Funky Tees For Boys

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Mister Mista, boys t-shirts, graphic t-shirts, illustrated tees, kids tees

When I was a kid the best I could come up with as far as t-shirts went was a Scooby Doo tee that crackled the first time it hit the washing machine, within a few weeks I was fighting my mother off as she tried to bin the ugly thing. Fortunately times have changed, men and especially boys get a far less raw deal when it comes to fashion, whether it’s quality or choice. One fine example for boys has to be Mister Mista who specialise in t-shirts for boys, the big difference being this is a “proper” indie label with an in-house designer, a unique range of incredibly well conceived designs, and a devotion to quality screen printing, just how I like it. What’s more each tee is limited to 100 and here’s a really sweet detail, the “background story” to each character is printed on the back of each personalised swing tag. A very nice touch.

Mister Mista are based in Australia, made up of a highly talented husband and wife team, Renee Price having a strong background in marketing, and Travis being a successful illustrator, it seems like the perfect set-up. You can see more of Travis’ illustrations at www.travisprice.com.au. He’s worked with plenty of major agencies and online companies, I think you’ll be impressed. I actually first came across Travis’ work when I spotted this piece featuring Bill Murray as Hermin Blume in the movie Rushmore (a must see!). His work really reminds me of the animator Genndy Tartakovsky – a great talent behind toons like Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory. If I’ve piqued your interest then check these out:

3 New Tees At Infinite Now

admin    T-Shirt News     graphic t-shirts, infinite now, infinite-now-com, logo tees, new t-shirts, octopus tee

Graphic savvy Infinite Now have just released three new tees (well two if you want to be absolutely technically pedantically precise about these things), two logo t-shirts and one rather jolly little number featuring an octopus. I remember a few years back when octopuses were sprawling all over the t-shirt world, perhaps it was the lure of drawing all those suckers, who knows, all I know is IN are reviving an old favourite of mine and how…

All three tees, 8 Ways, Blackout and Knockout are available in sizes S-XL at $25 each, printed on super soft American Apparel shirts. Check them all out at www.infinite-now.com!

New Tees At Simplified Clothing

admin    T-Shirt News     Simplified Clothing, graphic t-shirts, graphic tees

Simplified Clothing are back with a new website, logo and collection. As you’d expect their new designs are as clean cut, and you guessed it, simple as ever. Before I show you my faves you might want to keep up with all their updates via Flickr and Twitter, and if you’re after a bargain there’s a few tees lingering in their sale section. What’s more if you’re in the trade you’ll be glad to know they offer their shirts at wholesale prices too!

Anyway check these out…

Obama T-Shirt

Yes it’s another Obama T-Shirt but don’t worry this one takes a rather different angle on the usual fawning we’ve all become accustomed to. After all I predicted no one, President or not, could live up to the massive hype Obama received. I really like the graphic, a pixelated Barack smoking a cigarette, something that probably wouldn’t have gone down to well at the elections, then again the tobacco giants must be lapping it up. If you want to see more “early Obama” photos see Lisa Jack’s 1980 shots of a funky doob smoking President to be at Time.com. According to ABC News the guy’s hooked on Nicorette these days ;) Get the Simplified Obama Tee for $21.99 in sizes XS-XXL.

O.G Logo T-Shirt

Well it’s the Simplified Clothing logo to be precise, but who knows, they might be “original gangsters”, then again I might completely have the wrong end of the stick there. Still I like the use of the “no bleach” symbol, a good choice, and one they’ve extended (rather cleverly) towards the whole environmental debate via their No Bleach tee, (what debate? we’re all going to die :/). If you’re a fan of laundry symbols, the ultimate in geek graphics asides motorway signs, then take a look at their Take Care tee. In the meantime, don’t bleach this tee, your hair or the environment, let’s keep it au naturelle :0 Anyway, this one looks a little like a Pink Floyd tee from a distance, which is a plus for me, but then again I did used to be a hippy when I had the hair “sigh”. Get this shirt for Men in grey (S-L) and Women in black (S-L) for $21.99.

Diamond T-Shirt

A diamond might be a girl’s best friend, but this shirt must be a close acquaintance at the very least.Funnily enough though this is a unisex tee, and in all honesty the blueprint style graphics leans towards the masculine if you ask me. I like it, I like the coldness of the design, rather like a visual equivalent of Autobahn by Kraftwerk it leaves you stumped, supplanted with the cryptic advice that “Fig.5a The color is most easily discernible at the point of the stone.” Rather fascinating yet as always, simplified. This one’s available for $21.99 for guys in a whole array of sizes.

Finally learn the truth that “less is more” at Simplified Clothing today!

