Kinkiking

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Bathman Tee, Celebritees, Kinkiking, Prin T Error, Tokyo Toxics, comic tees, graffiti tees, urban t-shirts

Mad name, superb tees, in fact it’s been a long old while since I’ve stumbled upon a label that ticks all the boxes. Kinkiking has four brands under one roof, Tokyo Toxics, Celebritees, Kinkiking and Prin T Error, and they all rock. Honest guv‘. This find is all down to Twitter, if they hadn’t tracked me down there I’d probably have missed them altogether. They’re based in Barcelona and generally, design-wise at the very least, completely and utterly have their finger on the pulse. There are definitely some instant classics in their collection too, I can’t get their Bathman out of my mind, a rather disturbing sight, especially if you’re an old school comic fan. Their infectious sense of humour spreads with other memorable tees like Mr. Rubrik and Toast Rider.

Gundam Tee

If you love your Manga but want it strawberry flavoured then here is your chance. €21 each for guys (M/L/XL) and €23 for girls (M/L). Of course the sexy model isn’t included.

MECHAel Jackson Tee

Jacko is long gone, but MECHAel Jackson is on a worldwide tour courtesy of Tokyo Toxics. Available for girls in M/L €23 and guys M-XL €21.

The Bathman Tee

This is a newbie from their sub-label Celebritees and probably would’ve been one of my favourites of 2011 if it wasn’t for the print size – big is definitely better. Still, besides the titchy print, I love the concept!! If I was a Kinkiking artist I’d seriously consider launching a comic book, who knows, a movie deal might just be around the corner? Available for girls in M/L €25 and guys M-XL €21.

Mr. Rubrik Tee

Another serious contender from the Celebritees series, love it. Available for girls in M/L €23 and guys M-XL €21.

If you want to see how Mr. Rubrik ended up like that then watch this…

Cold Coffee Tee

There’s nothing worse than a cold coffee, well actually there is plenty worse, but still, this is a great take on a rather annoying theme for me. Let me just take a sip of my coffee… urrggh. Get this snazzy little tee for girls in M/L €25 and guys M-XL €21.

There’s plenty more on offer including superb buttons and badges, and some mad hats, plenty of videos to keep you occupied, and they’re socially hooked up everywhere, Behance, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube. This is one organised label! In their spare time, Kinkiking, which is jam-packed with some great artists and designers like spend their spare time (when they have any) reading comics, rocking out and spraying and pasting Barcelona with their unique street art. If it’s urban, if it’s art, if it’s in Barcelona, they are there. See more cool tees at www.Kinkiking.com!

More Ames Bros.

admin    T-Shirt News     Ames Bros., Ames Brothers, Heavy Rotation, Jinx, Project Shirt, robot tees, sci-fi tees, urban t-shirts

It’s been a long old wait since my last post on Ames Bros. – which is funny seeing as they are definitely one of my all-time fave t-shirt brands. Anyway I was strolling around the net and came across Project Shirt, it’s just a branded store that sells cool graphic tees but I’d noticed they’re offering up an alternative selection of shirts. Personally I prefer these to the ones on offer at Ames Bros. own store, see what you think, they range between $18.99 to $29 in a selection of sizes. A superb retro feel to these…

Autobot Vs Careless Bear Tee

Yay!

Nobody gets Hurt Tee

A nice twist on that rather annoying old British WW2 poster. Don’t carry on, kick up a fuss, it’s more fun lol.

Robot Kong Tee

Probably my favourite of the four, I love that retro woodcut feel to the illustration.

Ray Gun Tee

Pow pow!

Take a look at the rest of Project Shirt’s cool gear, which also includes two labels I have to feature very soon, Jinx and Heavy Rotation.

Phelli Krews

admin    T-Shirt Reviews, T-Shirts     Phelli Krews, biker tees, hip hop tees, skull t-shirts, urban t-shirts

Phelli Krews approached me for a quick review, I have to warn you that the store is damn ugly, however they’re working fast on a new and improved site design for the near future. As far as I’m concerned, as long as they have a few decent tees on offer all is forgiven. Style-wise they’re foremostly focused on hip hop market, although I know they’ll object to that description, it’s cool to want to appeal to a wider audience, but it takes a little more than ethos, I always say “do what you know and do it well”. Which they do. PK were set up in 2007 and all their tees are screen printed to a high quality, and even though there are few surprises in the design department, they’ve some solid talent behind the label that’s worth you taking a moment to check out. Here’s their blurb:

“We are a two man operation and we try to design t-shirt for the urban and edgy consumer.  Such as bikers, skateboards, rockers, hip hoppers/rap, etc.  We don’t design a particular style shirt geared toward a particular lifestyle rather a shirt that would fit your taste, lifestyle, and the way you want to express it.”

