Ride The Stormy Tees With Matthew Skiff

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     410BC, A Rocket To The Moon T-Shirt, Anticlothes, Dead Serious, Matthew Skiff, Medusa T-Shirt, Piknyc, RANDR, Shred Clothing, Skiff, emptees, t-shirt designer

I mentioned Matthew skiff in a recent news post on Randr‘s new limited edition tees and as soon as I’d hit the publish button I knew I’d need to blog a lot more about this designer’s particular talents. You can find Skiff just about everywhere on the net, if there are t-shirts involved he’s most likely been there, done it, designed the t-shirt, won the prize or commission, spent the money on more fuel (usually pizzas), and started on yet another superb illustration before sundown. Here are just some of the places you’re likely to bump into Skiff:- Emptees.com, Shred Clothing, Dead Serious Clothing, Mad Creepy, 410BC, Anticlothes, Pyknic Clothing and a whole load more, not forgetting the enormous amount of bands he’s worked alongside, producing everything from tour posters to tees to merchandising to covers. Check out his client list for some idea of how well respected Skiff is in this industry.

What’s more you’ll be able to seek out his work at Myspace, Flickr, Twitter, check out his boards at Popdeck, and even read his rather cool blog. So no excuses, if you can’t track him down for a commission or a little fan worship now I’d unplug the ‘puter and veg out :/ read more

Matthew Skiff @ Randr Tees

admin    T-Shirt News     Matthew Skiff, RANDR, Randrtees.com, Skiff, T-Shirt Designers, limited edition t-shirts, t-shirt design

You may remember our post about a RandrTees.com sale back in June, well it seems that Randr have been taking the leap into the world of limited edition t-shirt production. What’s most exciting about their new direction is that the first artist they’ve teamed up with for the project is the celebrated t-shirt designer and illustrator Matthew Skiff. Teehunter.com who specialise in interviews with the greats in the teedustry conducted a great interview with Skiff back in June that’s well worth reading!

Skiff has worked with many notable bands and t-shirt brands such as Panic At The Disco, 410 BC, Family Force 5, Electric Zombie and many others, his skills are well renowned amongst those in the know, both within the business and fans alike. His influences range from kid’s cartoons to horror, the skater culture, in fact you name it it’s probably in there, but always with that slight classic Stan Lee style you’d more expect to see in a vintage X-Men issue.

Now Randr Tees have managed to get Skiff to work his magic for them, and as you’d rightly expect, with some stunning results. What’s more right now Randr are giving away a free matching belt (designed by Skiff) with each and every limited edition tee and are even holding a freebie contest. A grand give away for a top prize of each shirt from their upcoming Series (7 shirts in total). Plus two second prize winners will also receive 3 shirts each, selected randomly from the series. To be eligible, order before 10/18/09 for your chance to win! Winners to be announced on 10/25. read more

Dissecting Dnæ Genes

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     London, UK t-shirts, dna genes, dnae genes, dnagenes.co.uk.UK tees, funky t-shirts, indie tees, socialite, t-shirt sale

To be honest the first time I’d heard of Dn√¶ Genes was yesterday, I’d received an email from Socialite Style discussing future opportunities for my art in the fashion world. I answered enthusiastically, and spent a while checking out their fashion events site before stumbling across Dn√¶ Genes. They’re a rather cryptic brand as it goes, their site didn’t give me much background information to go on, but from what I can gather they’re UK based, hedonistic in their outlook and a favourite with London’s socialite set. Their FAQ page begins with a concise and emotive modus operandi and is quickly followed by a wealth of visual ephemera of kitsch and kooky film and personal nostalgia.

