Rocket Tee by 718 Project

admin    T-Shirt News, T-Shirts     718 Project, 718project, Rocket Tee, art shirts, graffiti, street art

Chris from 718 Project contacted me recently, I hadn’t heard of the label before but was immediately drawn to one of their tees simply called ‘Rocket‘.

Damn! Ain’t they beautiful! Seriously street art influenced tees with a superb sense of humour, laid out in a cool semi-abstract composition. Seriously these tees are going to fly off the proverbial shelves – no pun intended! Both colours are available in sizes S-XL for $19.95 each, definitely one of my new faves.

You can see the rest of 718Project’s tees at www.718project.com. Whilst we were chatting I got a little background info on the label and their motivation:

Formed by a group of friends with an aversion to the countless and mostly unimaginative tattoo tees and rhinestone shirts out there. The 718 Project is founded on the love of powerful eye-catching graphic art, and printing them up as tees that really can grab the public’s attention.

I asked them about the name “718 Project” and Chris told me: “We all have some sort of tie to the outer boroughs of New York; mainly Queens. Also whenever anybody refers to NYC the first thing that comes into mind is the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, skyscrapers… in other words MANHATTAN ( which ironically is the only borough of NYC that has a 212 area code as oppose to 718 like the other 4 boroughs.) So our objective is to show the fashion world of the artistic influences the outer boroughs have toward NYC as a whole. That even though the fashion Mecca of the world is Manhattan; Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island also play a major role into what comes out of the big city.“

I’ve always championed the indie arts scene of NYC, I am the first to express my hatred for the B.S that comes out of mainstream NYC (a.k.a the abomination that was Sex in the City). If you want to know the real deal when it comes to New York street style, then the 718 Project is a great place to start. This definitely is a “project”, an ongoing experiment in art and fashion, aiming, quite rightly to change the mainstream public’s perception of what New York is all about, straight from the people on the street rather than the executive boardrooms of the ivory towers of Manhattan.

Their inspirations include “pin-up girls, influential pop culture, propaganda and movie posters, and of course street art and graffiti.” Here’s 718′s mission statement to seal the deal: “”Introduce yourself to the name that will bring the streets of New York home. Bred from street art and refined through fashion, this wearable art yells in the colors of the city. In an effort to bring originality to a market of recycled fashion, our company will open your minds to an innovative style.“

Check out the rest of their collection at www.718project.com.

The Peralta Project

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Gaza, The Peralta Project, Tony Peralta, graffiti, hip hop tees, hip-hop t-shirts, political shirts

Dominican-born artist M. Tony Peralta is the sort of guy whose life might just end up being told in an urban TV documentary one day. He began his ‘creative career’ in Washington Heights as an escape from the prevailing gang culture, a former break-dancer, he quickly turned to graffiti art as a release from the violence and drug infested streets where he grew up. He first hit the headlines after being inspired by a news report about 11 year old kids learning to make home-made bombs by creating the Gaza Strip (Freedom) print, which as it happens is available at his unique site The Peralta Project. His collection of tees, hats, prints, jewellery and paintings are not a collection, or so Peralta says. He doesn’t follow the usual traditions of fashion, harking from a graffiti background and earning his living as an artist/designer. In fact he raised funds for his creative career by giving haircuts to drug dealers on street corners, his life experience enhancing a vision of how life is and how it should be, something rather unique to the t-shirt industry.

His store The Project Shop is cleanly laid out and offers a full background story on each and every design, which makes for an enticing stroll around the site, even if you’re only window shopping. Each tee explores a different aspect of gang culture, or in certain cases such as his Freedom t-shirt, the culture of violence as is so apparent in Gaza. With the recent Israeli attacks on aid ships attempting to break the blockade and bring the people of Gaza vital food and supplies, Peralta’s passion for the underdog are more pertinent than ever. I recently read that Israel were about to allow the import of confectionery which shows just how out of control the embargo has been until now. However, for the main part one can expect a particularly Washington Heights based view of culture, exploring different aspects of the ‘hood’ and how he and others have survived, armed with common knowledge and common sense.

