30% Off Disturbia

admin    T-Shirt Discounts, T-Shirt News     Disturbia Clothing, DisturbiaClothing.co.uk, punk, punk t-shirts, t-shirt sale

To celebrate the long weekend with a Bank Holiday on Monday (as if the bankers needed one), our old pals at the funky British punk t-shirt label Disturbia Clothing are holding a blow out sale. They’re kindly offering a whopping great 30% off all their non-sale items so get down there and have a rummage. The sale starts at 12am GMT on Saturday 29th May, and ends midnight GMT Monday 31st. Use the code SUMMER30 at the checkout.

Fear & Loathing T-shirt (Girls)

Love the book, love the movie, and love this t-shirt. The Fear and Loathing t-shirt is available for both guys (sizes S/XL) and girls (size L), there aren’t many left so unless you want to wait for a reprint you’d better put on some weight or take some off heh. It’s on offer for £20 but with the discount code SUMMER30 it’s just £14!

Paranoia T-shirt (Guys)

I am a big fan of spoof logos, I’ve done a few of my own in my time including an artwork called ‘Retail Therapy‘. Paranoia has to be one of my fave t-shirt designs in the genre. I really like the concept, think Hollywood, think self-obsessed, because they’re all paranoid in La La Land. This tee is available for guys for £20 or £14 with the discount. Only sizes L/XL left!

Plenty of tees and accessories on offer at 30% off at www.disturbiaclothing.co.uk.

New Tees at Assault

admin    T-Shirt News     Hubble, abstract, assault inc., assult, new t-shirts, new tees, punk, rocker t-shirts, rocker tees

To welcome you to the New Year let’s start off with a couple of new tees from our friends at www.AssaultShirts.com – the rockers’ choice for counter-culture t-shirts. Whilst I’m at it I’d like to offer my congratulations regarding their media scoop! Skull Propaganda one of their best-selling tees has been seen worn by Bryan of Dear Enemy. Check out the photo of Bryan, the leader singer of Dear Enemy sporting the Skull Propaganda shirt! Get it now for $22.99. You can also check out more Dear Enemy at their iLike page.

Anyway let’s take a look at a couple of Assault’s freshest releases:- read more

Fresh and Crispy Tees

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Black Axe, Danny Glover, Hulk, Metallica, Nacho Libre, blackaxe, crispytees.com, funny t shirts, humor tees, humour tees, punk

Fresh from the awesome design team at Black Axe this hot new label offers a wealth of funny and outrageous tees for even the most jaded of t-shirt connoisseurs. Crispy Tees, a humour tee brand that actually delivers straight to the funny bone, borne out of compulsive brainstorming for the most stupid and ridiculous ideas imaginable, has been open for business since late August and appears to be doing a roaring trade. Not only are the shirts genuinely funny, but as you’d expect from the likes of Black Axe, beautifully drawn to boot.

No matter your taste, be it geek/nerd, metal, punk, emo or plain old funny, you’re sure to pick up something to your taste at Crispy Tees, and unlike the heaving mass of other funny t-shirt labels out there who simply license and churn out the same old bad jokes again and again (yes I get plenty of angry requests to review dodgy “funny” labels – even though they mainly suck), these guys design all their own, they don’t recycle jokes, and they actually wear the shirts themselves. To me that’s a good sign they not only know what they’re doing but they’re doing it well.

Surprisingly enough some of the designs on offer are very subtle, such as First 4, whilst others are more blatant, including movie references, jabs at popular celebrities and social transgressions, still we can forgive Crispy, they’re only in it for the laughs, and laughs aplenty is what they deliver. All their tees are available at $18 in sizes S to XXL and printed on American Apparel. So… let’s get crispy! read more

Supersonic Tees at Rockett

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Black Axe, Ride The Rockett, Rockett Clothing, Rockett t-shirts, Rockett tees, acid, punk, trippy t-shirts, weird tees

One small step for this reviewer, one giant leap for tee-kind, Rockett Clothing are exploring the deep space of fashion with a powerful crew of designers including quite a few members of the venerable Black Axe amongst their team. Before we blast off and go where no t-shirt reviews blog has gone before here’s a little background information on this amazing urban wear label.

Rockett Clothing was formed in Redlands, California 2003 by Rob with a little help from his wife, four dogs and friend Travis amongst the original crew, Rob found himself under great demand by bands like Eighteen Visions, Atreyu, Bleeding Through and others to design and print tees that rocked and he’s never looked back, no matter how beautiful the view. Rob used to be in a hardcore band of his own so he’s had plenty of experience of crappy merchandise that’s guaranteed to wipe the smile off any fan. Money was tight in those early days and Rockett lived cheek by jowl on a pitiful budget but with a groundswell of support from the Californian music scene it wasn’t long before the sales started pouring in. Suppliers can still blight the books, everything in the t-shirt business is paid for in advance so however wealthy they may be on paper there are always bills to pay. Over production and over partying can also force the label to bite the bullet from time to time, but no fear, Rocket Clothing are definitely here to stay no matter what.

