People Tree are a nice bunch. You couldn’t help liking them if you met them. They probably went bird-watching when they were kids and know how to splint a sprain and light a fire and all that good stuff. And that’s not usually a great basis for a good T-shirt, right? Because tees need attitude, right?

Weeeell … they’ve actually managed to get away with being organic, fair trade, enviro-conscious greenies, plus better than average tee shirt designers. It doesn’t seem like a marriage made in heaven (or even a one night stand made in Vegas) but judge for yourself.

The stickman T-shirt is kind of updated hippy in appearance, great colour contrasts though and – is it just me, or is there a sweet sort of Blue Peter air to this tee? Something very wholesome about it.

But the other one’s my favourite, the nice banana T-shirt; I’m amazed Simon Pegg wasn’t seen wearing one in Run Fat Boy Run, it looks like just his kind of thing!

There’s always something a bit cheeky about a tee with a banana on it, but this one is safe to show your granny and wouldn’t leave you in the tent of shame at Rockness this year either. And yeah, they are saving the planet while you wear them.

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Well, yes and no. I can tell my bento box from my anime if that’s what you mean, and I can even make an origami crane while sat on the deck of a boat (yeah, I know all the Hard Boiled dialogue too) but Manga is kind of specialised. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter because good tees are good tees whatever, and this one is cute. The artist is manga specialist Hel Ewart who’s got the Brit/Japan fusion off perfectly, she’s a regular at Amecon (8-10 August, Leicester Uni) and if manga floats your boat, Hel is probably your Plimsoll Line!

Genki Gear
is a small outfit, drawing on the skills of illustrators who pin down the weird nature of Tokyo street style: you know, that’s where you can buy schoolgirl knickers (worn) in vending machines, alongside flowers for the Shinto shrine. Bizarre. Anyway, back to the point, nice t-shirt, good price, but if the cute factor is too much for you, there’s a really great Engrish one in the reduced section.

Post by Kay

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Design matters, right? And that’s why some tees become fashion grails and others just never make it. It’s not the fit or the durability (whatever other bloggers around the place may try to suggest) it’s the design. Which is why these T-shirts from Fantastic Bonanza caught my eye.

Apparently they are on pre-order and at sale price until May 24th, that’s Saturday for anybody who’s feeling calendar-challenged and pre-orders will ship June 16th. They are, duh, only shipping to the continental USA – something they need to sort out if they really want world T-shirt domination, mustard or not.

Brilliant designs though, strong colours, excellent graphics, a cheeky message – can’t see why these wouldn’t be selling in ten years time. I wasn’t so won over by the Fancy Mustachio and I’m making a new rule (more of a guideline) that I’m not posting images unless I rate the tee-shirt so you can click the link to see. The T-shirt uses two special inks: suede and metallic, but that doesn’t convince me that grown people should be allowed to walk around with teddy bears on their fronts.

Post by Mikey

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If you’re bored of mass manufactured high street t-shirts,Glass Boutique wants you to put your talent where your mouth is. They’re giving you the chance to design your own tee and if it’s a winner they’ll print it up! The competition is open to anyone with a good idea, creative talent, or who just thinks they are the next Henry Holland.

And there are prizes …

• The winner will receive a £250 cash prize and £150 worth of vouchers to spend at the Glass Boutique online store, where you can invest in one of the fifty T-shirts bearing your winning design. Each of them will have a limited edition label, featuring the artwork of the T-shirt, signed by the winning designer.
• Two runners-up will get a £100 voucher each to spend at the Glass Boutique online store. Their designs will be printed on 25 tees and will be available exclusively at the online store.

So, if you’ve got an idea …

Download the t-shirt template from right here and get designing. Email your tee to info@glassboutique.co.uk and put ‘T-comp’ in the header … don’t forget to include your name address and all that good stuff.

Roolz

• The competition is open from Friday 25th April with the last day for entries being Sunday 25th May. Regular entries to the competition will be displayed on the Boutique Blog.
• You will be able to vote for any T-shirt design up to the end of the first week of June on the Glass Boutique page - the Winner and Runners-up will be announced at the end of June. The tee with the highest amount of online votes will be the winner, natch, while a Glass Boutique panel of judges will select the two runners-up.

