Fresh Jive Spring Collection

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     FreshJive, Spring, fresh jive, hip hop tees, street wear

They’re cheeky and irreverent and that’s putting it mildly, Fresh Jive’s Spring Collection is absolutely cracking, and half of their latest tees aren’t even fit for a family audience, so if you want to see the real nasty designs then head straight over to their site at www.freshjive.com. I’ll be featuring their more muted designs in a moment, not that they’re not crackers, it’s just this blog does attract the odd comment rant from an even odder religious nut, usually complaining about the state of the society and how we will all be damned. If Fresh Jive are going to hell, I’m going with them, their gear rocks, enough said.

So who are FJ? Perhaps one of the most influential founders of streetwear culture, it was begat by the mind of Rick Klotz in 1989 who is known for taking risks and even leaps of faith in the industry. He caused a big commotion last year when he removed all logo branding from his products. Logoless is the way to go I say, if your style is recognisable enough you don’t need it. What’s more retailers would rather their customers buy fashion that’s innovative and as this label promotes ‘fresh’, then what’s the point of pasting brand identity all over a t-shirt. You wouldn’t buy a TV with a logo printed on the screen, why suffer the same from a t-shirt?

Here’s what Rick has to say on the subject of branding “In later years, a dissolution with the façade of street style and fashion in general lead the company into commercial statements about politics and the culture at large, culminating with an abrupt action against branded culture.”

So, it’s official, branding sucks, and FreshJive’s tees rock. Here’s a few examples why…

Cryptonight Tee

If you’re not au fait with the wonders of marijuana then this one will be lost on you, although I’ve never heard of it in the UK there’s a particularly potent strain of weed called Cryp doing the rounds, from all accounts coast to coast in the USA. It originated in Florida and is supposed to be a dank and highly powerful smoke, ah well, I can always buy the t-shirt. Although the site describes it as The Cryptonight tee, it’s printed with a different spelling. Stoners eh? Get this super duper tee, perfect for customising with a wide array of burn holes, unless you decide to bong out, for $26 in sizes S-XXL in a variety of colours.

Kart T-Shirt

In common with a majority of men on the planet I hate shopping, I like cool stuff, I like to wear it or use it, I don’t like malls, traipsing up and down a faceless mega-corporate high street, and I have a fundamental aversion to supermarkets. It’s the muzak, the endless choice of crap, and the queuing that gets me. It couldn’t be a more sterile experience if they tried. Perhaps that explains why online shopping has exploded over the past few years, if you like it you buy it, no “real” shopping involved, sounds good to me. Anyway this is Kart, a special edition print by Mick Haggerty and probably my favourite tee of the Spring Collection, very pop, very to the point. What’s more, before the supermarkets started chaining them altogether shopping karts were great for rolling down a hill or two as a kid. Heady days. Get this shirt in black S-L for $26.

The Finger T-Shirt

The message is plain and simple. Be prepared for blood stains if you walk into the wrong late night bar with this shirt on. Get the Finger T for $26 in all sizes in colours yellow, black and turquoise for $26 here.

Acid Skull T-Shirt

“Aceeed! Aceeed!” In the very late 80s and early 90s, along side blowing whistles till your ears bled, shouting “aceeed” at a string of illegal raves on the M25. was particularly de rigeur. But were we all on Acid? No. Most were drugged up on Love Doves and MDMA. Still, asides the semantics, the smiley face did a good job of representing a generation of chemically loved up loons with little to do . Especially since  the Tories had sold half the country and took away their jobs. Loving this fine piece of blotter art, with an obligatory skull, although I think we should all move on from skulls, I did actually meet a tripper who had a bad one, he spent the night talking to a girl with a skull for a face. He later went on to form the Chemical Brothers. Joke. Anyway get your Acid Skull t-shirt for $26 in black and white, sizes M-XXL here.

See the rest of these totally fresh tees at the fashion outlet www.reservestoreonline.com.

Justin Hustlin Takes To The Small Screen!

admin    T-Shirt News     TV, animated, bakery boys, bling, cartoon, fashion TV, justlinhustlin.com, jutlin hustlin, limited edition clothing, street wear, urban

It’s seems like everyone in the t-shirt business is getting into video these days and the famed Justin Hustlin street wear label is certainly no exception, in fact they’ve gone one step further and actually created their own animated series! Yes Hustlin TV is officially here!

Incorporating famous Hustlin characters from their label the ‘Bakery Boys’ show (and most importantly Hustlin TV) will be featured at their very own animated video blog. It’s set in Hustlin’s Bakery and features two of the bakery’s top employees Dirty Dre & Shacky Sweet Tooth. These boys are in charge of over seeing the rise in all Doe made at the Bakery and were hired by none other than Head chef Doughboy including special guest appearances on the show from other characters in the gang all desperate to get their hands on the most filthy-rich treats in town.

The Bakery Boys Show is the perfect way to keep up to date with everything Justin Hustlin, news, events, exclusive web only designs, competitions and of course each new Justin Hustlin series as they become available.

A pilot episode will be airing on-line at Hustlin TV in just over a month’s time. The concept was even picked up by the top production agency Nun With A Gun productions. The cartoon is based on a central character ‚ÄòJustin Hustlin’ and his life growing up as an aspiring teen, on Paper Lane in Brookheath Estate. His environment is that of a typical deprived urban neighbourhood in London, with some very interesting characters thrown into the mix!

Justin’s number one priority is making money and moving up in the world, aspiring to be like his idol and role model Richard Branson of whom he has a big poster of in his bedroom. But this is no ordinary poster, it has a very special quality. When Justin’s alone, the poster turns mentor and speaks. Mr Branson a.k.a Ritchie B offers young Justin advice and nuggets of wisdom on building his own Justin Hustlin empire.

Justin has big dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur and building his own empire one day soon. In pursuit of this dream he leads his team of loyal mates through various Hustlin activities and adventures in the pursuit of ‚Äòmoney making’‚Ķ’paper chasing’ and filling that shoe box to the brim! Check out the introductory video to get a taster of what’s to come…

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A Rendezvous With The Affair

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     London fashion, T-Shirt Designers, T-Shirts, UK tees, affair, edgy, intellectual, intelligent fashion, street wear, the-affair, the-affair.com, urban wear

Back in 2007, somewhere amidst the grimy boozers and back alleys of London’s East End, began a secret exchange of ideas and broken dreams, a contract of substance over style, a pact was made between Zoltan Csaki and Dave Black. Two intellectual fashion renegades, who vowed to change the face of street wear forever, they made a promise to themselves and the neglected savoir-faire of the urban wear industry that things must change, and thus The-Affair was born. An artistic partnership that has gone from strength to strength, as each new design is release under a cloud of mysterious expectancy, raw talent and shameless egotistic aspirations bucked the trend and defied logic, creating what maybe one of the most intellectually inspiring collections I’ve ever come across.

Inspired by a plethora of influence, deep within the left-field of political and social unrest, classic style and edgy post-modern whim collide in a spectacle of high-brow t-shirts that punch and kick our complacent C21st society below the cerebral belt. Delving deeper than the usual gamut of pop reference, into the nether regions of lost kudos, salvaging the best of the worst in life, turning diatribe on its head, formulating without a formula a series of head-turning, head-scratching t-shirts designed to shock and inspire in equal measure.

Each shirt is made as a limited edition run of 200, screen printed on succulently soft American Apparel tees for a luxurious and stylish cut to suit the most discernible of t-shirt aficionados, veritably the thinking man’s t-shirt designer. read more