Art Shirts by ARDT

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     ARDT, ardentees, art shirts, graphic t-shirts, graphic tees, illustration

ARDT @ www.ardentees.com is the culmination of the vision and hard work of Curtis Liau, Benjamin Loy and Donovan Casey Mathews who aim to blur the line between art and t-shirts, which personally I’m all for. I’ve written quite a few posts heralding the change in public opinion towards t-shirts, both as a fashion item and art form, and it’s always nice to see new recruits to the cause. ARDT work with a large selection of talented artists to produce their highly particular style, right now there are a few available designs, buy I have an inkling with their army of talent waiting in the wings it won’t be long before they’ll producing a whole lot more.

They generously provide full profile pages with links for each and everyone of their artists and actively encourage interaction with their visitors who are free to comment on any t-shirt at the store. The site is superbly laid out, simple, clean and subtly slick, it’s obvious that Ardentees have really thought through what they’re doing. In general I like the t-shirts on offer although I have to say if I was running the show one of the first designers I’d feature is the German artist Pearpicker who has produced this superb illustration of a tattooed sailor.

Who knows, maybe this one is already on the cards? In the meantime here’s a few tees that are for sale right now!

Is This Truly Wonderland T-Shirt

The Is This Truly Wonderland T-Shirt by German designer Hansomoto and it offers a venerable bounty of flamboyant hand and vector illustration work (I’m guessing it’s a blend due to the style). I like the central motif, a letter “A” that’s reminiscent of a lot of antique embroidery panels, which I assume stands for the name “Alice” as in “Alice in Wonderland”? Again, I am guessing here. Still it’s a lovely decorative design, highly detailed and expressive in style. Get this unisex tee in white for $35 in sizes XS-L. As with all ARDT’s shirts, this tee has been screen-printed on 100% cotton, would be nice to see them shift to organic in the future. Still one thing at a time.

CMYK Inside T-Shirt

I’m always keen on CMYK tees, essentially the building blocks of all printing, just four colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and key which is black) and halftone shading can create infinite colours. As for CMYK Inside, it’s a nice t-shirt with an appeal for the more expressionist of tastes, but in all honesty it doesn’t either make the most of or even celebrate the wonders of CMYK. I’d like to have seen something far more complex, I’m surprised that the artist hadn’t incorporated halftones which would bring this design to life, and conceptual fruition to boot. Get this unisex tee in white for $35 in sizes XS-L.

“A” T-Shirt

Uniquely combining typography and the human form, I particularly like the “A” T-Shirt by British freelance designer Jack Crossing. It reminds me a little of 60′s fashion photography, especially in the Swinging Sixties of London with models like Twiggy, The Shrimp, designers like Mary Quant, and a deep respect for the power of composition. I’m not sure if I like the slight introduction of colour in this piece though, would be nice to see it in solid or halftone black and white. Get this unisex tee in black for $35 in sizes XS-L.

Check out their art shirt collection at www.ardentees.com or hook up with them at Facebook.

The New Standard

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     art shirts, concrete rocket, graphic t-shirts, the new standard

I received a comment from Concrete Rocket the other day and thought I’d check out this Singapore-based freelance designer out, and I’m glad I did. CR offers up a fine selection of graphic tees, exuberantly designed and highly stylized tees that take a sly wry look at the world we live in. Taking influences from both traditional art and urban/street art Concrete Rocket’s style reminds me a little of graffiti artist Banksy from time to time, which is no bad thing! You can check out his store at www.ConcreteRocket.com where there are currently 7 shirts available for both men and women, reasonably priced at between $19.50 and $21 each. My favourites have to be the intriguingly titled Bouncing Off a Satellite T-Shirt and Balloon Man T-Shirt.

I love the style of these two tees, and the reference to American Gothic in the Bouncing Off a Satellite T-Shirt is a very cool touch. Whilst attempting to do a little research about Concrete Rocket I found more examples of their work at a rather intriguing artist’s collective called The New Standard, which as you’ve guessed by now Concrete Rocket is on their books. I couldn’t resist featuring a few fine examples from other artists at The New Standard. They make some rather bold statements of intent such as “New Standard is more than apparel, and more than an art movement….New Standard is art moving. New Standard has arrived.”. Fortunately the t-shirt art on offer, for the most part, definitely stands the test of scrutiny.

Check these out:

Le Chief  T-Shirt

A lovely piece of montage, very silly and just the way I like it. The Le Chief tee is available for men (S-XL) and women (S-XL) for $28. Yes, yes, this one’s by Concrete Rocket too :p

Hungry Like A Wolf T-Shirt

Inspired by the classic Duran Duran track? Who knows, but love that style. Very Fairey! Great colours and a clean cut design. This shirt’s by artist and designer Leon Vault and is available in sizes S to XL for men for $28.

Tree of Hands T-Shirt

Beautiful woodcut style t-shirt design by highly talented illustrator Lydia Oritz. A beautiful olde-worlde look to this one, it probably has some deep spiritual meaning to it but I just like the style. Very Aboriginal art for a Manila-born American artist? Get The Tree of Hands Tee that’s unfortunately only available for the guys right now for $28 in all sizes here.

