Evol

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Evol, Evol clothing, art shirts, graphic t-shirts, indie tees, original tees

As yet I haven’t once mentioned Evol, who’ve been around for a decade now, and can easily be described as a mainstay of the indie tee scene. They sell their graphic t-shirts, sweats, hoodies and more right across the States and have had tons of coverage from the media, as well as an involvement in the music industry which includes sponsored events. This label is for real. Their tees are cool too, great designs, sassy cuts, and plenty to keep both guys and girls enticed.

Marilyn Tank

Let’s begin with a really slick tank for the girls featuring the inimitable icon of the Silver Screen herself, Marilyn Monroe. Very sexy. $32 XS-L. If you like this one you’ll probably like their Luscious Lips Tank too, which comes in pink and white.

Boom Tee

A lovely Pop Art/Street Art style tee, Boom is dead subtle with a nicely placed imagery that really piques your interest. Reminds me of a mix between East London street art and an old Keith Haring. Very nice! $28 S-2XL – also in charcoal.

Dr. Evol Tee

Nice piece of product placement in this subvert tee, I love spoofing brands, bring ‘em all down I say. We’ll have to wait for Evola Cola which I am sure is just around the corner :p $28 in S-2XL and sweats available too.

Spaceman Tee

Love it, nice old Soviet style space graphics, my favourite. I feel real at home with this one, especially the denim version. Very cool, kitsch but not too much, get it for $28 in S-XXL. Also in natural and sweats.

See plenty more fine graphic gear at www.Evol.com.

Aphrodite Tee

admin    T-Shirts     Aphrodite, Aphrodite t-shirt, Aphrodite tee, art tees, graphic t-shirts

It’s the latest release from Californian indie label TwinSprnt and it’s a cracker…

Aphrodite Tee

It’s available for pre-order now at $16.50 each for men (S-XXL) in black or navy and women (S-L) in black. Gorgeous.

See more at www.twinsrpnt.com.

Miles To Go

admin    T-Shirt Discounts, T-Shirt Reviews     Coty, Greg Kerr, Miles To Go, art t-shirts, artist tees, graphic t-shirts, illustrated tees

Greg Kerr, the guy behind Miles To Go Clothing is a multi-talented t-shirt visionary with his finger most definitely on the pulse in the tee scene. There are a couple of great interviews if you fancy learning more here and here. This guy started off selling hand printed tees in a Phoenix market, now he’s procuring designs from artists worldwide, and respected ones at that, to produce great collection after collection. Anyway, let’s move straight on to the fine collection of tees on offer at MTGC, including a bunch of great unisex discharge ink t-shirts at bargain prices!

The Invisible Man Tee

A lovely antique style toon tee available in coffee in unisex sizes XS-XL (2XL sold out) and small for girls at $24.99 each.

Medusa Tee

Amazing artwork and a superb 4 colour discharge ink print… stare and be turned to stone :0 Available S-XL at just $15 each! Also available as limited edition screen prints here.

Dulce Muerte Tee

Aka “sweet death”, another excellent design, in its final print and only S-L sizes left at $15 each.

Paradise Lost Tee

An absolutely beautiful design by Dan Mumford that takes inspiration from the 1667 poem by John Milton. It’s on its last print and only sizes XS-L are left at $15 each. It even comes with a free belt! If you like custom belts Greg Kerr runs www.milestogobelts.com as well.

Alone Poe Tee

This beauty’s by Russian designer Rob Dobi who we’ve featured a few times here at Buy Tees. This time inspired by Gothic horror writer Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Alone. Again on its last print and only sizes XS and M-XL left at just $15 each.

See more tees, hoodies, track jackets and belts at www.MilesToGoClothing.com.

Topo Ranch

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     California, Top Ranch, Topo, graphic t-shirts, graphic tees

I was rather surprised that Topo Ranch‘s PR people had requested a review at little ‘ol Buy Tees. I doubt many Brits have heard of the label but in California they are big, and how. First off, in case you don’t know ‘Topo’ is slang for a Prairie Dog, and there’s a long story behind why Topo Ranch hail this humble creature, starting way back in the original Great Depression (which  may need to be renamed the ‘Lesser Depression’ in the near future). Back here in the present day Top Ranch’s logo the “Flying Topo” is a familiar sight around Venice Beach, popular amongst guys and girls alike. They sell their 100% sustainable fabric tees at flagship stores in Venice, California and Boulder and their gear is on sale in a further 200 stores across the USA. They’re even the official merchandise provider for Sundance Film Festival and what’s more they’ve garnered some really big fans includingLeonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Silverstone and Ben Folds Five.

