Antiphrase.com

Antiphrase are hot on the ecology too, not only do they print on 100% organic tees, but they use organic ink and even wash resistant tees – essentially so they don’t shrink or fade hence you’ll hold on to them a lot longer and avoid waste! But their love of perfection goes beyond saving the planet, their prints are of an absolutely superb quality, using printed (non-toxic ink) textile technology mastered by Antiphrase means they can reproduce designs with an unequalled graphic accuracy, rendering every stroke and fine line of their artist’s creations. I would say they should take a look at their English translations though, their web copy is a little “iffy”, I mean they get the point across but someone needs to brush up on their Anglais – then again I do suck at French so I’m not one to talk (in just about any language other than English lol). There seems to be another brand jostling for position on the site – Prohibition – but in all honesty it doesn’t really matter unless you’re worried what label says what on your tees, they’re all under the same banner as it were.

Still what really carries the label through is the great selection of t-shirt designs at the store, some are rather unexpected in both concept and style, in general they carry a very strong line in art shirts, well worth checking out. They mainly offer digitally printed tees although there is a small collection of traditional screen print tees, most are limited editions and available for men, women and very soon, kids too.

Noiz Fight Tee by Sam Hayles

The Noiz Fight tee by Sam Hayles definitely speaks for itself, or rather shouts from the roof tops of a block in the projects. A little slice of old school design and technique, the flamboyant composition and selection of colour makes this shirt as loud and proud as they come. Sam is a massively established graphic designer and illustrator with a lot of strong ties in the music biz. Having worked for some big names across Europe and the States over the last decade Sam Hayles has raised his game as an independent art-director and graphic designer whilst gaining tons of experience in working with bands, record companies, Djs, Artists, Music composers since 1999. He’s now based in the south of France after having lived and worked in Bristol in the UK, his capabilities span from concept development to design/direction, animation and illustration. He is also a practising visual artist working across different mediums. Checkout the portfolio at www.doseprod.com to see more.

Control Tee by Wunderboy

This one’s by Wunderboy, a 20 year old student studying at a school of Art in Paris – don’t know which one. Is this tee based upon Anton Corbijn‘s 2007 movie Control? It rather reminds me of the actor Sam Riley who played the tragic lead role of Ian Curtis from the legendary band Joy Division. I have to admit the guys from the movie’s merchandising team missed out on this design, or perhaps it came later, it probably would’ve sold like hot cakes at the time of release. In retrospect though, perhaps a tad confusing for JD fans as time moves on. Don’t get me wrong, the illustration is powerful, but didn’t Ian Curtis look more like this?

Okay they’re similar, but still, you know how obsessive Joy Division fans are, I suppose that explains why the t-shirt is entitled ‘Control’ as opposed to hmm.. Division? I read a sad story last year that someone stole Ian Curtis’ gravestone, I wonder if they ever returned it? Kinda totally screwed up if you ask me…

Small Brother Tee by Goin

Absolutely hilarious, I love this t-shirt by Goin. The Small Brother tee (also available as a scarf) features the current French President Nicolas Sarkozy. One of his first actions was to give himself a raise: his yearly salary went from ‚Ǩ101000 to ‚Ǩ240000, he’s notoriously rude to just about everyone off camera, has a string of failed marriages, over half of France can’t stand the man, is he an idiot, a bully, or a special blend of the two? I’ll let you decide for yourselves. Goin is a fascinating artist, his Dadaist approach to graffiti art is popular both in France and Britain. He’s been featured at the Cans Festival and Bristol Upfest, do make sure to check out his Flickr stream for works like this one:-

Spamme Tee by Systaime

Loving this one too – Spamme by Systaime is probably my fave at Antiphrase. I can’t stand spam. I really can’t. I still get tons of it to this day. If I worked out how much time I must spend getting rid of it it’d probably account for at least 6 months of my life – which is a rather depressing fact. The more anti-spam t-shirts out there the better I say. This may seem a rather crazy and eclectic design to some, but the fact it’s printed on the back of this tee really give it a nice twist, almost as if we can all ‘turn our backs’ on what must be one of the worst aspects of being online. Just to make sure you all know, I won’t be collecting my lottery winnings from Nigeria any time soon and I have a perfectly adequate sized schlong, so no need to email me any more offers about those two subjects. Anyway back to the point this tee rocks, if you want more Systaime in your life have a look at his mad and bad library of videos.

Check out the rest of this strange and wonderful collection at www.antiphrase.com now…