ZeroBoutique.com - From Zeroes to Heroes…

Zero Boutique needs a CSS redesign - drop the html frames, remove the delayed redirect to the blog, move the shop to the home page and you’re set to go. I do understand the desire for a minimalist layout, but the product images could be a tad larger, although I do appreciate the extra modelled photos, especially the cute babes (lol).

Since the original zero website was launched in 1998, they have worked with over 90 artists and in 2002 they launched a new site- ZeroBoutique.com. Over the years, Jason (the guy pushing the buttons and pulling the levers of ZBQ) has expanded the company’s assets from one old heat press for making shirts at home, to a 4 color printing station as well as a far wider range of gadgets and inks and a larger commercial space. All of their shirts are hand screen-printed with love and perseverance in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Zero Boutique promote a great deal of independent artists. you’ll find plenty of old favourites and instant classics here, my favourite being the now almost infamous Che Grovera. An absolutely hilarious spoof of Che Guevara, a highly popular revolutionary image that must have adorned most hippie/political student bedroom walls throughout the 1960s to the current day. I’m not too keen on the white outline, but then again that could be accountable to personal taste. Read more

Robit - Built by Humans - Powered by Spirits

T-shirts of a tortured soul? Perhaps not quite, but going on the biography Steve Orlando of Robit Studios is not a happy man, I quote “What is a Robit? A mechanical man with an void in his middle. it’s like a robot only simpler. This particular Robit was created by a four year old. It’s fuelled by distilled spirits.”

I’d venture to say there’s a bitter-sweet theme that runs through all of Steve’s works, a quality I find both reassuringly honest and revealing, especially when put in the context of his fine collection of unique and pithy t-shirt designs. All of his tees are fair trade, 100% cotton American Apparel, hand-printed and highly original for the most part, so it’s well worth taking a gander the next time you’re passing.

Steve’s outlook on life may be on the dour side, but he still has a great sense of humour, I really think he should be British, we’re all like that over here, except the Scottish who are just dour, (I jest, we’re all miserable bleeders over here, especially since we haven’t had a Summer this year (or not one that you’d notice). Talking of the weather… Read more

Hell To Pay T-Shirt

Hell To Pay T-Shirt by Paul Baines

‘There will be hell to pay’ - nothing seems to be free these days, or nothing of value. It seems that everything is going cheap now the recession has started to bite the four corners of the world (someone tell me, was this planet once a cube?). Life is cheap (depending which country you live in on a scale of 1 to 10), so are promises (and that includes all political ones), the earth is running out of every conceivable raw material out there, and yet I can go to Morrisson’s Supermarket (I hate all supermarkets equally btw), and buy enough for a barbecue for four for only a fiver. What’s that all about? This isn’t an ad for a supermarket, honest! Don’t worry I’m not tied into any secret sponsorship deals, but do buy a Lexus, change your long distance provider, let me do an insurance comparison quote for you and drink more alcopops. The point is everything of value is paling into comparison to the all encompassing economic might for crude. Oil is the be all and end all right now, and unlike a few energy crises we’ve had over the past half century, this one is permanent.

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News on the t-shirt front.

Just a few pieces of news to pass your way. First of all I am building a queue of expectant t-shirt reviewees here (will review them all eventually - I promise!), that old Internet magic must be kicking in, I’ve never understood how you make a site popular, so I’ve stuck with providing as much original and worthwhile content as I can. I know there are a few reviewers out there who might not appreciate my approach, as the old school of t-shirt junkies seem to like the pic and link format, or rather they like to avoid whole concept of reviewing t-shirts altogether. Which to me seems ridiculous. Why treat t-shirts any differently than any other art form? People will read reams of detailed notes on which celebrity wore what and where. I found myself lost on a very girlie celebrity-obsessed blog the other day, I can’t even recall the name of it, I was trying to locate a useful article about t-shirts (which had been deleted by the looks of it) and found myself faced with a piece on Johnny Depp and his new clean cut look. Read more

Sex and Death at Threadless

That title should pull in the punters… I’ve just submitted my first design to Threadless.com - gawd knows if I have got it right, their submissions process seems to be the most complicated yet, no wonder the prizes are so high! I’m not in it for the money, but as I was saying to a fellow t-shirt nutter today, it has to be worth it just for PR alone, I’m talking publicity here, no Google rankings, although the two go hand-in-hand I suppose.

I received an email from Threadless.com describing their latest competition and I was pulled in head first. The theme is Sex and Death and the competition is on behalf of Fray.com - a true stories site - I’ll probably need a true story for my submission as I just went ahead and drew the first thing that came into my mind, and here it is… Read more