Right now they’re holding a 50% winter sale, so this is should be a great time to show you a few of their graphic tees to give you an idea of what Topo Ranch do.

Inland Vee

My fave tee at TR, even if it is for the ladies, kinda reminds me of an old travel poster from the 1920′s, lovely bold confident swathes of colour make up for one hell of a classy vee. Available on sale now for $24.95 (usual price a mind staggering $39 – gulp). Right now this one’s only available in XS but for everyone else there’s a very similar tee in the form of the Islander Vee, still available in sizes XS-L available at the same price.

The Beer Tee

What do you get if you cross a bear and a deer? A beer, and there’s a good head on this one, although you’ll have to squeeze in to a men’s XS as stocks are low. If you can ,you’ll probably need it, if only to give you a little Dutch courage in your next bar room brawl :D Available for $24.95.

The Topo Tee

Here’s the famous Topo Tee. Now that’s a cute logo! Loads of men’s sizes left for sale at a whopping great $39.99. The lovely long tee version for the ladies available in white and black which is on sale now for a relatively bargain price of just $19.99 but only large sizes are left. Grrr.

I’d have liked to have shown you more, but Topo Ranch embeds its images in Flash so I can’t gather any more decent sized photos. The trouble with talking via a PR company rather than their client is that it stretches out any request ad infinitum. I’ve encouraged them to upload larger images of all their products to Flickr but to no avail. Some companies, independent or otherwise, can grow so large that they can’t see the wood from the trees when it comes to building a relationship with a worldwide audience. Flickr is a great way of getting your designs out there in the wider world, the whole world. Who knows, perhaps Topo Ranch will consider a more personal approach for the future? What’s more, if any of you do run a t-shirt label make sure there’s some stock left when you have a PR blitz! Lol.

You can see the rest of their wide range of graphic tees, vees, long-sleeve tees, fleeces and knits at www.TopoRanch.com. Let’s just hope you find something in stock!

Redemption Brand

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Redemption Brand, graphic t-shirts, logo shirts, logo tees, vintage tees

Here’s a couple of Winter Collection tees from Redemption Brand. I missed out on the absolute belters they had last Summer including Beholder and Authentic. I’ve had a word with Tyler Hoppel, the guy behind the label and it’s 50/50 right now if they’ll be reprinted in the future. Ah well, console yourselves with these two unisex t-shirts available at $18 in sizes XS-XXL…

Protect Your Heart

There were Griffins everywhere when I was a kid, school crests, church towers, royal shields, and half of Wales was smothered in them back then. I guess life in Ol’ Blighty did used to be a little like Harry Potter. Nice design, nice tee, nice Griffin, good Griffin, ouch.

Icon Tee

Kinda little bit Fantastic 4 for me, but then again I am an old git and my Lycra jumpsuit has seen better days. If you like your t-shirts branded to the hilt you’ll struggle to find better than this one. Slick, like Fairey but without the faces.

One last thing, a quick tale on how exactly Redemption Brand got its name :- “The idea of starting a clothing company came to me when I went into an interview about 7 months ago and came out a changed person. The interviewer immediately judged because I had tattoos and I knew he wasn’t going to give me the job as soon as he set his eyes upon me. How do I know this you might ask? He told me. His words that are now engraved on my mind were “you would be qualified to work in our warehouse because of your tattoos, not in the office where our customers could see you”…

See moreof what Tyler did next at www.RedemptionBrand.com.

Win Tees @ Young Lovers

admin    T-Shirt Contests, T-Shirt News     Dylan t-shirt, Dylan tee, I heart NYC, NY Tees, NY tee, graphic t-shirts, limited edition tees, music t-shirts, t-shirt contest, young lovers

It’s all happening over at www.YoungLoversLabel.com, they have just released their new range of Limited Edition T-shirts (100 each) for 2011 plus their holding a freebie t-shirt competition, just to start off the year with a bang! As always their latest collection is as irreverent, punchy and urbanite as ever, “Creatures of the Midnight” offers up an instant classic in the form of the Bob Dylan x Beethoven Tee, plus a few more beauties to keep your on your toes. What’s more they’re running a competition for the next 10 days and it’s dead easy to enter:

• Just click the Facebook like button on the 3 tees that you want.
• Five lucky winners will each receive their 3 tees for free!
• They’ll be in touch with the 5 lucky winners via Facebook on January 31.

