T-Shirt Reviews Blog

Adeline – Tees by Green Day

Badgirl — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:19:17 +0000

Adeline Street is the punk inspired clothing collection produced by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and his wife Adrienne. Adeline Street began as a spin off from a record label offering up a fine selection of promo t-shirts but they sold so many that now the clothing line has taken off whilst the record label went under. Billie describes their t-shirt range as “basic rock and roll streetwear”, taking influence from the early punk stylings of classic punk rockers like The Clash to more avant-garde bands of the time such as Devo. Before you get too excited Billie and his wife haven’t physically designed these tees, they say their input is more of a “fashion philosophy” but what the heck, they’re all still very cool whoever they found to create them. Billie and his wife went through the draft designs telling the designers what sucked and what rocked and voila Adeline Street’s t-shirt collection was born.

In this interview Billie is rather vague when it comes to their ethical policy, I heard the mention of sustainable clothing but that was quickly followed by the phrase “baby steps” which essentially means their dragging their feet. I mean if you were a worldwide famous rock star I’m sure you’d pull your thumb out, still as he says, it’s on the cards :/

He also vaguely mentions indie retailers selling their wares which was again a little wishy washy on the detail, still luckily I’ve managed to track down their tees on sale at GrindStore.com. Massive reductions if you’re after any!

Rifle T-shirt on sale now for just £6.99 US$10.51 €7.69

Fill’R Up T-Shirt on sale for £4.99 US$7.50 €5.49 (medium)

The Pitch T-shirt on sale now for £4.99 US$7.50 €5.49

Oohs and Aahs t-shirt on sale now Adeline T-shirt – Mens Oohs & Aahs Adeline T-shirt – Mens Oohs & Aahs £4.99 US$7.50 €5.49.

There are plenty more on offer though various sizes for each tee have already sold out, and no wonder at these prices, catch the Adeline t-shirt sale now at GrindStore.com before they’ve all gone!

Gateway T-Shirt by Rob Dobi

Badgirl — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:55:37 +0000

It’s been a good few years since we featured Rob Dobi’s work, perhaps one of the greatest artists in the t-shirt industry right now, he’s gone from strength to strength in style and ability, and his choice of subject matter has leant more and more towards the surreal. For those not familiar with his work read ‘Full Bleed Ahead‘ for the full low-down. If you want to see what’s he’s been up to then check out his site at FullBleed.org, however I have to feature one of his most recent creations which has just won it’s rightful place amongst the hallowed halls of Design By Humans. It’s called the Gateway T-Shirt, and speaking personally it’s absolutely beautiful!

An absolutely incredible design oozing sci-fi and fantasy all over the place. I love the extremely delicate use of halftones in this piece, deceptively simple and filled to the brim with a sense of wonder. I think this must be Dobi’s best work yet. It’s available for both men and women for $19 however they’ve sold out of small size tees for women :/ Still you can get yours at http://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/detail/6190.

Whilst I’m at it here are three classic designs redesigned or as he describes it ‘reset’ available at Rob Dobi’s own store FullBleed.org.

Forever Longing T-Shirt available here.

Paint It Red T-Shirt available here.

Work Is For The Birds T-Shirt available here.

Rob Dobi’s client list has exploded over the past few years, just before I scarper check out these big names…

Amazing!

Winter 2010 design from Prestigious

Rangga — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:20:01 +0000

As soon as you read the name Prestigious, you know their clothing line offers quality. Prestigious’ tagline “hand made by human beings” is reassuringly frank, they offer the t-shirt industry a high ethical standard and fair labour treatment.

This season, Winter 2010, Prestigious offer up six new designs. All with a Prestigious signature and rendered graphics. All are available for both men and women. I can divide these designs into three categories.

The first category is based on rendered photos entitled Treeline and Fixture. Both are based on photos taken by William Matte, Jr from different places, and then rendered graphically by Sam Kaufman. William Matte, Jr is the owner of Prestigious himself.

The second is based on natural spectacle. Prestigious promised to bring more designs into this category this year. The Falling describes the natural observation what happen to trees in Massachusetts when entering Fall. It began to change color beautifully from green to red, orange, earth-like color. Very nice! Bear in mind that this tee design is for sale at US$18

The last category comes with default logo and tagline of Prestigious. Three others are among this one. While the other two are made on AA2001 American Apparel, there’s one come with V-neck style, if you interested. For full line ups, check the Prestigious shop.

