Time For Tee

admin    T-Shirt News     British t-shirts, Collect London, exclusive tees, freebies, limited edition t-shirts, t-shirt contest, win t-shirts, win tees

British T-shirt brand Collect London have teamed up with Casio G-shock watches in an cool collaboration for 2010 and you have a chance of winning a one of their exclusive sets of tees, watches and prints! Utilising the talent of two of Collect London’s designers Richard Fairhead and Louisa Todd, they have joined forces with Casio G-shock to release two super exclusive prints to be featured on a limited edition T-shirt and Watch set based upon their Spring/ Summer collection Folk Fantasy.

Each design comes in a set which includes 1 of only 10 watches, T-shirts and prints making these beauties highly collectable. Pursuing Collect London’s philosophy of timeless (ooh there’s a tie-in), graphic led pieces with a real attention to detail, each design has been limited to only 10 pieces with each one individually numbered and signed. Each set is all wrapped up in a nifty presentation box and usually priced at a whopping £250, will be available from Casio’s new East London store from June 24th. However they’ve kept one of these beauties back for one lucky Collect London subscriber.

All you need to do is sign up for their newsletter and you’re in with a chance of winning a set!

Banging Tees by Boom!

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Boom, British t-shirts, indie tees, typographic t-shirts, typography tees

Boom! T-Shirts are a quirky British label who’s “about page” breaks down the ridiculously high odds of finding their site on Google. Their finesse for design and typography equally matches their gently pithy brand of humour, which lies somewhere  between Douglas Adams and Monty Python in the tradition of quasi-existential parody of life, (if the aforementioned were born 40 years later and loved the geekier side of the graphic arts). Asides the beautifully constructed Flash site, which literally oozes design savvy from every pore, they offer a compact range of t-shirts that deliver a powerful conceptual punch. Of the five designs available, one will most likely be lost on the international crowd, unless the fame of national treasure Stephen Fry has spread beyond our shores. Although the majority of Boom’s tees are typographic, their slick choice of colour and font certainly gives them a graphic edge sorely missing in similar lines.

All their products are organic and made by SAF Clothing which means no starving kids in sweatshops contributed to this particular fashion brand. Take a look at nearly the whole collection:

I’m Being Followed T-Shirt

A very British tee and one that made me laugh. Stephen Fry is probably one of if not the most popular Brit at Twitter, and it’s all down to the plain and simple fact that he’s a mainstay of our culture, there are probably more of fans of his wry sense of humour and highly intelligent witticisms than for the royal family, however unintentionally funny they may appear. Joke. The fact is Britain loves the guy, long may he reign. If you are being followed by Stephen you deserve some kind of prize, perhaps this t-shirt for instance? Then again you could just lie :p The I’m Being Followed T-Shirt is on sale for £12.50 in sizes S-L.

Lorem Ipsum T-Shirt

If you’re a blogger and you’ve managed to install Wordpress in the past you’ll recognise these two words. Traditionally used by the printing industry (what’s left of it) as “dummy” or filler text, it’s actually an excerpt from an Ancient Greek treatise on ethics. I bet you didn’t know that? If you did there’s no hope for you lol. I used to get A’s in Latin at school, I decided to give it up in the 3rd year, turns out it isn’t a dead language after all. Any  British doctor, scientist, barrister or politican could tell you that. Get the Lorem Ipsum T-Shirt for £12.50 in sizes S/M.

Lomosexual T-Shirt

Perhaps the ultimate in geek love fashionwear, the Lomosexual T-Shirt proclaims its undying passion for a cheap and badly made Soviet camera that is capable of performing miracles in photography. The Lomo phenomenon has been around a while now, but the fact is that digital technology did exactly the same for photography as it has done for music, it sucked the soul out of them. Lomo cameras let the light in where it shouldn’t, the randomness of photographic quality is what it’s all about, chance, and if you’re lucky, now and again, pure visual genius. Show your love for the Lomo with this superb tee for £12.50 in sizes S-L.

Sorry T-Shirt

A design so simple it verges on the brink of abstract, the Sorry T-Shirt features a Stormtrooper (The Star Wars kind not the Nazi type) with a pink (for some reason beyond me) tear rolling down its cheek. It should be corny, but it’s not, it’s very very cool. I suppose it comes down to taste, some people hate Pop Art, Andy Warhol in particular, or the 80s conceptual scene with characters like Jeff Koons, but I don’t, I love it, and this tee belongs on a wall in a gallery… and on my back. Unfortunately it’s all sold out, so we’re all sorry now :/

Check Boom! out at their blog, their store, their Flickr and Twitter page,

New Season @ Disturbia

admin    T-Shirt News     British t-shirts, Disturbia, Disturbia Clothing, UK, emo shirts, goth t-shirt, punk tees

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. read more

Urban Tees at The Ugly Kids Club

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, London, The Ugly Kids Club, UK, grime, hip hop, street, urban fashion, urban t-shirts, www.theurbankidsclub.com

