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.

Banging Tees by Boom!

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Boom, British t-shirts, indie tees, typographic t-shirts, typography tees

Boom! T-Shirts are a quirky British label who’s “about page” breaks down the ridiculously high odds of finding their site on Google. Their finesse for design and typography equally matches their gently pithy brand of humour, which lies somewhere  between Douglas Adams and Monty Python in the tradition of quasi-existential parody of life, (if the aforementioned were born 40 years later and loved the geekier side of the graphic arts). Asides the beautifully constructed Flash site, which literally oozes design savvy from every pore, they offer a compact range of t-shirts that deliver a powerful conceptual punch. Of the five designs available, one will most likely be lost on the international crowd, unless the fame of national treasure Stephen Fry has spread beyond our shores. Although the majority of Boom’s tees are typographic, their slick choice of colour and font certainly gives them a graphic edge sorely missing in similar lines.

All their products are organic and made by SAF Clothing which means no starving kids in sweatshops contributed to this particular fashion brand. Take a look at nearly the whole collection:

I’m Being Followed T-Shirt

A very British tee and one that made me laugh. Stephen Fry is probably one of if not the most popular Brit at Twitter, and it’s all down to the plain and simple fact that he’s a mainstay of our culture, there are probably more of fans of his wry sense of humour and highly intelligent witticisms than for the royal family, however unintentionally funny they may appear. Joke. The fact is Britain loves the guy, long may he reign. If you are being followed by Stephen you deserve some kind of prize, perhaps this t-shirt for instance? Then again you could just lie :p The I’m Being Followed T-Shirt is on sale for £12.50 in sizes S-L.

Lorem Ipsum T-Shirt

If you’re a blogger and you’ve managed to install WordPress in the past you’ll recognise these two words. Traditionally used by the printing industry (what’s left of it) as “dummy” or filler text, it’s actually an excerpt from an Ancient Greek treatise on ethics. I bet you didn’t know that? If you did there’s no hope for you lol. I used to get A’s in Latin at school, I decided to give it up in the 3rd year, turns out it isn’t a dead language after all. Any  British doctor, scientist, barrister or politican could tell you that. Get the Lorem Ipsum T-Shirt for £12.50 in sizes S/M.

Lomosexual T-Shirt

Perhaps the ultimate in geek love fashionwear, the Lomosexual T-Shirt proclaims its undying passion for a cheap and badly made Soviet camera that is capable of performing miracles in photography. The Lomo phenomenon has been around a while now, but the fact is that digital technology did exactly the same for photography as it has done for music, it sucked the soul out of them. Lomo cameras let the light in where it shouldn’t, the randomness of photographic quality is what it’s all about, chance, and if you’re lucky, now and again, pure visual genius. Show your love for the Lomo with this superb tee for £12.50 in sizes S-L.

Sorry T-Shirt

A design so simple it verges on the brink of abstract, the Sorry T-Shirt features a Stormtrooper (The Star Wars kind not the Nazi type) with a pink (for some reason beyond me) tear rolling down its cheek. It should be corny, but it’s not, it’s very very cool. I suppose it comes down to taste, some people hate Pop Art, Andy Warhol in particular, or the 80s conceptual scene with characters like Jeff Koons, but I don’t, I love it, and this tee belongs on a wall in a gallery… and on my back. Unfortunately it’s all sold out, so we’re all sorry now :/

Check Boom! out at their blog, their store, their Flickr and Twitter page,

Back To Basics – Print Liberation

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Print Liberation, cool shirts, political t-shirts, printliberation.com, text t-shirts, type tees, typography tees

Print Liberation break all the rules when it comes to t-shirt design, yet their range of tees deliver such a powerful punch, offering a deceptively basic typographic home-made style, which personally forces the likes of people like me to reassess exactly what makes a great tee. The truth is their simple and straightforward designs offer an alternative to the slick graphics and ideas of most of the indie market. Sure, putting it bluntly, they’re as basic as can be, which in most circumstances is a risky position to take in fashion, yet their philosophy works. In fact it shines.

When you buy a t-shirt from Print Liberation you’re buying a message, you’re opting in to an ethos that hasn’t reared it’s head in decades. Big bold upper case fonts declare their ideology like a heavyweight knock out blow to the head. Don’t expect ‘pretty’ or exuberant illustration – that just isn’t what Print Liberation are about. Don’t expect glib and throwaway sentiments either, this brand doesn’t mince their words, this brand is about as close to an ‘anti-label’ as anyone has managed to create in decades. Their home grown basic design ethic is born out of experience and need, not ambition or fashionable attitude. You get what you see, and what you see is the truth.

They offer a range betwixt the big bold and rather glib typography tees that flooded Britain in the 80′s and the highly politicised tees of the 60′s and 70′s psychedelic era. Avoiding the petty thoughts of famous bands of the time like Wham’s “Choose Life” and Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Frankie Says“, and taking on a deeper and more politicised line more suited to the revolutionary downturn of the hippie movement. Yet there’s nothing sentimental or amateur about Print Liberation’s presentation, with a total lack of pretension, their designs get to the point straight away. There’s no room for art when it comes to this label’s idea of fashion, their hard-edged design ethic tells you why and how it is the way it is. They never cushion the blow, they never ‘decorate’ the truth with illustration and a spectrum of colour. They think the way many of us think, and in turn, their customers help to spread their message.

Founded in 1999, a moment when much of the media touted the world as we knew it would end, well if the Millennium Bug had had its way, a bedraggled collective of burnt-out advertising executives decided to turn the tables on big government and big business. Using the same talents prostituted to the corporations in the name of profit, they began to brainstorm their way through to a new beginning, an new era of indie urban fashion and art. The message would always be the truth, the mechanism for delivery would be popular culture, and the ideology revolution. You’re either with them or against them, that’s just how they roll, live with it. read more