Psyched Tees From Disturbia Clothing

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Disturbia, Disturbia Clothing, DisturbiaClothing.co.uk, Prodigy, UK t-shirts, art t-shirts, cool tees, edgy, political tees, punk t-shirts, rock, street, unique tees

First off I’m back, I’ve been to the back and beyond, I’m sunburned and peeling all over but all in all I feel fresh as a daisy so let’s get down to business and lay Disturbia Clothing on the Buy Tees couch and see what makes them and their legion of fans tick. If you’re already familiar with this edgy Brit label then you’re in good company. Check out this documentary of The Prodigy’s latest tour and you just might see Liam sporting one of their best-sellers, their Disco t-shirt.

I always feel right at home, culturally speaking, when I visit their site, everything from their products to the web design to their constantly updated left field blog shimmer with a slightly tongue-in-cheek British fervour for the hey days of punk. Their style spills right out onto their highly flamboyant illustrated t-shirt prints which are all highly recognisable as unique yet strangely familiar iconic pieces that make up their collection. Their ideas are their tour de force, some perhaps more obvious than others, but in a good way, in the way you might think ‘damn, I could have thought of that’ except you know you didn’t, and if you ever did, you know you’d never got around to creating them, because if you had I’d most likely be writing about your label right now :p

Their reputation has spread far and wide into the world of independent fashion retailing with 17 online stockists and what I guess must be another hundred or more stores selling their unique wares around the world. So if you like what you see then there’s no excuses when it comes to tracking down any of their infectiously irrational tees, hoodies and accessories (if you don’t order direct), besides which they have a handy mailing list so you can keep up to date with all their latest offerings no matter what corner of the world you may reside. So without further a due, rip a few holes in your best pair of jeans, stick a safety pin through your nose, kick the TV Screen, deface any image of royalty you may have lying around and get ready to enter the minds of Disturbia. read more

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

7 Tees For (After) Obama’s Inauguration Week

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Obama, Obama T-Shirts, T-Shirts, black, black president, democrat, inaugural, inauguration, political tees

Obama T-Shirts For The Long Haul!

No one likes to be naked in public, well except exhibitionists and nudists, and especially not on such an auspicious occasion as the first inauguration of a black president. So if you’re stuck with a heap of cheesy Obama t-shirts in your wardrobe and are desperately looking for something that stands out for this special event you had better hurry up and get yours too!

This top selection of t-shirts aren’t your usual run-of-the-mill “Change” tees, these are definitely something with a little extra oomph and when it comes to political street wear we all know how important it is not to blend in with the crowd, besides the fact that everyone knows you did the right thing at the right time, you stay ahead of the crowd in style and take that credibility all the way to the kudos bank read more

Obama Tees at Ban T-Shirts – A Date To Remember

admin    T-Shirt News     Obama T-Shirts, ban t-shirts, ban-tshirts.com, democratic government, obama president, political tees, politics, president elect

Woot Obama is President Elect! To celebrate this momentous and historical event the groovy people at Ban-Tshirts.com have produced four new Obama related tees for your delectation. Now as you know I’m not too hot for slogan t-shirts, but I must admit that their tee entitled ‘The Day We Changed America‘ has the most succinct message I’ve seen in a long while. Who knows perhaps Obama will even change the world. Still calm down everyone, the guy has a lot to do and a whole heap of problems to deal with, the world economy, The Middle East, The Russians, the list is endless, but have patience and a little hope and who knows we may all look back on this time as the most important decision in a century.

As For TDWCA, essentially it’s a date, and for many a true antidote to the constant slogan tee reminders of the 9/11 tragedy, the last date that many across the world will remember for many decades to come, it’s wonderful to be able to direct our attention hopes to a new one and finally look towards the future! read more

The T-Shirt Machine

admin    T-Shirt News     Facebook, MySpace, political tees, social networking, t-shirt machine, t-shirt widget, web toy

Here’s a rather hilarious widget that seems to be causing a stir at a lot of social networking sites. I’m not sure about the designs, and I don’t know if I’d ever buy one but the widget sure is fun. It’s amazing what people can do with a little Web 2.0 know-how these days (myself not included – lol). Unfortunately you don’t seem to be able to see the final product right now, but well worth a try if you’re thinking of venturing into widgets yourself!

Robit – Built by Humans – Powered by Spirits

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Death, US government, cold war, illustration, irony, nostalgia, political t-shirts, political tees, retro, robot t-shirt, robots, terror, vector

T-shirts of a tortured soul? Perhaps not quite, but going on the biography Steve Orlando of Robit Studios is not a happy man, I quote “What is a Robit? A mechanical man with an void in his middle. it’s like a robot only simpler. This particular Robit was created by a four year old. It’s fuelled by distilled spirits.”

I’d venture to say there’s a bitter-sweet theme that runs through all of Steve’s works, a quality I find both reassuringly honest and revealing, especially when put in the context of his fine collection of unique and pithy t-shirt designs. All of his tees are fair trade, 100% cotton American Apparel, hand-printed and highly original for the most part, so it’s well worth taking a gander the next time you’re passing.

Steve’s outlook on life may be on the dour side, but he still has a great sense of humour, I really think he should be British, we’re all like that over here, except the Scottish who are just dour, (I jest, we’re all miserable bleeders over here, especially since we haven’t had a Summer this year (or not one that you’d notice). Talking of the weather… read more

News on the t-shirt front.

admin    T-Shirt News     Bush, Death, Johnny Depp, Sex, Threadless, funny tees, political nostalgia, political tees, politics, retro t-shirts

Just a few pieces of news to pass your way. First of all I am building a queue of expectant t-shirt reviewees here (will review them all eventually – I promise!), that old Internet magic must be kicking in, I’ve never understood how you make a site popular, so I’ve stuck with providing as much original and worthwhile content as I can. I know there are a few reviewers out there who might not appreciate my approach, as the old school of t-shirt junkies seem to like the pic and link format, or rather they like to avoid whole concept of reviewing t-shirts altogether. Which to me seems ridiculous. Why treat t-shirts any differently than any other art form? People will read reams of detailed notes on which celebrity wore what and where. I found myself lost on a very girlie celebrity-obsessed blog the other day, I can’t even recall the name of it, I was trying to locate a useful article about t-shirts (which had been deleted by the looks of it) and found myself faced with a piece on Johnny Depp and his new clean cut look. read more