Probably one of the coolest labels we’ve featured at Buy Tees so far, The Ugly Kids Club is a UK based urban wear brand and collective with a strong street following who’s vibrant collection has been featured in the likes of:

Loaded Magazine’s 10 of the Best : ‘No. 8 – Best for in The Club’ – Loaded Oct 09
Front Magazine : ‘…ace bunch of designers, artists and tattooists… website has a f***-load of tees, so go and treat your eyes’ – Front Sep 09

TUKC provide a great online experience, offering a shop where you can load up on all their latest t-shirts and sweats as well as a vibrant online community and blog packed with tons of features on everything from fashion to music, street art, skateboarding, funny vids, gigs and more. But what matters to us and hopefully you the most are the quality and originality of their t-shirt collection, and don’t worry, you definitely won’t be disappointed. They have some powerful designs under their belt, think ’street’, think in your face, think swagger, you’re there. One thing you can be assured of, these tees aren’t ugly!

No matter the attitude you’ll find their t-shirts are all of a high quality in both design and production, with some very unique concepts and ideas on offer, spoofs of corporate logos, booze, the Facebook phenomena, tattoos and skulls seeming to be the order of the day right now. Their T Shirts range from £25 to £16 and are all limited edition, generally they won’t print more than 100 of each design and once a design is sold out, it’s gone forever – so no need to worry about staying fresh!

They’ve had some very fine grimy tees on offer in the past too, their archive reveals all that have been sold and sadly not available any more – their store includes an archive in the footer where you can see what you’ve missed. This one – UCK Rizla – would’ve been my favourite (modelled by Skinnyman and featured at Grime Garms.)

read more

Cockney Empire Online

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, Cockney Empire, London fashion, cockney tees, gangster t-shirts

It’s been a long old wait, at one point I and Cockney Empire were in discussion to do a few creative collaborations, but with commitments both sides that’s been shelved. My gf has been hassling me for almost a year to get a freebie of fCE but I doubt that will come around either. The thing is that Cockney Empire are busy, not just mildly occupied but absolutely snowed under with work, and now they’re about to find out exactly how a successful t-shirt label has to adapt and adapt quickly to survive.

They’ve just opened their new online store at www.CockneyEmpire.com and the punters are pouring in, this really will be big, perhaps the most exciting new t-shirt brand this side of the water since Chunk, with one ex-Chunk designer and a ream of great designs under their belt, you have been warned, this is the beginning of the British Invasion!

If you want to know more about this fascinating brand then check out my original feature on these guys here. It’s been around 8 months since I first mentioned CE and they’ve been proverbially leaping from strength to strength with another 10 new designs on offer as well as reprints of all their best sellers, you are assured of a treat and a half. There are various collections on offer including Anti Heroes, Pop Art, and Limited Editions. So get down those apples and pears, plonk your plates of meat under the table, and treat your peepers to a feast of London art fashion, the likes of which you’ll not see in a month of Sundays anywhere else in the world. read more

Swish Swosh Sneak Peek Preview!

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, British tees, England, N. Ireland, Scotland, Threadless, UK t-shirts, Wales, swish swosh, swishswosh.com, t-shirt community, t-shirt voting

In just under 24 hours SwishSwosh.com – a British t-shirt contest site will be officially opening their doors to the public, and just to stir up a little more excitement I thought it best to share the love and let you all see what’s around the corner from this exciting new store. What I can tell you is this, Swish Swosh will be offering all their t-shirts on pre-order at £12 each (£15 for winners), yes a Brit tee community at last, and they already have quite a few cool submissions under their wing, and that’s no surprise seeing as SS are offering a whopping great prize of £1100 for the first place winner plus 50p per t-shirt sold. The total in prizes is £2009, and with ten winning positions to fill I’m sure a lot of you budding t-shirt designers can see a chance for success here! Every runner up receives £101 plus 50p in commissions which should be enticing for the least adventurous, but if you haven’t submitted a tee you will probably have to submit for the next round. There has been so much demand that SS have actually been accepting votes in beta, and some of their tees are already in pre-order!

As their motto states ‘no more clones’ SS will be limiting prints to just 50 of each size per print so if you do fancy any of their winning tees (and hoodies) I’d hurry because I doubt they’ll be hanging around too long. Although this will be a monthly contest so if you do want to get in on the action you have a decent amount of time to get on board for the next round. Fancy submitting a design? Then submit your design here. They want cutting edge, drop dead gorgeous designs if you can muster them, and I’ll tell you why.

