Muzed Wear

admin    T-Shirts     Canadian tees, Muzed, Muzes Wear, skater tees, snowboarding, sport t-shirts, sports tees

There’s a big difference between the words amused, mused and muzed. According to the weighty online tome that is the Urban Dictionary it means “Stoned on music. Can also be described as a lasting eargasm.” Now I think I’ve had one of those before but I was 17, high on a particularly psychoactive substance and in reality there wasn’t actually any music playing, it was all in my head. Ah well, near enough.

Muzed Wear are a Canadian label who specialise in skate and snowboard apparel which is a little confusing considering the eargasm reference, and the lack of music themed gear at the store, none in fact. Ah well each to their own, I’m not too keen on all the branded logo tees and hoodies on offer, like I’ve said a thousand time before, even major worldwide brands are trimming back on the self-promotional design for something a little more personal and individualistic. Then again, there’s one great typographic shirt (which is a rarity in my opinion) and a rather amusing panda bear tee, which isn’t even overly cute, another rare achievement I’d say.

Love Life. Love Mused. Tee

You can see what I mean about the heavy self-promotional tactics now. I’d change the name of this tee to match the print “Skate. Snow. Live.” I couldn’t put it more simply myself. Beware though, it’s on pre-order and they reckon it might take up to a whopping 2 months to ship – gulp… One day it will be available in $19.99 in sizes S-XL. As a side point it’s better to get to know someone well before you start declaring your love for them – just a thought.

Cool Panda Tee

It’s a panda, it’s a cool panda, and why not. Lovely piece of stencil work, groovy retro shades topping off a great design. I’d much rather see a lot more of this kind of graphic tee any day. $19.99 in sizes S-XL.

For more info visit www.MuzedWear.com

I Came From Nothing

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     I Came From Nothing, ICameFromNothing.com, gore tees, horror t-shirts, punk t-shirts, skater tees, thrash metal, zombies

I Came From Nothing is a hardcore collective of top t-shirt designers, this exciting underground brand is based in the UK and offers Brits free shipping on all their gloriously gory tees. If you’re into lush illustrations and punk-style design then you’re definitely feel at home at www.icamefromnothing.com. You’ll find a string of top notch artists under their belt, although they’re always scouting for excellence, so if you think you can make the grade contact them here. ICFN are all over the social networking scene including Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and offer all the latest updates on their range at their blog.

Their current collection certainly hits you the moment you enter the store, everything from monsters and zombies to killer panda bears, there’s one thing that ties almost all the designs together and that’s a love of salubrious gore. The site is very easy to navigate, features a rather hot model to keep the guys amused, in one shot she’s actually wielding a bloody knife so a word of caution for the faint hearted, you’re probably not going to want to hang around. For those made of stronger stuff get ready for the best of the best in graphic nightmares. Every tee is up for sale at a reasonable £20, when you consider the quality of the designs and shirts and the amount of work that’s gone into each illustration that’s a relative bargain. Some take their cue from old school horror comics, others subvert classic monster genres, and some are just downright hilarious (if you have a dark sense of humour) like their Skull Kid tee.

Update: Exclusive 20% Discount Code Off All ICFN Tees – Enter the code: BuyTees at the checkout!

Anyway… let’s raise the dead and have a party, to kick off here are some of my fave tees on offer at ICFN… 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!

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Sutsu Sir

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Sutsu, Sutsu.com, extreme sports, extreme tees, skate, skater tees, ski, snowboarding, surf, surf t-shirts, urban

Sutsu are perfectionists, it comes with the trade, every aspect of their site and label is so well done I’m a little at a loss what to say here. I suppose it’s all down to perfect balance, if you live on the edge, if you love the extreme ends of sport, if you don’t want to break your neck you have to know what your doing. There are no second chances when you’re somersaulting through the air, standing on the crest of a wave or traversing a monster ramp on four tiny wheels just for the hell of it. It makes sense that you’d need the best of the best, the best tools, the best equipment, the best clothes, the best style.

Expect the highest quality graphic designed prints on the best of the best organic t-shirts, geared and marketed to an √ºber cool audience who know what they want and where to get it. Sutsu really have got it going on, and they know it, but yet there’s still that Zen-like quality to everything on the site, there isn’t a hint of arrogance about this label, they are great at what they do because they know how to do it, end of. I’ve always been jealous of people like the guys at Sutsu, I used to think it was merely a result of a charmed life, but as the years have passed me by I’ve realised it’s all down to self discipline – you can kick up a ruck, you can battle with the forces of nature, tip the balance of consequence, but if you don’t have complete and utter confidence in yourself and what you do, you will trip up, and when the odds are mounted this high, that’s literally a life or death situation. A time and place that sorts the men from the boys, a moment that can make or break you.

The moment you arrive at Sutsu.com you know you’re in the right place, as in extreme sports, on-line fashion retailing is not a place to make mistakes. A common misconception in the industry is that a few well designed products will pave the way to success, it’s true that a strong line in designer items will raise your game, but there’s so much more to it than that and Sutsu are obviously well aware of that fact. Without even scouring through the site I’m immediately made aware of their market, their goals, their philosophy, as well as bowled over by the clean cut design. There’s even a Facebook applet slap bang on the homepage if you want to start chatting with the team and other customers, now that’s interactivity. Ecology, style, extreme sports and fashion all meld into one at Sutsu… read more

The (R)evolution of a Subspecies

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     UK t-shirts, anrchy t-shirts, bmx t-shirts, hip hop tees, skater tees, subspecies, subspecies.co.uk, underground fashion, urban fashion

This is hardcore, this is extreme fashion, this is where fashion, politics and the oncoming revolution collide. This is the name of the game for Subspecies, a Yorkshire (UK) born and bred street fashion label with a taste for subversion served with a healthy dose of anarchistic tendencies, making urban wear heralded by the skater and BMX community as some of the finest in their field. Expect superb quality t-shirts. All enzyme washed to give a comfortable feel when new and made of the finest 200gsm Gold cotton available. Colours have been selected for the urban/street market in earthy tones that ensure the graphics propel from the base colour of the tees. Their artwork is built up with flocks, raised embroidery and raised rubber welds. All their garments have a subspecies trademark ‘T’ bar cut & sew panel on the back, the inner yoke is a non feel printed jersey lining with felt flock monkey logo. The back neck tape is herringbone with a velour overlay for maximum comfort – sizes are available in xs-xxl.

Subspecies have a great attitude towards their work, and are a perfect example of artists using t-shirt design as a progressive arts medium. Their message is always powerful and to the point, without being mindlessly offensive they still manage to shock certain sectors of society with an air of confidence of a global label and are certainly heading for greater pastures as they’re soon to sponsor a whole ream of extreme sports teams and events. Be you B-boy, skater, BMXer, or general trouble-maker, you may not have realised until now, but you are a subspecies!

Subspecies.co.uk is a fully modded flash site/store (and a fascinating experience), so you’ll have to track down the embedded product links there yourself, make sure you sign up for their newsletter and be in with a chance to win a freebie or two, and whilst your at it do have a gander at the blog for all the latest info on Subspecies. Don’t forget to check out their caps in their “Lidz Collection” but for now let’s crack on with some of their finest tees and learn just how hard Subspecies can push their message to the core. read more