They scour artists on the net including sites like Emptees.com to keep their collections fresh, and even manufacture their own tees these days. Expect to witness lots of drug-influenced zombies, parallel dimensions, long dark nights, B-movies, melting, dripping text and graphics, bizarre, blisteringly funny yet strangely intoxicating, their style has become (in)famous in the underground fashion scene. With artists like Derek Deal, Chris Sandlin, Colin Strandberg, Josh Stomberg, Filipe Olivera, Skull w/ Hair, and Electrik Suicide on their books you’re assured of a treat for the eyes, their dream being to ultimately bring back the tank top, who knows, it might happen, well okay it is happening lol. Check out their superb blog and of course their store at www.indiemerchstore.com/rockett. Oh yes and we have a discount code for you:- (Quote “duckduck15″ at the checkout for a 15% discount!)

5… 4… 3… 2… 1… and lift off with Ride The Rockett. read more

The Temperature’s Rising At Hotlife

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Frankie Says, MikeC, band tees, emptees, funny t shirts, hotlife, illustration, livingthehotlife.com, punk, skater, skater tees, t-shirt design

Recently MikeC of www.LivingTheHotlife.com contacted me and demanded to send me a couple of sample tees, as you might or might know I am one of the few t-shirt reviewers who doesn’t require freebies, but he was pretty insistent, he wanted to make sure I knew first hand exactly how high the quality of his products stands up, and I’m telling you, it’s up there with the best. It’s not just the100% organic fair trade tees he prints on, which are incredibly soft by the way, but the designs themselves are incredibly well drawn and fantastically ‘clean’. Mike is obviously an old hand at illustration, I took a peek at his biography on his rather hilarious FAQ page and found a few gems to help warm you to this relatively underground label:-

So HOTLIFE is designed exclusively by MCHC Art/Designs? Absolutely, 100% hand drawn by MikeC himself.That way you know you’ve got an 100% original design. Lots of “designers” like to take clip art and add a photo shop filter and pass it off as a design…we would rather make something thats unique and rad.

I’m pretty sure 90% of my wardrobe is made up of designs by MCHC already, what bands and such has he worked with? Thousands of bands, too many to mention, but Thinkfast! Records, Victory Records, Acacia Strain, A Day to Remember, Hawthorne Heights, Madball, All Shall Perish, Mychildren Mybride, Between the Buried and Me, Salt The Wound, Bishop, Emmure, Catch 22, & Kill Your Idols, just to name a few.

Now that’s a lot of bands! Hotlife have a strong connection with the music scene, if you fancy upping the stakes and making your own band’s image a little more hardcore then you can commission Mike’s talent as a t-shirt designer via his Myspace page. He even helps promote the bands he works with by graciously featuring their latest gigs at Hotlife’s news page.

It’s difficult to categorize Mike’s style, his illustrative style is strong, very strong, and even though there are reminders for me of punk and thrash, biker and tattoo imagery, there are two distinct qualities to his work that makes it rise above the competition. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, his drawing technique is fabulously clean, he actually draws everything by hand as you can tell, his line is fluid and flowing, the compositions spot on, I’m sure this guy must have been doodling throughout every spare minute of his life. Apart from the trained eye and hand co-ordination, there’s the humour, his sense of fun is infectious, one of the first tees to jump out at me was his interpretation of Frankenstein’s Monster in Frankie Says Relax. Which for me is hilarious, as was the original band that came up with that tune, although the latter wasn’t entirely intentional.

I’ll start by reviewing the tees Mike sent me, I’d have got my cute GF to pose but she’s up to her neck in work today, so I’m afraid you get the ugly guy instead of the babe. Still the designs should more than compensate!

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

Invisible Friends, Broken Icons and Dead Rock Stars.

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Sex, T-Shirt Reviews, dead rock stars, elvis evil, hawkwind, hendrix, henge, invisible friend, invisible-friend.co.uk, joplin, malcolm mclaren, punk, t-shirt review, vivienne westwood

Invisible Friend is the kind of friend I’d like, as long as it’s not the crazy kind that will end up putting you in a safe ward for a few months until it’s decided to leave. Nor the kind my sister had as a child either, we were both only a few years old and she’d spend most nights nattering on to her invisible friend, she’d named it “Witch”, and whenever I’d pretend I had an invisible wizard, she’d insist her witch had killed it. I couldn’t see the point of continuing so I let her have the monopoly on fantasy friendships. Things have turned round now, I’m the crazy sibling, she’s the respectable one, I rant all night about t-shirts, whilst she waits for daylight and only talks to people she can actually see.

Invisible-Friend.co.uk first caught my eye when I spotted their sponsored link on Google, I don’t normally follow paid-for links, past experience has taught me that most Google Ads lead you on a wild goose chase, resulting in a page of search results from an inferior search engine. This time it was different, I can’t remember the link text, but the name drew me in, and I wasn’t disappointed. Now I have to be cruel to be kind but I do think the web-site needs a little work, I’d rather get straight to the collection on the home-page, but I can understand why they’d want to prepare you, they have an incredibly strong and graphic style that might scare the pants off the more lily-livered t-shirt punters out there. read more