Don’t Be Jealous Of Envee’s Tees

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Envee, Envee Apparel, art shirts, conceptual, designer tees, heaven, hell, tattoos

They say that the grass is always greener on the other side, who knows, I only have a small decked terrace with a few potted plants, but I’m guessing the idea that you can always aim higher rings true with many of us. The idea of a better life, a greater existence, a final destination is a concurrent theme throughout Envee Apparel‘s line of top quality designer t-shirts. I’ve just received a very enthusiastic email from Robert Hartland to take a look around their rather innovative fashion store and blog, and overall I’m impressed. I say overall because they are rather excessive in the logo department, something I’ve criticised many designers out there trying to make the grade, plus, and this can be easily remedied, the collection is a little scant on the ground right now. Bar those two rather minor criticisms I think the people at Envee maybe on to something, take a look at their “Destinations Collection” to see exactly what I am about to ramble on about.

Life can be full of surprises, it can take unexpected turns from one day to the next, some good, some not so good, some bad and some downright awful, but imagine, if you will for one moment, what happens after life? This is exactly the rather enormous question that Envee hopes to tackle with its unique line of tees for men and women. They have a very sharp attitude to design, the whole brand image has been well put together, from the design of the site to the shirts themselves, but don’t let the slick exterior of Envee fool you, these guys have their sights set on a whole other level, practically tackling the biggest question that any being on the planet will eventually face, and that is “what is the meaning of death?” as opposed to the more popular conundrum, “what is the meaning of life?”, which more than likely has an infinite choice of answers. Douglas Adams in his Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy novels states a simple mathematical equation resulting in the answer “42″, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey quotes the lyrics from a Poison track “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, Monty Python’s Flying Circus takes a rather simpler route offering the idea that one should “Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.” But what about the meaning of death? Well in a word it is, as far as Envee are concerned, a “destination.” read more

Kowtow Bows To No One!

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     NZ, New Zealand, T-Shirts, Velvet Underground, art shirts, artists, bow, eco, grunge, hell, kowtow, purgatory, retro, tees, underground design

Kowtow are shaking New Zealand’s fashion scene to its foundations. I never thought I’d put the words fashion and New Zealand together, but there’s always a first for everything! My partner Christina spent a good few years of her childhood over there when her father tried to seek his fortune as a landscape architect. It didn’t work out, mainly due to the abundance of other Brits who’d had the same idea at the same time, but what Chris bring back was the memory of a drab and rather conservative fashion sense which she spent her teenage years ripping apart as a goth, a hippy, a raver and so on and so on.

Luckily the current generation of NZ fashion addicts can rest easy, Kowtow.com has it all under control. They tick so many my style boxes, that it’s hard to fault anything about these guys. For a start their designs mix the absurdist theatrics and wordplay of the Surrealists with a highly acute sense of style, something reminiscent of both American underground comics of the 60′s and the early British punk movement of the 70′s. Stylish and funny, gritty and colourful, it’s been fun roaming their collection, there should be something there for all of you to enjoy. read more

Hell To Pay T-Shirt

admin    T-Shirts     Death, War, belief, economy, god, hell, money, oil, politics, recession, religion, satan

Hell To Pay T-Shirt by Paul Baines

‘There will be hell to pay’ – nothing seems to be free these days, or nothing of value. It seems that everything is going cheap now the recession has started to bite the four corners of the world (someone tell me, was this planet once a cube?). Life is cheap (depending which country you live in on a scale of 1 to 10), so are promises (and that includes all political ones), the earth is running out of every conceivable raw material out there, and yet I can go to Morrisson’s Supermarket (I hate all supermarkets equally btw), and buy enough for a barbecue for four for only a fiver. What’s that all about? This isn’t an ad for a supermarket, honest! Don’t worry I’m not tied into any secret sponsorship deals, but do buy a Lexus, change your long distance provider, let me do an insurance comparison quote for you and drink more alcopops. The point is everything of value is paling into comparison to the all encompassing economic might for crude. Oil is the be all and end all right now, and unlike a few energy crises we’ve had over the past half century, this one is permanent.

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