The site is simple yet leaning on the good side of ‘slick’, the layout is easy to navigate, the products are for the most part impressive, very impressive at times, but without some kind of history and specific agenda I found it difficult to truly connect with the brand overall. However that aspect of the label can be easily remedied, what Dn√¶ Genes needn’t worry about is their creative direction, they have some truly hot tees on offer, again simple yet slick, and I am sure are a big hit with the wackier side of the trustafarian set around North and West London. Although it has to be said their prices are incredibly reasonable, especially at the moment seeing as they have a big sale on with all tees going for just £15 each. Still, money isn’t everything, you can’t buy class and Dn√¶ Genes have it by the silver spoonful. Let’s take a peek at how the other half live ;)

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My Designs For Antiphrase

admin    T-Shirt News     Body Electric, Paul Baines, Viral Society, art shirts, graffiti, new tees, t-shirt design, t-shirt designs

In case you’re interested in what I do asides blog my heart out then check out these two designs I have completed for Antiphrase, a French art shirt label with a fair share of artistic credence when it comes to the European graffiti scene. I’m supposed to create 3 designs for them (at the very least), they’ll be setting up my own sub-store on completion of the 3rd and will also begin selling my work via their retail boutique in France, which will be opening in September.

As you might expect, my designs aren’t going to be your run-of-the-mill t-shirts, I am after all an all out weirdo, artistically I probably hark from another dimension, still they seem to think there will be a market for my work. Still here’s a preview of what’s to come at Antiphrase.fr in the near future! read more

The Temperature’s Rising At Hotlife

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Frankie Says, MikeC, band tees, emptees, funny t shirts, hotlife, illustration, livingthehotlife.com, punk, skater, skater tees, t-shirt design

Recently MikeC of www.LivingTheHotlife.com contacted me and demanded to send me a couple of sample tees, as you might or might know I am one of the few t-shirt reviewers who doesn’t require freebies, but he was pretty insistent, he wanted to make sure I knew first hand exactly how high the quality of his products stands up, and I’m telling you, it’s up there with the best. It’s not just the100% organic fair trade tees he prints on, which are incredibly soft by the way, but the designs themselves are incredibly well drawn and fantastically ‘clean’. Mike is obviously an old hand at illustration, I took a peek at his biography on his rather hilarious FAQ page and found a few gems to help warm you to this relatively underground label:-

So HOTLIFE is designed exclusively by MCHC Art/Designs? Absolutely, 100% hand drawn by MikeC himself.That way you know you’ve got an 100% original design. Lots of “designers” like to take clip art and add a photo shop filter and pass it off as a design…we would rather make something thats unique and rad.

I’m pretty sure 90% of my wardrobe is made up of designs by MCHC already, what bands and such has he worked with? Thousands of bands, too many to mention, but Thinkfast! Records, Victory Records, Acacia Strain, A Day to Remember, Hawthorne Heights, Madball, All Shall Perish, Mychildren Mybride, Between the Buried and Me, Salt The Wound, Bishop, Emmure, Catch 22, & Kill Your Idols, just to name a few.

Now that’s a lot of bands! Hotlife have a strong connection with the music scene, if you fancy upping the stakes and making your own band’s image a little more hardcore then you can commission Mike’s talent as a t-shirt designer via his Myspace page. He even helps promote the bands he works with by graciously featuring their latest gigs at Hotlife’s news page.

It’s difficult to categorize Mike’s style, his illustrative style is strong, very strong, and even though there are reminders for me of punk and thrash, biker and tattoo imagery, there are two distinct qualities to his work that makes it rise above the competition. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, his drawing technique is fabulously clean, he actually draws everything by hand as you can tell, his line is fluid and flowing, the compositions spot on, I’m sure this guy must have been doodling throughout every spare minute of his life. Apart from the trained eye and hand co-ordination, there’s the humour, his sense of fun is infectious, one of the first tees to jump out at me was his interpretation of Frankenstein’s Monster in Frankie Says Relax. Which for me is hilarious, as was the original band that came up with that tune, although the latter wasn’t entirely intentional.

I’ll start by reviewing the tees Mike sent me, I’d have got my cute GF to pose but she’s up to her neck in work today, so I’m afraid you get the ugly guy instead of the babe. Still the designs should more than compensate!

