‘Walls Have Ears’ and ‘If You Speak German I Will Shoot You’ – okay okay the last one I made up but still it makes you think how paranoid must it have been back then. Everyone suspicious of everyone, democracies declaring totalitarian control over their own people in the name of the war effort, a lack of resources, restricted freedom, oh just a minute, I’m wrong, it never did change!

I’ve just been watching a documentary on 9/11 on Controversial TV here in the UK and that made a mockery of just about every mainstream coverage of the time, don’t worry I know you’re probably sick of hearing about how military rather than commercial planes crashed into the towers and that the hole in the Pentagon was too small for an airliner, besides no one wants to rock the boat these days (let alone sink ships) – after all where’s the profit in that? If I do make millions one day for some inexplicable reason and manage to buy my own island I hopefully will be able to re-engage in the art of free speech. Oh if you fancy escaping the oncoming fascist dictatorship of the so-called Western Democracy – do let me know and I’ll reserve a mud hut for you as soon as poss :/

Pegasus Tee

“Everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the earth, an inspiring spring burst forth” – on a lighter note here’s 410BC’s Pegasus tee available for both sexes and rather sweet all in all. A perfect representation of freedom if ever there was one,. I have a vested interest in seeing horses fly. Essentially a clumsy oaf of an old nag trod on my toes as a kid and I’ve never really got on with them since, I know, I know, they’re beautiful creatures, but I’m just not one of those doggy horsey type of people. Still, flying horses, that would be nice.

Although you’d need to carry an umbrella wherever you roamed as more than likely a steamy pile of manure would surely be heading your way sooner or later. This rather fine illustrated tee harks back to a mythology that’s most in keeping with the brand name 410BC, something of a historical venture rather than a contemporary discourse I like the creative connections summoned up by this image. The fountain Hippocrene, on the Muses’ Mount Helicon, was opened by a kick from his hoof. Hence, he has often been associated with the arts, especially poetry. Very light and airy this tee provides relief from the pseudo-political rantings from obsessive reviewers like myself. Great for the summer, even if you’re not trekking around Greece. Available for men and women for $25.

Dead Vogue Tee

I love skulls, I think that most graffiti artists do, perhaps it’s to do with mortality and creation and the juxtaposition of both and the irony that if you’re very lucky, and I mean lottery winning lucky, your creations may just out live you by years, decades, centuries even, but you’d better be good, the best, the best there ever was. Still getting back to the point, death and beauty, have you noticed how many freaks, the sort that love to Botox every spare mm of their body have taken over everything from the catwalk to the movie screen to the TV? Sure you have, you’re just used to it, I know. But now and again one of those media types doesn’t quite manage to get their injections and all hell’s let loose, their face literally melts all over the screen and the paparazzi are on to them like flies on a dog turd. I am a man (well what a surprise) and I hate crap like Sex In The City, The Devil Wears Prada, all that gumph (wow really I’d have never guessed?), women can call me a party pooper (usually much worse), but every time I see someone glorifying falseness like it’s some kind of religion I want to be sick.

Don’t spend all your money on magazines that tell you you’re old and fat or young and fat, or young and ugly, or old, fat, ugly and badly dressed. At least read a magazine (or even a book – does anyone do that these days?) that makes you feel stupid, and then learn the junk you didn’t know and then spend your time at dinner parties slating that writer and proving that all their writing is mere conjecture, and get real respect, because the mind is a beautiful thing. I am sure there are some guys out there that think the mind is sexy, that intelligence is beautiful, that wit is gorgeous, that creativity is the best thing since size zero – I mean am I the only one? Vogue and every other merchant of physical degradation out there is designed to sell overpriced rubbish to insecure women addicted to shopping.

Even men have started doing it, designer clothes, designer fragrances, designer hair, designer underpants and everything that fills it (or not) – people who are happy with who they are infuriate the couture fashion industry. If people don’t feel bad about themselves then no one buys magazines like Vogue and that means no advertising and that means the writers and editors will have to live like the rest of us – which is in essence how normality should work. Still I’d better get off my soap box now – before someone from the fashionista brigade hunts me down with a gold sequinned AK47 Dead Vogue – a classic at $20 for men and women…

410BC – perhaps my favourite ancient historical moment and fashion brand combined – decide for yourself at www.410BC.com

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