Innerspoken

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Innerspoken, text t-shirts, text tees, typographic t-shirts, typographic tees

Shhh! Listen, no ignore my stomach rumbling I missed lunch, I mean deep inside your mind, can you hear it? “Where can I get some great typographic tees?“. Well, you could try Innerspoken, I’m not the biggest fan of text-based t-shirts, it probably stems from being one of the only kids at school who refused to buy (and couldn’t afford) Nike, Adidas, and a bunch of other branded crap at the time. Still, it’s time to move on, and what better way than with the stylish profferings of a most savvy designer label with a penchant for getting under the hood of a message and punching it home with as little procrastination as possible.

It’s all about the detail with Innerspoken, as far as connecting with their market this label are almost like a well trained sniper team, before you know it their t-shirts are making you think, something that many people seem to have a natural aversion to these days. I love the simple messages, saying “hi” always helps, and this line from their blurb is a classic “The ampersand is the only thing I want to come between us. Can you make my wish come true?“. This is an indie label with a corporate clout, they know how to design, be it their site or their tees, they’ve nailed the concept on the head… quiet, personal, individual, emotional, true.

Hi Tee

I love the idea, great design, let’s hope it brings a few more people together or at least stop them fighting amongst themselves. Available in gold and aqua, sizes XS-XL for guys and S-L for ladies for $20 each.

Snowflake Tee

Simple but effective. Every snowflake is as individual as a fingerprint or DNA, nice idea. Although I would have made this shirt an extremely limited edition just to back up that idea of individuality! Available in blue and red, sizes XS-XL for guys and S-L for ladies for $20 each.

The Ampersand Tee

Nice detailing and it great message… aww. If you want to come over all smoochy with your other half then you could get one each and freak out all your friends :D Available in white, black and asphalt – sizes XS-XL for guys and S-L for ladies for $20 each.

See the rest of Innerspoken’s tees at www.innerspoken.com.

The Simple Things

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     The Simple Things, UK tees, graphic shirts, text tees, type t-shirts, typographic

I’ve tried looking up the exact quote but essentially it’s The Simple Things that count, at least when it comes to fun, and you guessed it, simple graphic tees. Based in rather idyllic Cornwall and run by Adrian Blake, a guy on a mission to escape the dreaded 9 to 5 and spread his fun and quirky view of the world via his online store. There’s a nice selection of mid-priced tees and buttons on offer, leaning on the typographic but they work. What’s more no sign of generic fonts, nice hand rendered text and a good choice of colours.

Each of the following are on sale from £17.99 to £22.99, most available in sizes S-L. However ladies will miss out on my fave as there are only medium sized Add Colour tees left :/

Add Colour Tee

As mentioned only men’s mediums left for this one, obviously a popular shirt, very funky.

Love The Simple Things Tee

Very nice hippy styling, reminds me of something off a psychedelic record cover. Groovy. On sale now at £17.99 for girls and guys in sizes S-L.

And Found Tee

A slightly cryptic title for a nice little piece of semi-abstraction spelling out the word ‘lost’ in a rather pleasing safari-style cut-out font. Sorry girls this one’s just for the guys in sizes S-L for £17.99 each.

See more funky British tees at www.TheSimpleThings.co.uk.

Boys & Co

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Boys & Co, Boys and Co, clogan tees, hiphop tops, text tees, typographic t-shirts

First off most of you are painfully aware of my aversion for typographic tees, yet I can’t help but admire the enthusiasm and all-out gusto emanating from Christopher Russell, the guy behind the fashion brand Boys & Co. Before you ask, their tees are for boys and girls. I’m not too keen on the brand name, it causes a little confusion amongst the sexes, and to be honest it sounds like a dodgy 80′s dance troupe to me :0

On a more positive note the site looks like a lot of fun, with a big, loud and friendly splash page that leads on to a very sound collection of slogan t-shirts. Unfortunately the header graphic for their Big Cartel store is too large and it really detracts from the shopping experience. Still, Chris seems to have a knack for picking the right font for the right job, the prints are generous, the tees are American Apparel so that means sweatshop free, and the general underlying message leans towards the positively kooky. Here’s a little reading matter for you… in t-shirt form.

No Riffraff Tee

If your name’s not down you’re not coming in… a rather pricey $30 in sizes S-XL. Is riffraff one word or two? Hmm…

Do You Know Who My Father Is Tee

Hilarious. $25 in sizes S-L.