The two founders of SS (I’d give you more details but their meet the founders page simply states ‘be patient you nosey gits’ right now) decided to create SwishSwosh.com after running a heap of successful club events where they witnessed fashion atrocities that would send anyone barmy, not only in calibre but also quantity. Imagine turning up for a night out and bumping into half a dozen other clubbers wearing the same t-shirt as you? It’s not just sad, it’s a a sad indictment of the state of corporate fashion these days. The fact is that originality is king, and that’s what SS are all about, if you want originality they will try their damndest to provide it via an army of keen talent touting for your votes. Let’s check out how Old Blighty are fairing in the t-shirt contest war… read more

King Apparel – Tees That Reign Supreme

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, London fashion, London tees, UK, UK designer t-shirts, UK tees, king apparel, king-apparel.com, streetwear, urban

King-Apparel.com based in Stratford East London offer some of the slickest, soundest, graphic savvy tees in the streetwear market. If you’re looking for a label that delivers without question, has it’s finger on the pulse and can even tout its own branding without leaving a bad taste in your mouth then it has to be King Apparel.

It’s great to be reviewing another East London label, I really think something massive is happening down that way, both for arts and fashion, for a start Black Rat Press and a whole gang of great graffiti artists work down that way, and then there’s Cockney Empire I featured a while back. Of course just like many successful London labels, KA have a massive appeal around the world, partly down to their amazing marketing know how. Take a look at this poster for their next campaign, it takes its inspiration from the classic cult movie The Warriors (which you have to see if you love gritty 70s B-Movies – it’s required watching mate).

Anyway let’s take a butchers at their top-notch tees… read more

A Town of Tees At Iffyton

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, band tees, funny t shirts, funny tees, iffy, iffyton, virtual shopping, www.iffyton.co.uk

You won’t find Iffyton High Street or Iffydom on Google Maps, don’t bother searching I’ve looked, but what the heck, who needs reality when we’ve got the net? I mean I’m looking out of the window and what do I see? Practically a force nine gale bending the treesas if they were elastic and seagulls careering into each other in a vain attempt to fly. The fact is it’s not always a good day to go out, and when you don’t have to you have a few options, go back to bed, get on with some work, watch the dreaded boob tube, surf (yawn), Twitter with your mates, eat, drink some tea, write a blog post (ahem), okay there’s far more to life than that, but one option I hadn’t considered until now was taking a stroll down Iffyton High Street where every shop is a t-shirt store (well almost bar a few empty shops and a music venue (Iffy Voice), a Newsagents which has all the latest Iffy news, and erm… Betfair, erm which is a gambling site and absolutely nothing to do with anything,

I suppose they’re hard up for cash or love to have a flutter between tees, I couldn’t find a pub either, I wonder what does virtual lager taste like? Probably like two pence pieces (as usual). There’s no sign of a curry house in Iffyton, but I suppose it’s a little early in the day, still it’s great after a few beers. One thing I really like is the Countdown Giveaway where if you catch it at the right time you can win a free tee! Nice! Okay I haven’t seen it working so far, but it’s worth keeping your eyes peeled for that one. There’s also Iffy TV where according to the site their Nan likes to watch her grandson going Radio Rental (I guess that’s cockney slang for “mental”) on TV, right now it comprises of two videos about the site. From what I can gather the site is run by a loony called Uncle Iffy who used to be the frontman for an obscure band called “The Magnificent Seven” who gambled his remaining pennies on Iffy TV whilst his brother Peter Joyce (I’m guessing on the spelling here it’s all from a video) who owns Totally Original T-Shirts (t-shirt printers) called in a favour to help promote his wares and thus they joined forces. So much for the potted history.

The saving grace for Iffyton are their t-shirt stores, some undoubtedly better than others, but I’m sure there are plenty of t-shirt addicts out there who have had dreams similar to www.iffyton.co.uk – tee shirt shop after tee shirt shop as far as the eye can see. Well no, right now there are nine as far as I can tell, but that’s great for starters! Okay let’s take a stroll down Iffyton High Street… read more

Spunky.co.uk are buying t-shirt designs!

admin    T-Shirt News     British humor, British t-shirts, Spunky.co.uk, UK t-shirts, funny t shirts, funny tees UK, sell designs, sell t-shirts, spunky clothing, t-shirt designers wanted

Spunky.co.uk have to be one of my favourite online British t-shirt labels; you may have seen them doing their thing at Glastonbury this year, this company is the real deal, they go out there and actually sell their gear rather than sit back and wait like most stores. Besides they have a refreshingly quirky sense of humour and a great selection of original t-shirt designs on offer to top it off.

They’re currently seeking new t-shirt designs for their next collection and are offering £150, a sample t-shirt and as much publicity for your work as they can possibly muster. After all it’s a two-way street here, the better known the designer, the more sales they receive. Essentially I’d take a punt with Spunky because they seem to support their creative sources more than your usual t-shirt label might, they’re even redesigning their t-shirt designer showcase to further improve public awareness of their contributors. Although I have asked if they might consider linking the designers’ names on each product page to their showcase profile. I’d like to see more interactivity too, perhaps a shoutbox or star ratings, although I don’t want them to just become another Threadless clone. read more