Here are a few of the new tees at YOL all of which are available for $48 in sizes S-XL and cuts for guys and girls/unisex.

Bob Dylan x Beethoven Tee

Love it, an amazing graphic transposition. It’s one of those images you’d had have expected to crop up yonks ago. Nice one ;) Get it in black and white for men and women. Remember these and all YOL’s tees are highly limited!

Rats Tee

Hilarious. Now that’s what I call theatre :p I never could stand Lloyd Webber, to be honest I’ve always felt that there’s a natural evolution in the arts and theatre has most definitely seen better days. Dumbing it down doesn’t help. If you can’t stand bad British theatre you can get the Rats Tee for guys and girls.

New York Smile Tee

Again, another classic design in the making. I am shocked that no one in NY had thought of this design until now. So simple it hurts. A smile in NY is a rare thing, get it in t-shirt form for guys and girls in black and white.

See more of the new additions at Young Lovers. Don’t forget to vote too!

DeadBuryDead Tees

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     dead bury dead, deadburydead, graphic t-shirts, graphic tees

Matthew 8:18-23 “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.” In case you’re wondering if Jesus had managed to train zombies to clear up their own mess you’ll be somewhat off the mark. Essentially the indie fashion label DeadBuryDead take inspiration from this message that life is for the living, we shouldn’t get bogged down with the practicalities of human existence, and that ‘life is a gift’.

Still, even if t-shirts won’t save the world they’re a nice distraction from the drudgery that is for many of us a daily experience. DBD’s passions for art, social conscience and a joie de vivre are embodied by their core brand experience, never prettifying or obscuring the truth, but almost taking it head on in a battle for the rewards of self enlightenment. It’s a fight worth fighting, and as they say it’s the journey that matters not the destination.

Having recently launched their new site and a few more tees it’s obvious that all guns are blazing at DBD’s marketing department, they come across as an extremely savvy label with a strong hold on design and brand message. The whole concept might be a little high falutin’ for some but stick with it, there’s a great set of tees behind the grandstanding. All of which are designed and printed in the US and available (asides  kids’ tees and sales items) at $23.99, many of which are limited editions.

Wasted Youth Tee

First off one of the two new tees, this one’s aptly called Wasted Youth and features the slogan “Sorry, We’re Bored”. I love the appropriation of a generic “shop closed” sign for the design. The message is clear as day, I remember a saying as a kid that went along the lines of something like “Only the stupid suffer from boredom”. A great opt out for an impoverished single parent, but for me it meant learning to amuse myself in a cornucopia of ways. Nowadays infinite choice is handed on a plate, the youth want to be famous for being famous, and however much respect you might have for your “skills” most people on the street would rather buy than create. That’s the crux of an overpoweringly consumer society, true originality of thought is the rarest of commodities. The other new release is the Born Free Tee which you can see here.

Crazy Horse Tee

Not so crazy if you ask me, I love the subject matter and the message. “Some things are worth dying for.” Limited edition – very few left in stock!

Shallow Grave Tee

This is one from DBD’s classic collection, an outstanding piece of branding, it wouldn’t look out of place on a zombie movie poster, a posh art house zombie flick of course!

Maggie’s Pharm Tee

I thought I’d finish off with one of DBD’s sale items, there are only a few left of this tee but seeing as it’s so cool (and cheap at just $9.99 each) I had to feature it. A lot of people think that the rise of street drugs is a bad thing, but prescription pharmaceuticals have done more to zombify and stagnate culture than anything a kid gets up to at a festival. I’ve had my stints in the loony bin and the crap they filled me with almost left me comatose. Truth is there is no miracle pill out there to cure a broken heart or mind, you have to fix those yourself.

See more at www.deadburydead.com or check out their primer here.