This Old Thing Tee

When you just can’t take any more compliments (give them to me). $30 S-L.

I Shut It Down In NYC Tee

Who turned out the lights? $25 S-XL.

Chris has big plans for the future – with prospects for the line to include jeans, button ups, jackets and jewels – there’s even an underwear campaign in the works.

In the meantime let us end with the immortal words of the  urban Bard that is Christopher Russell… “I AM THE BIGGEST pAArty Ever, WE are the BIGGEST pAArty Ever.”

(I’ll get me coat.)

ETC

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     ETC, ETC Fashion House, Embrace The Culture, abstract tees, etcfashionhouse, graphic t-shirts, pop art tees, text tees, typography tees

ETC aka “Embrace The Culture” is a positively charged piece of branding for an eclectic, didactic, but ultimately “open-minded” fashion house with their eye on the USA and Europe – hoping to dominate the typographic/graphic tee market with a selection of solid designer tees aimed at a wider-than-indie market whilst still retaining some of that ad hoc creative exuberance and spontaneity for the low-end catwalk. It’s a great piece of positioning if they can pull it off, although they’ll be creatively challenged from all sides by a wide variety of indie designers and top end labels, with the right exposure, pricing and coverage they might just crack it.

A deceptively simple site, a professional lookbook on their homepage (nice…) and a Big Cartel store are a good start, but I’d upgrade their account so they can  continue that branding right through to the checkout. The typography tees are definitely slick, but I’ve had my fill of text recently so I’ll focus on the graphic/text tees on offer for both guys and girls at $24.95 in sizes S-L.

Love is Blind Tank

Love Obtuse Tee

Try Angles Tank

See more at www.etcfashionhouse.com or read up at their arty blog.

Hungry Lifestyle

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Australian tees, Hungry Lifestyle, text tees, typographic t-shirts, typographic tees

For a typographic t-shirt brand Hungry Lifestyle is a rather super cool label actually. They’ve even helped me a little towards curing my prejudice. The thing is that I don’t appreciate all the emails asking me to review logo obsessed brands, but to be honest HL do it with a lot of style and definitely deserve a break in my eyes. It’s all a fashion hangover from the 90s, I just saw so many Nike and Adidas logos on a Saturday night out it felt more like JB Sports than a club. But if Hungry Lifestyle are the way of the future for logo/typographic tees – all in all – it ain’t half bad!

Founder Andrew Anderson, who I’m guessing is the designer too, really takes care and attention when it comes to producing his products. All the tees are American Apparel and printed in Australia, and nicely printed at that. The coverage is generous too, not a small and fiddly print in site. As usual with many Oz brands the prices are a little steep, the four tees available are available at $30 each, but you can buy the lot in one bundle for $100 which is a little more bearable.

What I will say is that HL definitely have “a feel for fonts”, they’re choices are smart as they come and in certain aspects remind me a little of typographic street artists like Eine, bold vintage and retro type that stands the test of time. That said their ‘Bubblegum Tee; looks a little drippy for my liking, I think someone might’ve left the packet on a radiator or something :p

Rad Tee

Classic Tee

All Stars Tee

Bubblegum Tee

To learn more visit www.HungryLifestyle.com.

In-House Humour From Collapse Design

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     collapse design, collapsedesign.co.uk, designer, designer tees, font, font t-shirts, text shirts, text tees, typography

Those in the graphic design trade have little to laugh about these days, clients want more and more yet want to pay less and less. In fact many of them think they can do a fine job on their own and end up making a mess of everything from company brochures to website design, but what can you do? Well if humour is still the best medicine then maybe you should try shopping around at the Collapse Design, they offer a fine range of design trade tees, every one of which has a proverbial tongue-in-cheek approach to the labour of love that is graphic arts.

British t-shirt label Collapse Design have a particular penchant for typographic jokes, well known typefaces such as Helvetica and Garamond get the full comedy treatment as this band of merry designers work their magic on familiar tools of the trade, as well as a few deft references to some of the more stressful aspects of the job. ‘Deadline’ features a zombie, ‘Helvetica’ is transformed into a creature of the feline persuasion and ‘Full Bleed’ gets the film-noir/Hitchcock treatment. If you’re sitting in your studio, or perhaps a small grey partitioned area of one right now, then you can probably do with some cheering up. So before you eventually go blind or watch your hands fall off from the worst case of RSI ever recorded, treat yourself to a laugh and roll on over to www.collapse-design.co.uk. Even designers need cheering up once in a while;) read more