As Peralta would say, take a look at his “art in progress”…

Uptown Livery Cab Service T-Shirt

As Tony so eloquently puts it “It’s a homage to the immigrant livery cab driver from Uptown that is out there night and day chasing the American Dream.” The Uptown Livery Cab Service T-Shirt design is a fictional advertisement for the ‘gypsy’ cab service circa 1920s. Often found in the least affluent and fructious areas of New York, picking up passengers from the street, the riders boarded “at their own risk”, however the drivers risked their lives almost every night, just to get ahead in the world. The t-shirt is available in cranberry, sizes S-XL for $35 here.

Money Makin’ Manhattan $24 Stamp T-Shirt

Again available for $35 in all sizes, the Money Makin’ Manhattan $24 Stamp tee commemorates  the purchase of Manhattan Island by the Dutch West India Company from the Lenape Indians in 1626 for $24. Perhaps the biggest con in all history. The deal took place at Inwood Hill Park, a place to hustle till you drop, make it big, and show the world you have more money than them. Great design, and a fascinating slice of history.

Defend Uptown T-Shirt

This one’s very cool. Designed to bring attention to the fight against the gentrification of Uptown (Harlem,Washington Heights,Inwood.) Killing the culture, and ousting local families, many of whom have lived there for generations. As usual when a problem gets too hot to handle, government will always take the option to shift it onto someone else, somewhere else, rather than try to fix the inequity. The Defend Uptown T-Shirt is available in all sizes for $35 here.

Freedom T-Shirt

As you’d expect I had to include Peralta’s Freedom t-shirt, a variation on the original print/artwork, I really like the guy’s stencil stylings, although I have to admit I much prefer the version featured in his interview with Giant Magazine. Available in black and only medium sizes are left (all others sold out) at $35, you can swipe yours here.

Fall ’09 at Beautiful Decay

admin    T-Shirt News     Aya Kato, Fall 09, SickSystems, beautiful decay, designer t-shirts, graffiti, illustration, latest tees

I’ve just had an email from Beautiful/Decay, and yet again they’re offering a whole new batch of beautiful tees for your delectation, including some superb designs from the likes of Russian graffiti crew The SickSystems, a lovely typography shirt by Jessica Hische, and three new offerings from the inimitable Aya Kato – Japanese master of the illustrated line plus Ben Tegel, Official Classic and Colin Strandberg. BD have certainly been busy (as usual) snapping up the best of the best to feature in their latest collection, so without further a due, let’s get cracking on and check these beauties out:- read more

My Designs For Antiphrase

admin    T-Shirt News     Body Electric, Paul Baines, Viral Society, art shirts, graffiti, new tees, t-shirt design, t-shirt designs

In case you’re interested in what I do asides blog my heart out then check out these two designs I have completed for Antiphrase, a French art shirt label with a fair share of artistic credence when it comes to the European graffiti scene. I’m supposed to create 3 designs for them (at the very least), they’ll be setting up my own sub-store on completion of the 3rd and will also begin selling my work via their retail boutique in France, which will be opening in September.

As you might expect, my designs aren’t going to be your run-of-the-mill t-shirts, I am after all an all out weirdo, artistically I probably hark from another dimension, still they seem to think there will be a market for my work. Still here’s a preview of what’s to come at Antiphrase.fr in the near future! read more

Antiphrase Of The Day

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Bristol Upfest, Cans Festival, France, French, antiphrase, antiphrase tees, antiphrase.com, goin, graffiti, graffiti t-shirts, systaime

Antiphrase.com are a French fashion brand which focuses on providing a creative platform for worldwide artists and designer. Their 100% organic t-shirts are printed with, for the most part, extreme illustrations that feature some truly experimental and graffiti artists including Systaime and Goin. At the moment they have a very select group of designers on their books, each with their own unique style, and subjectively covering all manner of topics from Internet spam, to politics, to dreams, you name it it’s there.

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. read more