KidRobot.com - Not Just For Kids (or Robots).

Designer Paul Budnitz designer and creator of Kidrobot is (and I quote) “the world’s premier designer and retailer of limited edition art toys and apparel”. Sure he’s blowing his own trumpet a little louder than most but the guy really does know what he’s doing. Kidrobot.com started selling their strange toys in 2002 and just as wacky line of urban wear in 2006 and have gone from strength to strength ever since. Read more

Word Up To Wordans

Antoine the co-founder at Wordans.com t-shirt community gave us a shout at Buy Tees for a review. The site is in many ways a pretty straightforward Zazzle or Cafepress clone, except for a few vital differences. Sure the site design is clearer and friendlier than many of its competitors out there (which there are more than a few now), and yes there’s an English and French speaking version for all the Euro t-shirt fans and designers seeking something just that little bit different than the norm. But what struck me immediately about Wordans is the fact you’ll find no trace of tacky mugs and mouse mats and gawd knows what else their competitors like to dabble in. What’s more they actually have some really decent designers under their wing, and they make sure you know it! Read more

LightningFast.com - T-Shirts That Save Lives

A mission statement from Steve Savides at LightningFast.com:-

“When you buy a T-shirt, what do you get? A bit of warmth? A bit of cool? How about real change? When you buy Lightning Fast clothing, you’re helping transform communities. That’s because we channel 50% of our profits into projects that are proven in helping children and families escape a cycle of poverty. At Lightning Fast, we’re about combining the love of cool with the love of change. It’s a virtuous circle. You get great design on organic, fairly traded clothes. And people from Romania to Swaziland to South Africa, UK, are given a hand to build sustainable lives.” Read more

DesignersBlock T-Shirts at Top Shop

If you haven’t heard of DesignersBlock before then you’re missing out. They’ve recently moved to a new 10,000 square foot HQ at 1 The Piazza, Covent Garden, London.

Just recently they co-launched a collection of art shirts with the high street fashion chain TopShop and unsurprisingly DB have made no compromises in style when it comes to entering the mainstream.

They also marked the event by creating an art installation at TopShop’s flagship Oxford Circus and Manchester Arndale stores, check out the video to see these artists at work. Read more

Ugmonk Opens For Business

Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk.com has just announced the release of his first three tees at his new designer t-shirt store. At the moment there are but three t-shirts on offer, but I have been assured plenty more are on the way. I wouldn’t normally feature a store with so little to offer (so far), however these tees do offer a slick and rather classic New York / Bauhaus Typography style that you don’t see around as much these days. Saying that they’re based in Vermont, which makes me think that Vermont may have less of a laid-back hippy fashion scene than I’d previously assumed.

Jeff created Ugmonk in response to the high saturation of cluttered design in the t-shirt fashion market, stripping back the redundant extremities of the over embellished style common to many labels at the moment, providing a stripped-back alternative, relying on the eternal qualities of line and composition. The first 100 of each of his designs include a limited edition screen-printed tag which is a very nice touch. Read more