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Rockomoda’s On A Roll

admin    T-Shirt News     Footage, Rockomoda, Rockomoda.com, UK fashion, designer tees, discount brands, discount fashion

Rockomoda.com are a UK based discount designer label with a passion for t-shirts – so much so they’ve even started up their own brand Footage. Rob, the man behind the operation is an old hand in the urban fashion scene, with over 15 years in the business you can be sure that Rockomoda have their finger on the pulse. Asides from grabbing a bargain t-shirt from a plethora of big name labels like Obey, Junk Food and House of Gods and creating their own tees, Rockomoda have strong ties with the music scene. As it happens their next big do features “KILL THE YOUNG” and “This Machine Is Off” at The Ruby Lounge Manchester if you are round that way on October 1st. If you want to keep up with all the shenanigans be it t-shirt releases, fashion discounts and music promos, you’d be best off hooking up with Rockomoda at Facebook.

There are so many bargains to be had it’s difficult to know where to start. First off if you order £75 or more of their gear your delivery is free, there’s a newsletter that enters you for a contest to win free trainers for a year, plus of course their summer sale is now on with prices slashed at up to 75%! If you want an example of just how low the prices are at Rockomoda right now just check out this black/gold print NY Yankees tee for a staggeringly low £8. There a couple of Supreme Being tees selling at half price, and plenty of Old Glory tees at the same or even cheaper. But if you’re like me, an independent minded indie label loving t-shirt snob at heart, then you’re most likely better off checking out what Footage has to offer. Bright, poptastic, slightly generic at times, but overall a very strong start from what could be a major name in the future if they can grab themselves a decent distribution deal. The collection maybe limited in number right now, but with the experience and financial clout of Rockomoda behind them I wouldn’t doubt if this label eventually becomes a whole new company in it’s own right.

Here’s a few of my faves from their current season… read more

T-Shirts For A Jilted Generation

admin    T-Shirt News     Disturbia Clothing, DisturbiaClothing.co.uk, Invaders Must Die, Prodigy, band t-shirts, music t-shirts, recordstore.co.uk.The Prodigy

Here’s some exciting news for Prodigy fans and t-shirt lovers alike… Disturbia Clothing (the anarchic UK fashion label we reviewed recently here) have been in talks with the (in)famous UK’s favourite underground bigbeat pioneers The Prodigy for the last three months and now they’ve released some of their best tees yet under the watchful eye and approval of the band.

If you don’t know The Prodigy then you’re probably a classical music buff, lost in the wilds of some far and distant country, mad, or hard of hearing, if you do you’ll know exactly what to expect from Disturbia’s latest release of three phenomenal t-shirts that are so in-keeping with the band’s ethos, it hurts. I am an original raver, as in I was converted to dance music in the very late Eighties, I actually remember the day a friend at college dragged me out of yet another goth/grunge hell hole of a club and led me over the road, popped a smiley pill in my hand and pointed to a man apparently playing records with a degree of skill. I had no idea what was going on but for almost a decade I never looked back.

Things have changed now, I’m getting on, really, and I can’t be doing with full-on drug-crazed blowouts and dancing in my own pool of sweat till dawn. However I will always have fond memories of the M25 circuit, the squat raves of S.E London and the free parties around Brighton and Bristol. One band guaranteed to take me way back are The Prodigy, they’re still going strong to this day, although personally I will always prefer their earlier stuff i.e: “Charly“, “Out of Space“, “No Good (Start the Dance)“, “Voodoo People“, “Firestarter“, “Breathe“, “Smack My Bitch Up“. I loved the commotion that Smack My Bitch Up caused at the time (the protagonist in the video was a woman by the way) – controversy will always follow this band like a hungry dog so expect to see them riding the underground scene for many years to come.