Torso Clothing

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Australian tees, Chris Halaska, OZ, Torso Clothing, art shirts, graphic t-shirts

Torso Clothing is a one man project by Chris Halaska, a graphic designer living in Sydney, Australia. Working mainly in digital but with skills in other areas such as Illustrator and animation he’s completed contracts for some very big names including Coca Cola and Warner Bros.

Torso Clothing provides Chris with the perfect outlet for his more personal designs. The store is a basic Big Cartel site right now so it could really do with a proper homepage (at least). The tees are on offer at a very decent $20 each (I’m guessing that’s US dollars) – and there are some very interesting ideas on show – all are printed on American apparel.

Big Bite Tee

“I vant to drink your blood”. Love the grills! I’m surprised it isn’t available for girls. Maybe it will be in the future :o

Nerd Glasses Tee

This one’s for you Poindexter :p

Crows Nest Tee

Fly fly away…

Silver Kiss Tee

Mwah. This one definitely needs to be available for the ladies!

If you want more visit www.TorsoClothing.com.au and for more updates follow TC @ Twitter.

ETC

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     ETC, ETC Fashion House, Embrace The Culture, abstract tees, etcfashionhouse, graphic t-shirts, pop art tees, text tees, typography tees

ETC aka “Embrace The Culture” is a positively charged piece of branding for an eclectic, didactic, but ultimately “open-minded” fashion house with their eye on the USA and Europe – hoping to dominate the typographic/graphic tee market with a selection of solid designer tees aimed at a wider-than-indie market whilst still retaining some of that ad hoc creative exuberance and spontaneity for the low-end catwalk. It’s a great piece of positioning if they can pull it off, although they’ll be creatively challenged from all sides by a wide variety of indie designers and top end labels, with the right exposure, pricing and coverage they might just crack it.

A deceptively simple site, a professional lookbook on their homepage (nice…) and a Big Cartel store are a good start, but I’d upgrade their account so they can  continue that branding right through to the checkout. The typography tees are definitely slick, but I’ve had my fill of text recently so I’ll focus on the graphic/text tees on offer for both guys and girls at $24.95 in sizes S-L.

Love is Blind Tank

Love Obtuse Tee

Try Angles Tank

See more at www.etcfashionhouse.com or read up at their arty blog.

New Hideout Tees

admin    T-Shirts     British tees, Hideout Apparel, Hideout Tees, graphic t-shirts, graphic tees

It’s been a while since we’ve posted about Hideout Apparel, they’ve a couple of new tees on offer, and they’ve done a great job of sprucing up the site. I have to admit I’m not keen on one of the tees, and regular readers will probably guess why in a moment… I’m not sure if I’ve made this suggestion before but I really think it’s time to get a separate domain name for the brand, or at least a subdomain, it’s easier to rank on Google, more fans find the tees, the brand gets greater recognition and so on and so on. Ah well we live and learn.

So here are the two newbies on the block:

Kraken Tee

There seems to be something of a resurgence for the Kraken, I’ve reviewed at least one other Kraken tee this month, and I’m sad to say this is the lesser of the two. It’s not so much the quality of illustration that’s at fault (although the lack of colour doesn’t help) it’s the damn rectangular print.

I feel like I’m turning into that crazy old man next door who spends all day shouting at his TV and occasionally hitting it with his walking stick. The problem with filling every part of print is that it reveals the limitations of the process. It just looks cheap. Sure it’s a big rectangle, but in a way that makes it worse, I don’t want to look at the edges of a print, I want to look at the design. Then there’s an enormous logo at the bottom which again I’d have preferred they’d left out.

I’m tempted to link to an example of how it should be done, but that’d probably be too cruel. Anyway I’m sure others will disagree, Hideout have a strong following after all. I just think, damn, what a waste of a concept. Could be so much better. Available for £20 in Asphalt and Heather.

Take Flight Tee

Phew… I am very glad to say I have exactly the opposite opinion on this one, beautifully drawn it looks like a frame from a French Zombie animated movie, very Quixotic in its own elusive fashion. The composition is great too (no rectangles in sight). For me it’s a far better tee than the first but I’m guessing it’s all down to the internal politics at Hideout, they’re friends and creative input is shared equally, even though I am convinced one has far more design talent than the others. Still… get the Take Flight Tee in Steel Blue and Asphalt (although confusingly some of the photos look as if they’ve been tinted red) for £20 each.

Ah well we live and learn.