Beautiful designs, the artists are top notch at TNS and the site reminds you that buying one of their tees will support an artist which is always a good thing. There’s some kind of CSS/Javascript pop-up that really annoys me though. It keeps making sure I know my cart is empty, not sure if that’s bad programming or a pushy sales technique, but it doesn’t work. Despite that one minor technical qualm I have a lot of hope for the future of  The New Standard. Definitely a label to keep your eye on, and of course all the artists on their books, including Concrete Rocket, who are doing such sterling work!

Tees That Don’t Suck!

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Europe, T-Shirts, graphic t-shirts, italy, suck clothing

Suck! Clothing are based in Italy and sell their funky t-shirts via their online store at www.suckmystar.bigcartel.com. First off I don’t know if the meaning got lost in the translation but I guarantee you one thing, Suck! Clothing doesn’t suck! In fact quite the opposite, their wild style designs and jampacked with strong colours, memorable designs and a great sense of humour. They seem to take their inspiration from everywhere including bad movies like Teenwolf, abstract and graffiti art, outer space, and surreal cartoons. Their latest and highly confident collection opens up a vista of Italian design sensibility that’s distinctly different to much on offer in the USA dominated t-shirt market.

Check out their video promo for their Sping/Summer 2010 collection, it’s not too informative but the music is cool heh.

Check out these tees:

Wayne’s World T-Shirt

The Wayne’s World T-Shirt says it all. If you still find yourself mumbling “Wayne’s World! Party time! Excellent!” from time to time, probably reluctantly and with a smidgeon of guilty pleasure then come out of the proverbial heavy metal closet and proclaim your love for this celluloid tribute to iffy rock and bad jokes. I don’t know what it is about Mike Myers, his movies, especially Austin Powers, seemed so funny at the time, nowadays they grate on my nerves. Still the t-shirt rocks, a great sense of perspective and superb old school colours. Get this tee for guys in sizes XS to L for $31. PLUS get a free limited edition hand numbered Wayne’s World poster (applies to first 100 customers).

Teenwolf T-Shirt

I like this one, hate the film mind you, but I like this shirt. Probably the smartest piece of brand placement I’ve ever seen, a great lesson for budding designers trying to think of a name for their label, make sure you can use your logo in your designs! College does suck, or rather it did when I was there, not as much as school mind you, not even as much as work, but sure, it sucks. Love the font on this one, looks like something out of a bad horror comedy, oh yeah it is heh. The face needs some work, if that is supposed to be Michael J. Fox under all that fur? I give it a 7/10, would give it a 9 if they sort that face out. Get the Teenwolf T-Shirt for $31 for guys in all sizes. Get a free movie poster with this order too…

Candies T-Shirt

Here’s a cutie for the girls, it’s called the Candies T-Shirt and the reasons why are self evident. Those lollipops look so real I wouldn’t be surprised if Suck! has deliberately stuck real ones on there to mess with your mind. If you have an extremely sweet tooth then you can get this tee for girls in sizes S to L for $25.

1969 T-Shirt

A lot of stuff happened in 1969, first off I was born the day before on New Year’s Eve, the world had succumbed to Moon madness, and everyone thought we’d be living there by now, don’t ask me why, I’d want to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. The hippies started kicking off, they’d come down off their seemingly inexhaustible supply of LSD and free love and started getting shot by bikers. Iggy Pop’s Stooges made a great song about the year, it doesn’t tell us much except that just maybe that the people were sick of putting flowers in their hair and wanted to riot a la the French. Cool t-shirt, nice sentiment, get the 1969 T-Shirt for guys at $25 in sizes XS to L.

See the rest of Suck! Clothing’s shirts at www.suckmystar.bigcartel.com plus check out their blog and Facebook page too!

The Highly Motivated Super Motif

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Isabelle Lumpkin, Little Boots, Rolling Stones, Santigold, graphic t-shirts, illustrated tees, super motif, supermotif.com

I’ve just read through Super Motif‘s manifesto and am fascinated at the ideological machinations behind this label, both conceptually and philosophically. This British brand openly reject the usual routes to building a successful name in fashion, preferring instead to take a dicier but more impressive stance, to simply let their t-shirts speak for themselves. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for SM, not only is the ethos behind their company as illuminating as anyone in retail could possibly muster, they produce a fine selection of graphically exuberant tees that would raise the bar in anyone’s wardrobe.

Although their submissions page is down right now they do still seem to be encouraging work from designers and artists, with a preference for hand-drawn illustrations for the main part. Check out their commissions page for more details, just remember that SM are as interested in why things look like they do as what they look like! The current payouts for accepted t-shirt designs are a £500 advance against a royalty of 12% of gross sales.

