The Fresh Clothing 2011

admin    T-Shirt News     The Fresh, The Fresh Clothing, hip hop, new tees, urban, video

The Fresh Clothing releases a behind-the-scenes look into the brand’s approach to how their limited edition clothing is made. The video follows NJ screen printer and skateboarder, Jesse Sikorski through his print warehouse. Whilst providing a preview of the Winter 2011 line, the clip also boasts the underground and DIY influences that help define the brand.

The Fresh is a New Jersey-based, punk-inspired streetwear brand. Further information is available at www.thefreshclothing.com.

Make Or Amen Break It Tee

admin    T-Shirt Articles     Make Or Amen Break It, hip hop, loops, sampling, t-post, t-shirt magazine

Make Or Amen Break It Tee

It’s available when you subscribe to the world’s only wearable t-shirt magazine… yes it’s printed on a t-shirt! I’ve written about T-Post.se before, Buy Tees and T-Post have even run a competition in the past. But if you’re still confused you should check out their rather amusing video here. But what’s most fascinating about the Make Or Amen Break It tee is the story behind the design.

It all starts with a 1960′s band called ‘The Winstons‘, they had an enormous hit – it was a Grammy winner – but on the B-Side was a song called ‘Amen Brother‘ which lay dormant and ignored by the masses for decades, literally decades. When Hip Hop came along so did the dubious art of sampling, a backbone of the sound of many major players in the scene by the 1980′s.

So here’s what happened, NWA discovered this little known gem and exploited it for all it’s worth. It’s a minuscule 6 second break by The Winstons’ drummer G.C. Coleman who died in 2006 and it changed the face of Hip Hop forever. If you think of all the DJs and bands that have sampled this track it makes you wonder. If only Coleman had had a decent lawyer he’d have probably been able to buy out the whole of the music industry with all the royalties. The man who created the most famous drum loop in history died as a virtually obscure musician.

You can read all about this story on T-Post’s latest t-shirt issue or take a look at their article at http://t-post.se/past-issues/item/root/make-or-amen-break-it.

Mind blowing.

Urban Tees at The Ugly Kids Club

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, London, The Ugly Kids Club, UK, grime, hip hop, street, urban fashion, urban t-shirts, www.theurbankidsclub.com

Probably one of the coolest labels we’ve featured at Buy Tees so far, The Ugly Kids Club is a UK based urban wear brand and collective with a strong street following who’s vibrant collection has been featured in the likes of:

Loaded Magazine‘s 10 of the Best : ‘No. 8 – Best for in The Club’ – Loaded Oct 09
Front Magazine : ‘…ace bunch of designers, artists and tattooists… website has a f***-load of tees, so go and treat your eyes’ – Front Sep 09

TUKC provide a great online experience, offering a shop where you can load up on all their latest t-shirts and sweats as well as a vibrant online community and blog packed with tons of features on everything from fashion to music, street art, skateboarding, funny vids, gigs and more. But what matters to us and hopefully you the most are the quality and originality of their t-shirt collection, and don’t worry, you definitely won’t be disappointed. They have some powerful designs under their belt, think ‘street’, think in your face, think swagger, you’re there. One thing you can be assured of, these tees aren’t ugly!

No matter the attitude you’ll find their t-shirts are all of a high quality in both design and production, with some very unique concepts and ideas on offer, spoofs of corporate logos, booze, the Facebook phenomena, tattoos and skulls seeming to be the order of the day right now. Their T Shirts range from £25 to £16 and are all limited edition, generally they won’t print more than 100 of each design and once a design is sold out, it’s gone forever – so no need to worry about staying fresh!

They’ve had some very fine grimy tees on offer in the past too, their archive reveals all that have been sold and sadly not available any more – their store includes an archive in the footer where you can see what you’ve missed. This one – UCK Rizla – would’ve been my favourite (modelled by Skinnyman and featured at Grime Garms.)

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410BC – An Age of Teemocracy

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     410BC, 410bc.com, NY fashion, designer, designer t-shirts, ethical fashion, hip hop, indie, political tees, punk, sweatshop free tees, urban wear

410BC is a New York based clothing company and arts collective with their finger on the pulse and their eyes on the horizon of change and equality. With a strong ethical background and a total commitment to the ecology and conscious consumerism in every aspect of the brand, they focus on strong conceptual design in equal measure favouring a wide spectrum of subculture arts including skater, punk, hip-hop, indie and D.I.Y. There is a really strong sense of community at their site www.410BC.com and they actively encourage participation from both their wide and loyal customer base and their eclectic band of designers and artists.

I usually ‘wing it’ when it comes to t-shirt reviews, preferring not to get to bogged down with subjective ideas from designers and focus on what I see the way I see it, sure it’s not particularly objective but it can be informative for both the label and the general t-shirt fan to see a different point of view to the traditional bog-standard interview format. However I have to admit I cheated a little when it came to the name of this particular brand, Nicole co-founder of 410BC enlightened me to its origin – “410 BC stands for the year Democracy was restored in Athens. The Athenians were at war, but they managed to restore their own institutions by fighting for what they believed in. We chose that name because it resonated with us strongly. Through the company we promote conscious consumerism and fighting for what you believe in. We believe in supporting artists, sending a positive message, only using sweatshop free and organic cotton tees and giving back to our community.” A rather admirable mantra for any fashion brand I am sure you will agree.

The company have definitely stuck to their roots from day one, unlike many brands in the market they like to stay as connected with their audience wherever possible, from their humble beginnings they have certainly picked up plenty of good habits, constantly pushing their positive message and encouraging public interaction all the way. Do have a read of their blog if you have a moment – there are some great fashion, style and other features going on there and whilst you’re at it check out their LookBook which features plenty of photos of past customers donning their marvellous clothes. Plus of course you can also meet and greet 410BC via Myspace, Flickr and see their latest vids at Youtube – oh and check out their latest contest too!

However ethics asides what’s as if not more satisfying for me is that their creative stance is as powerful as their ecological one with a cornucopia of great designs available at the store, an ecelctic range of sources and ideas for their particularly unique style, and to top it off a rather fabulous website to showcase their work. Let’s take a trip to 410BC and see exactly what makes them so special in the market today… read more

Hustlin’ Tees For The Hip Hop Cuties

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     UK t-shirts, UK tees, bling, cool t-shirts, cute tees, girl tees, hip hop, hiphop, hustlin, justinhustlin.com, pink, screenprint tees, trend setter, trendsetter, urban tees for girls

Now we all know the traditional image for the hip-hop world, plenty of bling, fighting the power, mixing it up old school in the ghetto, yeah yeah. But here’s something different for all the fledgling girlie crews who want to represent but would rather stay on the cute side of fashion. Paul didn’t want to review these tees, he’s currently restraining his gag reflex due to the overpowering √ºber cutesy style of JustinHustlin.com‘s hip hop stylings, but I (Chris) know there are plenty of female t-shirt fans who’ll want to see what all the fuss is about.

The strange and wonderful world of JH’s designs have to be witnessed to fully encompass exactly where this rather dipsy yet talented designer is trying to take us, along a particularly untrodden path in the murky world of urban streetwear off to a gloriously pink and blingin’ land of fantastical baked goodies and hip hop toons that have yet to have been discovered by the world at large. My only real criticism is that there just aren’t enough of them (t-shirts that is) to get really stuck in here, but take a look at the future (I presume) of Justin’s world of character-based tees and I’m sure that you (girls with a penchant for over the top kitsch) will love what the guy is trying to do here!

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