The logo tees are a little ropey, and there are a few tees that are conceptually interesting but don’t quite cut the mustard for me. The Ghost Skull With Wings Tee is a good idea but I’d have used half-tones to create that semi-transparent look they’re after, rather than overlaying a skull motif with a pair of wings at the printing stage. Still their Flying Skull Tee is much cleaner looking (if you like skulls), but my fave has to be their Chancellor Seal Tee. All the tees available at their store are selling at an incredibly low $10.95 each in black and white (sizes 2XL- 3XL). That’s damn low for a screen-printed tee, kinda shines a whole new light on the label…

Chancellor Seal Tee

Flying Ghost Tee

See them all at www.pheilikrewws.com.

Urban Tees at The Ugly Kids Club

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     British t-shirts, London, The Ugly Kids Club, UK, grime, hip hop, street, urban fashion, urban t-shirts, www.theurbankidsclub.com

Probably one of the coolest labels we’ve featured at Buy Tees so far, The Ugly Kids Club is a UK based urban wear brand and collective with a strong street following who’s vibrant collection has been featured in the likes of:

Loaded Magazine‘s 10 of the Best : ‘No. 8 – Best for in The Club’ – Loaded Oct 09
Front Magazine : ‘…ace bunch of designers, artists and tattooists… website has a f***-load of tees, so go and treat your eyes’ – Front Sep 09

TUKC provide a great online experience, offering a shop where you can load up on all their latest t-shirts and sweats as well as a vibrant online community and blog packed with tons of features on everything from fashion to music, street art, skateboarding, funny vids, gigs and more. But what matters to us and hopefully you the most are the quality and originality of their t-shirt collection, and don’t worry, you definitely won’t be disappointed. They have some powerful designs under their belt, think ‘street’, think in your face, think swagger, you’re there. One thing you can be assured of, these tees aren’t ugly!

No matter the attitude you’ll find their t-shirts are all of a high quality in both design and production, with some very unique concepts and ideas on offer, spoofs of corporate logos, booze, the Facebook phenomena, tattoos and skulls seeming to be the order of the day right now. Their T Shirts range from £25 to £16 and are all limited edition, generally they won’t print more than 100 of each design and once a design is sold out, it’s gone forever – so no need to worry about staying fresh!

They’ve had some very fine grimy tees on offer in the past too, their archive reveals all that have been sold and sadly not available any more – their store includes an archive in the footer where you can see what you’ve missed. This one – UCK Rizla – would’ve been my favourite (modelled by Skinnyman and featured at Grime Garms.)

read more

Urban Tees At Affordable Prices

admin    T-Shirt News     AUC, Got Boots, Paul Wall, affordable urban clothing, affordableurbanclothing.com, urban fashion, urban t-shirts, urban tees

Now, AUC otherwise known as Affordable Urban Clothing have a strong line of t-shirt designs, and even a thumbs up from U.S rapper Paul Wall aka People’s Champ. Their site is a little bit ropey, using two Paypal buttons instead of a real checkout system, which I’d always advise against. The prices aren’t the lowest I’ve ever seen, nor the most expensive, but you’ll have to click a product photo to find them. If I ran AUC I’d fire their web designer, get a decent cart, pay for some ssl hosting and use a snazzy template with a custom header to brand the store. That asides, and I mean this is what the t-shirt industry all boils down, they do have a couple of decent designs under their belt, there’s no denying that.

AUC seems to have a fixation with killer clowns, I mean the sort you’d find in a schlock horror rather than ‘killer’ as in the coolest clowns on the block. There aren’t too many designs on offer right now, and asides the clowns and undead clowns there’s a dinosaur, a superhero and a ninja. I think AUC needs to do one of two things with their creative collection, either narrow down their subject matter, or blast it wide open. I can understand them not wanting to follow the herd and produce the usual urban designs everyone else does, but I don’t think they’ve quite nailed what they’re all about at AUC, or not just yet anyway.