SM are gracious enough to dedicate a page to their designers too, which is something I’d like to see at a lot more t-shirt stores. If you fancy listening to music, SM are a multi-talented company after all, check out their mix tapes. But first and foremostly, let’s take a look at some of their t-shirts! read more

Feed The Brain – Print The Mind

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     TPM, The Printed Mind, brain, brain tees, brains, graphic t-shirts, mind, theprintedmind.com

The Printed Mind have slipped by me so far, I do know that Levi Hardeman, part of Texas-based Word! Apparel in a previous incarnation started his new venture this year, but asides that I have little more to go on than the rest of you good tee-obsessed folks out there. What I can say is they offer up a wide range of smart slick designs, printed in generous proportions, and every t-shirt is guaranteed to have some association, however vague, with the mind or brain, depending how you hang philosophically.

Asides their fascination with the cerebellum they have nurtured ties with a family of hardcore metal bands including A Tragic History and My Children My Bride, have deep debates on the best Mexican restaurants and a slight leaning towards the dafter end of the Sci-Fi spectrum. As you’ll soon no doubt discover their passion for exploring the mind won’t lead you into the furthest regions of philosophical debate, or the meaning of being. Let’s just say they’ve come to the same conclusion that many of us do in our relatively short time on the planet. The mind is a strange thing, harboured up in a couple of pounds of grey matter, firing off electrical impulses under a protective bone shell, and came upon the idea that this rather mysterious subject would make a great concept for a t-shirt collection. Which it invariably does.

Here’s why:- read more

Ride The Rockett – Black Friday Sale

admin    T-Shirt News     Black Friday Sale, Ride The Rockett, cut price tees, graphic t-shirts, illustrated tees, t-shirt discounts, t-shirt sale

Hey here we go with another Black Friday, this time courtesy of our good friends at Ride The Rockett. We’ve featured before if you’re not familiar with their work, read it at Supersonic Tees at Rockett. If you want zombies, heavy metal, punk, Satanism, bad taste humour, L.A surrealism, or anything under the general header of ‘your mother/father wouldn’t approve’, then you have to check out this label. They deliver 110% over-the-top illustrated tees that turn heads till they twist off zombie killer style heh.

But here’s where it gets really exciting. RTR are offering a ginormous 40% off their products this Friday, now that’s a big deal worth raiding the piggy bank for something a little more extreme than the usual tees in your wardrobe. Just enter the code bozobux40 at the checkout, and if you spend more than $50 you’re automatically entered into their contest to win one tee from every collection in your size!!!

Anyway, can’t leave this without showing one great example from the label:- read more

The Tee Tao of Hizoku

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     art shirts, artists, graphic t-shirts, graphic tees, hizoku, hizoku.com, illustrators

Hizoku have lofty ideals, that’s for sure. Their aim to collectively cultivate human creativity is borne out in their high concept, intricately illustrated tees for the t-shirt connoisseur, there’s no doubting that. The supreme message might not be to everyone’s taste, such as the t-shirt blog Hide Your Arms, but it doesn’t take long to realise that once you’ve arrived at Hikozu’s store the results speak for themselves. I don’t really mind what the ultimate aim is for this brand, I just know good t-shirts when I see them, and this label supplies them thick and fast. With a superb team of professional artists and graphic designers working behind the scenes to advance the art of the t-shirt, rest assured Hizoku deliver what they promise.

Names such as Facundo Diaz a prestigious Argentinian graphic/web designer and 3D illustrator, Tony Ariawan an Indonesian designer and 3D illustrator with an incredible eye for light and all its manifest effects, and A. J Dimarucot whose elemental blending of the extremes of traditional art and graphic design all reside in this particular slice of higher consciousness known as Hizoku. For those with their feet firmly planted in the ground, the fact that Dimarucot is a former art director for OgilvyOne be a simpler clue to the extreme high standard of illustration at this beguilingly graphic t-shirt company. Here’s another even bigger sign that Hizoku are probably as hot as an indie t-shirt brand can get, Dimarucot is currently in the top ten designers at Design By Humans, if he’s voted the overall best he’ll be awarded a massive $10,000 – so if you do love his work go and vote for him here.

Hizoku have yet more strings to their proverbial bow, they’re business savvy to the extreme, with freebies pouring out left, right and centre, here’s what you can expect for being a customer at their store.

*Free shipping on all orders over $75 in the USA.
*Customer perks including: Buy 1 item and receive a free sticker pack. Buy 2 for free stickers and a wristband. Buy 3 items for free stickers, a wristband and free shipping. Buy 4 for all of the above plus a free randomly chosen t-shirt!
*Buy 5 shirts or posters for a 12% discount. Buy 10 for a 20% discount. Yep they print posters too at just $10 each!
*Join their Street Team and earn a free shirt for every 5 you sell.

Phew… let’s take a look at our top picks:- read more