Rangga is blogger-editor at T-shirt blog Cottonable.com. This posting is written with assistance by Amir.

Unlikely Surfers on Your Vintage Shirt

Rangga — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:07:55 +0000

When we talk about vintage surfing, many will think of hippies in trunks riding wooden surfboards. Yes, surfboards were originally made of solid wood and were large and heavy (often up to 12 feet (3.7 m) long and 100 pounds (45 kg)). It’s funny to imagine how people coped at the beginning of the surfing craze, especially when many of the boards were so cumbersome and heavy. How did they carry the surfboard to the beach? How did they look? The Ryde clothing line from Laguna Beach, has been wondering the same thing.

Which is exactly why the have created their own series of vintage surfing inspired tees, designed to entertain! One features a Penny Farthing ($24) which makes you wonder if surfers might have had no choice to get to the beach this way, well that is unless they had a horse? It’s funny!

How about Moonlight Glide tee ($24). Where one night a couple of young Native Americans went out in search of the perfect wave. As the moon rose from behind the mountains a star shown in the east. The Ryde’s “Moonlight Glide” t-shirt captures this trip in all of it’s glory. Their t-shirt designs prove that The Ryde t-shirts and clothing are for good humored laid back individuals.

Rangga is blogger-editor at T-shirt blog Cottonable.com. This posting is written with assistance by Ollie.

Pattern from publicdomain

Rangga — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:54:57 +0000

Check out the new Pattern series of tees at publicdomainclothing.com. A brand that can boast a celebrity clientèle including Paris Hilton on their order books. Public Domain have just unveiled two of their latest designs for the line. The first is Scooter Pattern, and the second is Balloon Pattern. Both are included the women’s collection, however men will miss out this time around.

Powerful black and white graphics that take their cue from textile design, a lovely selection of old favourites in the tailoring game, such as herringbone. In art, the repeated pattern is usually called a motif, Public Domain offers a combination of Burberry-like and tartar skirt motif. Simple yet sophisticated.

Personally, the Scooter Pattern is my favourite, as it offers a richer range of shapes and stripes. I’d love a real scooter that looked like this, perhaps I’m just a Mod at heart. Anyway, these two tees can be yours for US$25 each. Both are available in black and white, but black is my personal favourite. Available in all sizes.

Rangga is blogger-editor at T-shirt blog Cottonable.com. This posting is written with assistance by Amir.

Buy Tees Relaunch

Badgirl — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:03:30 +0000

It looks like www.buy-tees.net has had (yet another) reprieve in the form of Rangga from the highly respected fashion blog www.Cottonable.com – he’ll be taking over the reigns in writing reviews from now on, so keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks as we get the party started one more time.

There are already changes underway, the blog has had a revamp, is proudly wearing a new logo, is opening up space for advertisers, and offers a new featured category called T-Shirt Designers, which will hopefully feature plenty of new, views and interviews with all the freshest brightest new and established stars in the t-shirt design industry.

I will of course be giving a hand where I can, offering up suggestions and the occassional post if time permits, but all you need to know is no matter if it’s Rangga, myself, or what will in the future most likely be a team of writers in the industry, you can expect only but the best in t-shirt reviews, news, events, features, discounts, contests and much much more.

So, let’s all take a deep breath, a sigh of relief, and await the forthcoming relaunch of www.Buy-Tees.net

Stick in there, it will be worth it

Buy-Tees.net is winding down… honest

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:13:45 +0000

I know some or even many of you have heard it all before, but here’s the problem money and time. Basically I and Chris are flat broke, the roof is crumbling, we’ve little money coming in and with water damage to almost every floor of the house I’m going to have to grow up (finally) and prioritize. That means, very little blogging, which was always just for fun, and an expensive hobby at that. No more reviews, although I’ll try and maintain this blog as an archive for as long as possible.

Career wise I’ll be focusing on graphic design (if anyone needs a decent graphic designer contact me at art@paulbaines.co.uk as long as you like your graphics weird – see my art blogs at http://www.arturban.co.uk and http://paulbaines.co.uk for more info.)

Hopefully, eventually, if the demand for my art picks up I’ll have money enough to sort out my life and even revive this and a few other blogs, but for now I have to admit that problems are coming thick and fast from all directions so reality needs to set in…

Thanks to all those who have read, followed, contributed and generally supported the blog in many ways.

