It’s great to be reviewing another East London label, I really think something massive is happening down that way, both for arts and fashion, for a start Black Rat Press and a whole gang of great graffiti artists work down that way, and then there’s Cockney Empire I featured a while back. Of course just like many successful London labels, KA have a massive appeal around the world, partly down to their amazing marketing know how. Take a look at this poster for their next campaign, it takes its inspiration from the classic cult movie The Warriors (which you have to see if you love gritty 70s B-Movies – it’s required watching mate).

Anyway let’s take a butchers at their top-notch tees…

Brand Awareness Tees

I totally love the concept of these three tees, the Brand Awareness theme offers a chance to collect all three tees to spell out the logo/branding for KA. This is an amazing marketing concept and beyond that it looks great, I’d rather they weren’t printed in what looks to be thick Plastisol ink, I could be wrong but it seems to be the old school ink that just doesn’t give when you move. Still that could be easily amended by switching over to water-based inks. Still, the concept is extremely sound and they’ve totally pulled it off with their classic stance on block font graphics, very snazzy, very street, and a perfect way to brand a label. All are available for £24.99 (small to 2XL).

CTRL Tee

I adore this one, the CTRL tee reminds me of a mixture between an old London Underground map and Mondrian’s abstract works. It’s clean, precise and the composition rocks, the perfect sight line dragging your focus to the bottom right (from a 3rd perspective) deals with the viewer in a short sharp ride of tonal exchange and abstracted form. I love it, and that’s a rarity for me as I don’t normally dig abstract tees as much as many out there. You can get it in white or black for for £24.99 (small to 2XL) and even as a track top for £64.99.

Defy Tee

Maybe I’m having an off day here but I don’t get the title “Defy“, perhaps electricity defies gravity could be it, if they wanted to punch home the message an old pair of sneakers hanging off the wires would have cleared up the message, but that’s all by the by, the fact is no matter what it’s called this t-shirt design is as strong as they come. I’ve seen similar ideas but never as clean cut as this, I love the choice of colours here too. It’s available in both black and white up to 2XL at £24.99 plus you can get a matching cap, hoodie, jeans and even a scarf and gloves set if you want to go the whole hog on this style.

ID Tee

The ID tee at King Apparel is pukka, what can I say, it’s such a smart use of a familiar image I can’t help but be impressed. I’ve seen plenty of tees that play upon the idea of identity, government control, and even feature fingerprints, but to wrap the print this way really works for me, it’s as slick as they come. It’s available in blue and white at £24.99 (as well as caps, sweats and hoodies)

If you like any of these then you’d better start counting your pennies, all of King Apparel’s tees are printed in limited runs and they don’t offer reprints so if you miss out then it’s too late. Take a gander at the rest of their t-shirt collection here, or check out the whole store for their whole range of ultra hip streetwear. Some of their tees are definitely on my wish list! Time to smash up the piggy bank ;)