Down to business – Disturbia have released (via Prodigy’s web store Recordstore.co.uk) three limited edition Prodigy designs named Zombie, Flag and Crest – there are only 100 shirts of each available so if you’re after one I’d hurry! Each tee is individually embroidered with the Prodigy Ant logo, and the edition monogram., silk-screen printed with black and fluro inks printed on 100% cotton destroyed men’s tees (the collar, sleeves and hem are grinded for their trademark worn and deconstructed look, and are super soft. I’ve included some detailed pics so you can see just how cool these tees really are! read more

A Heartfelt Winner At Tilteed

admin    T-Shirt News     T-Shirt Votes, t-shirt competition, t-shirt contest, t-shirt sale, tilteed, tilteed.com

We’ve featured Tilteed.com before and I’m sure we will many times again, but for now take a look at their latest winning design entitled My Heart Is Thiiiiiiisssss Big by S.Harrison which is on offer for just $12 over the next 72 hours. What’s more if you use this coupon code: TilteedHeart you will get free shipping on this (or any) t-shirt over the next 24 hours.

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Do Believe The Hypothesis

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     art t-shirts, hpothesis inc, hyp-inc, hyp-inc.com, indie design, indie t-shirts, music tees

Hyp-Inc.com (aka Hypothesis Inc. Theory Of Self Co.) are a hot label with some very smooth tees on offer, in fact the same can be said for their very Flash site which exudes a gritty urban surrealist style from the word go. Their eye for the new and original is something to behold, don’t expect anything but out of the ordinary at Hyp-Inc, who essentially have a slant on life and all that entails you won’t find on your big labels or even most home-grown indie brands. Their positioning is near enough unique, more commercial than the usual art t-shirts available on the net, but always distinct and irreverent in both graphic sensuality and purpose rarely found in the back catalogues of their larger competitors.

Be different, that seems to be the ongoing theme, not as such an out and out ‘shock passers-by’ tactic for design, but they make a strong impression and a lustrous statement of intent all the same. If I didn’t know better I’d guess these guys have been channelling Magritte from beyond the grave, their array of surrealist tricks is impressive, their simple messages are definitely head turners in a crowd, but subtlety (for once) abounds. Fine t-shirts for fine minds.

I can’t hook you up with product pages as such, but you will definitely have fun wandering around Hyp-Inc’s √ºber slick site, it almost looks like an online trailer for a Cannes winner or a game of mind over matter lushed out in gorgeous Photoshop grainy layers, drawing you in to a time that never was, to a place that never will be. The t-shirt titles are rather cryptic at times, which I like, the designs vary in styles, but there’s distinctly some Dada and Surrealist crossovers going on here. My favourites have a musical leaning, and as it happens Hyp-Inc have a strong following in the music industry, (amongst others) having created complex illustrative posters, CD and vinyl cover art, clothing and advertising imagery for a rich seam of cool bands and festivals including Phish, Matchbox 20, Disco Biscuits, as well as plenty of websites and businesses like www.footylovefilms.com. Expect the best of the best, no hype, just hypothesis with a firm footing in fact – check out these tees. read more

What A Card – New Funny Tees At Busted

admin    T-Shirt News     BustedTees.com, busted tees, funny t shirts, humour tees, retro tees, someecards, vintage tees

Got a friendly little email from Diana Chang at the snarky ecard site Someecards.com – and wouldn’t you know it they’ve started selling their designs as tees – makes sense to me. Anyway here’s where you’ll find their tees – http://www.bustedtees.com/someecards. Yep they’re at Busted Tees which is quite a coup, I guarantee that many of these t-shirts are going to sell out, not just because they’re genuinely funny in a faux-retro post modern sneering fashion, but also down to the fact their holding sale at the moment.

Usually on sale for $20 each you can get some of them now with a whopping 60% discount for a paltry $8 – the sale ranges from 15% up. Take a look at some of my personal faves for some idea of their humour wavelength – it’s vintage, dry as the Sahara, pithy as a week old lemon and as sarcastic as any celebrity gossip blogger. read more