Have fun

Paul

Bainsey @ Threadless

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:25:04 +0000

Hey all, yes this is a little cheeky of me but I need your support! If you’re a member of Threadless.com come and show some props for my first submission to the Goliath of t-shirt contest sites. Don’t worry I’m not expecting any miracles, it’d just be nice if I had a few watching my back on this one. Anyway check out my t-shirt design at Threadless simply entitled “Naked Eye“.

It would be great to put my money (if I had any) where my mouth is, but I’m worldly weary enough to know that miracles rarely happen, but if somehow I did make it through with this design you can bet it would put a big smile on my face knowing that I had my readers on my side. After all if I am a t-shirt reviewer I should at least try and prove my worth. What’s more if I make the grade expect some freebies at Buy Tees!

Still expecting egg on face all the same hah…

Naked Eye T Shirt

Naked Eye T Shirt by Paul Baines at Threadless.com

You’ve got seven days to vote if you’re so inclined, any promotion for my submission is also totally appreciated! Fingers crossed for a good score anyway

http://www.threadless.com/submission/253344/Naked_Eye

New Season @ Disturbia

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:34:25 +0000

Highly creative, highly satanic in certain circumstances, highly amusing, intensely trawling the depths of depravity and human dysfunction in the name of t-shirt design, Disturbia Clothing have done it again, and then some, with their latest mind blowing collection of t shirts. I have to admit I am a big big fan of Disturbia’s work, they’ve created one of my all time favourite tees so far, Mary which is one shirt I most definitely wear with pride, alongside Rasputin which again is sublime, they’ve now managed to add two more to the list in the form of their new Geisha and Kali tees. I have to find out more about the artist behind these four tees sometime, they deserve a lot more exposure! Expect mind-bending detail and an explosion of precise illustration from Disturbia’s latest tees, I would really like to see a whole lot more in exactly the same vein as these classics. The combination of history, religion and myth delivered in what can only be described as superlative illustration really pushes the design envelope as far as t-shirt art is concerned.

So, let’s take a peek at the horrifying excellence on offer… shake off the woolly hat and gloves, slip off that thick sweater and welcome in an early Spring and Summer with Disturbia Clothing.

Kali T Shirt

I’ve died and gone to t-shirt heaven. I have to admit it, this t-shirt, right now, is my all-time favourite. I reminds me of all those Marvel Comics I used to read again and again as a kid, back in the 70’s when you’d learn everything there was to know about sex, intoxication, corruption, altered states, multiple universes, from comics… it was all there. Crazy hippies on acid locked up in cellars chained to the drawing board whilst catching B-Movie horror flicks through a stoned gaze. If you love your gore psychedelic then you can’t do much better than Kali, no in fact you can’t, this, for now is the peak of man’s achievements heh. No seriously though, this is the sort of illustration that breathes life into the past, in this case the Hindu Goddess Kali who was known, in her earliest incarnation, as an annihilator of all that is Man. If you want to beat the rush (good luck) you should be able to grab this amazing shirt in all sizes for men and women for £20.

Geisha T Shirt

I’m not sure how much business this Geisha gets, she could do with a little moisturiser. Joke. It’s a zombie Geisha of course, Disturbia do like their zombies, and this has to be one of their best yet. Again absolutely amazing artwork from the t-shirt maestros of punk/horror design, the details on this one are once more fanatical to say the least. Right down to the veins on the hand. Love the blood logo on the blade, and am desperately intrigued to know what the Chinese text says, probably a menu of some diabolical invention, Earl Grey with a dash of broken glass and weedkiller or exploding chopsticks perhaps? The crazy, beautiful, astounding Geisha T Shirt is available for men and women in all sizes for £20.

Fear and Loathing T Shirt

Wow oh wow oh wow. If you’ve ever read Hunter S. Thompson’s book or seen the movie, or even both like me, I am sure you were hooked by the drug fiction classic that is Fear and Loathing. Disturbia offer up their own personal interpretation and I have to hand it to them they’ve done it justice. I can’t really be objective about this shirt as I just love everything associated with F and L, at one point I even thought of dragging Chris to Vegas, but then decided against lugging a suitcase of drugs around one casino to the next :p No, not really a story you’d want to recreate, except maybe as a t-shirt, which brings me neatly on to Disturbia’s Fear and Loathing t-shirt on offer in all sizes for men and women at £20. The colours are stunning, the illustration perfectly conjures up the drug addled psychosis of the stories two protagonists Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. The funny thing is I am sure supremo crazy (but interesting) Brit David Icke stole the idea, after all he’s always accusing everyone in the media and government of being lizards.