I feel like their aiming for something between childhood cartoon nostalgia, and the grim reality or rather horror of life on the street, in a city, trying to make the grade, to earn a little respect. Not sure if it works. The actual brand of AUC’s tees is ‘Got Boots?’ – they’ve used a rather generic font for the logo, and it’s big, and it’s all over some of their t-shirts – which is rather regrettable. The story behind the label is, on the other hand, supremely uplifting. A story of one guy, Donnell Love, and his aim to reach out to the masses of Urban America through fashion whilst serving a charitable foundation SMIP ‚ÄúSingle Mothers In Peril‚Äù. 10% of proceeds from the sale of Affordable Urban Clothing goes to SMIP which is “committed to improving the lives of single mothers and their families by helping them overcome the polarizing issues in single parent homes.”

Where worthy causes are concerned it’s difficult not to simply shower AUC with praise, their t-shirts do have potential, but no matter what my personal feelings, that store really needs redesigning. Anyway forget the store design for a moment and check these tees… read more

De-clutter With Simplified Clothing

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Detroit, Simplified Clothing, indie tees, simplified clothing t-shirts, simplifiedclothing.com, skater, sneaker, urban t-shirts

As the site says, Simplified Clothing Midwest Love, and it couldn’t really be any clearer. This Metro Detroit suburban rebel label aims to give conformity a kick up the ass whilst simultaneously shelling out a hug or two to the dudes and dudettes who couldn’t give a damn. Life can be bland no matter where you are but suburbia can be most stifling of all, with neither the bright lights of the big cities or the freedom to roam of the wide open countryside, suburbanites learn to amuse themselves in a unique blend of wannabe metropolitan style tinged with a little yearning for a sleepy Sunday laying out in the backyard. Sunny days with planes making tracks in the skies, the radio blaring, itching to get going but enjoying the peace. Where the hell shall we go this weekend? God, don’t say the mall again? How about taking the train up town and catch a movie, or a club maybe? No, the night buses are full of puke and weirdos and everyone who’s got a car wants to drink. I’ve been there, suburbia, a strange kinship, restrained by regret and times wasted wanting. But things are changing, suburbia’s sources for fashion once appropriated from other more glamorous locations, finally gets its own back, putting its own homespun cynical philosophy on the garish and gaudy stylings of wannabe celebs and loft apartment dictators who have nothing better to say than ‘Look at me, I’m fabulous!’.

Simplified Clothing is a Mid West collective gunning for a placement in their own home turf and beyond, mixing up highly graphic inspirational art with plenty of nods to sneaker and skater culture, yet always staying true to their roots of suburban America. De-clutter that mind, turn your back on the busy streets and follow the rainbow that leads to where the grass is greener and sliced up like pieces of apple pie. It’s a neighbourhood barbecue for the soul, it’s a street party of the mind, it’s Simplified Clothing.
read more

Word Up To Word Apparel

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     cool tees, fresh t-shirts, graffiti t-shirts, graffiti tees, graffito, hip hop tees, hip-hop t-shirts, tagging, urban t-shirts, urban tees, word apparel, wordapparel

Deamn Right! Here’s a fresh young label straight from the street for all you homies out there looking for something laid back yet sharp, slick but with a nice line in self-deprecating humour. Great for a night out downtown, or chillin’ with your bro’s, your first stop should be Word Apparel; created, owned and run by Levi based in Houston, Texas. His style, distinctly ghetto, his humour, toon surrealism with a great eye for colour and a great knack for one-liners. This t-shirt collection is not your usual funny ‘ha ha’ eclectic range of old tired japes you’ll normally come across. As you might (or might not) expect from the freshest of the fresh, there’s a distinct blend of the underground street about Word Apparel. Bold prints peppered with touches of pathos and cheek, backed up by an illustrative edge that any self-respecting graffiti artist would have to lay down his cap to, that’s the order of the day at WP. You should expect big things from this lad, and you won’t be disappointed…

As Levi puts it at his popular Myspace joint, “We are always doing something new, focusing on new items to release, and many more things. So check back everyday, you never know what you could miss out on if you don’t! We have your biggest concerns in mind: Quality, Comfort, a “true to size fit”, and LOOKIN’ GOOD! That’s why we only use the highest quality prints and shirts, American Apparel!” read more

One Punch Machine Gun Takes No Flak

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Gun, NY, New York, OPMG, art tees, cutting edge, one punch machine gun, urban style, urban t-shirts

If I was a New Yorker I’d make tees like One Punch Machine Gun Clothing at OPMG.biz and you know why? Their designs are the shiznit, and in this case it doesn’t boil down to the usual formula of great graphic style meets solid conceptualist thinking. Although they excel at both, the extra secret ingredient at OPMG is attitude, and they have heaps of it to spare. A New York attitude to creative fashion that takes no prisoners, and if they did they’d be the most probably be the most stylish escapees this side of penitentiary. read more