Baphomet T Shirt

Baphomet is a Sabbatic goat, but don’t hold that against him/her whatever it is, it’s got a bong on the go so just play it friendly like One for the stoner and Satanists, not sure how many are both, but there’s got to be a market out there for this trippy excursion into the darker side of t-shirt design. Whatever you do don’t get the Ouija board out lol. Get the Baphomet tee for men and women in all sizes for £20.

Take a look at the whole collection at www.DisturbiaClothing.co.uk today!

Go Ape For Go Ape Shirts

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:42:42 +0000

GoApeShirts.com is run solely by the ever dedicated Josh Perkins, a designer with a passion for t-shirts who with a help of a small army of talented friends has been knocking out some rather stunning designs lately. Now and again other t-shirt blogs have featured one or two of their products, but as usual it’s down to Buy Tees to give you lovely people the full lowdown on this uniquely funny yet creative label and their impressive range of original tees.

All of Go Ape’s shirts and hoodies are screen printed by the highly professional Mammoth Printshop of Alabama on American Apparel products, so you’re rest assured everyone of their tees is both sweatshop-free and of the highest quality. Shipping is $4.50 for one shirt and $1.00 more for each additional shirt after that. Orders outside of the USA, Canada, and Mexico are a flat $4.00 extra per order. They also say they accept design submissions, but be warned, Go Ape are highly selective, so all designers out there, prepare for disappointment!

Some of the current designers on their books include Leon Ryan (who also designed their superb logo), Julian Glander, Hong Kong’s Graphic Airlines, Henrique Lima, John Mitchell (whose sketches lie precariously in between Aubrey Beardsley and Ralph Steadman – the illustrator for Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Olly Moss, UPSO, Cloxboy and far too many more to mention. Still you get the idea, this is a classy operation, as far as the design department goes anyway. So, let’s go ape and check out some of their finest tees on offer at the moment…

Killovision T-shirt

This one’s been around for a few years but due to popular demand the Killovision tee has been reprinted and is available now in all sizes for $18. A truly madly deeply retro spectacular from the twisted visionary mind of Aaron Hogg. He’s designed another great shirt for Go Ape Shirts, check out his reassuringly subversive Face of Capitalism tee.

The Ultimate Cute T-shirt

Although it’s available for men and women, The Ultimate Cute t-shirt by Christian San Jose is most definitely aimed at the latter. As it happens small sizes for women are already sold out, although it’s still available in all other sizes for guys and girls at $18. If you’re up for an overload of cuteness, this tee, which I am sure would be a definite contender for the Japanese flag should they ever want a redesign from their sole red spot. A shirt that is the stuff of nightmares for red-blooded blokes and that of dreams for girls, of course there are always exceptions I am sure :0

I’m Walken on Sunshine T-shirt

I think it’s true to say that when it comes to Lunchbox Brain you either love his style or… well you don’t. Something akin to Beavis and Butthead when it comes to illustration, I’m not saying it’s outsider art, but there’s definitely a strong sense of naïveté in LBB’s crazy scribblings. This is most definitely a LBB classic, the I’m Walken on Sunshine shirt has been around a couple of years now and the fact there are still a few sizes left means Go Ape have either reprinted or… well this particular shirt requires an acquired taste. Still I like it, I’m always up for a good pun Available for $18 in sizes small and large for girls and small and medium for guys.

Hip Hop Hibernation T-shirt

Ed Pincombe has to be one of my all-time personal favourite t-shirt designers, a winner of plenty of contests at Threadless his style exudes woodcut, he’s even featured in a list of 10 Amazing T Shirt Designer Portfolios at Color Overload which is well worth checking out if you’re looking for the best of the best. The detail in his Hip Hop Hibernation shirt is exquisite, love the fur and the bling on this one. Get it in all sizes for $18 here.

Do take a look at the whole collection at www.GoApeShirts.com – there’s definitely no monkeying around when it comes to quality at this label!