Post by Kay

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SevenX today, and in the random way that we’re ranking T-shirts, I’m saying ‘there or thereabouts’. The fit on these tees is stellar, really good - they do not do that weird thing where you wash them a few times and the side seam starts creeping around so that you look like you turned round fast and your tee couldn’t keep up, and the designs range from okay to excellent. The blue mermaid one is excellent, while this pink one is only okay - I think it’s a bit emo, but maybe emos buy T-shirts too?

So what’s the problem?

It’s the ‘secret pocket’. It’s a great idea and I bought a bunch of them because of it, but here’s the weirdness. The secret pocket, which is actually part of the rear neck of the shirts, like a placket, has a hem. So about a year ago, I’m running around this Scottish loch, all on my lonesome, sit down for a break and … somebody touched my back, right between my shoulders! I did spin round so fast my tee couldn’t keep up and nothing. Nobody. Five minutes later, jogging along, same thing! It’s the hem on the secret pocket, which rolls up as you move and then, when you slow down, unrolls and feels like somebody running their finger along your spine. It is a not-good feeling.

Also, the pocket means you do have to iron these T-shirts, cos if you don’t iron it totally flat it looks like you have strange underwear underneath. And while I do like a flat tee, I also like to have the choice of pulling them from the line still creased and wearing them which Sevenx don’t let you get away with. But the prices are way lower than Ed Hardy so at least Johnny won’t give me grief on that issue!

Post by Kay

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There’s no way of being cool without an Ed Hardy tee. Don Ed Hardy was born in Iowa in 1945 he was the first Western tattoo artist to properly incorporate the Japanese tattoo aesthetic and techniques into his work. Not just that, but he’s famed for his fine art - in 2000, he completed a 500 foot long scroll painting of 2000 dragons to celebrate the millennium and the arrival Dragon year and it’s been shown in galleries around the USA.

In 2004 Christian Audigier licensed the rights to produce the Ed Hardy clothing line, based on Hardy’s vivid imagery. Audigier’s got a great track record in this area – he was Head Designer at Von Dutch, which marketed the imagery of legendary Kustom Kulture artist Von Dutch and he’s used the same techniques for Hardy.

His tees wrap around the bodies of Fergie and Madonna, which is pretty cool. They can also be seen on Sylvester Stallone, and everybody’s favourite breast implant specialist, Jordon which cancels out the celebrity cool factor.

Post by Mikey

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Yup, it’s official. In fact, it has been for several months. We’re heading for a bad time and Despair Inc, out of Austin Texas will sell you a T-shirt that says “Just because you’re necessary doesn’t mean you’re important.”

They also have a line of random Demotivators – posters that rip off the motivation and self improvement industries, and a coffee mug that’s transparent, with a line on it to show you exactly when your cup is half empty!

The business first became famous a decade ago, but has taken a jump this year and no surprise - the Bureau of Labor Statistics says U.S. employers ‘lost’ 80,000 jobs in March and that means Despair’s sales are up about 15% this year, often because fed-up employees are buying ‘demotivated’ T-shirts to wear during their final week of work before being laid off.

‘People are buying because things are getting bad,’ says Justin Sewell, co-founder of Despair, a company whose existence is a direct result of his own experience. Sewell and his twin brother and another colleague, Lawrence Kersten, felt hosed by their technology company employer and started dreaming up satires on motivational posters as a private joke – now it’s a million dollar business. What would you have printed on a T-shirt for your last day at work?

Demotivator mug courtesy of bpende via flickr

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Snerko!

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“Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in.”
-Michael Corleone

Well, the TJ hasn’t officially gone into retirement just yet. Just been on a bit of a hiatus I guess. But getting a free t-shirt in the mail the other day kinda says at least someone doesn’t want me to just go away. So stick around, I’ll get motivated again soon. Maybe my slogan should be “will work for free tees” or something…

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okay. Andre from London says:

“I just used the email address to contact Alex at Born Clothing. He sent me the total cost with shipping and i sent him the money via PayPal. shirts arrived a few days later .. .and they are brilliant”

so there you have it. if you want that stormtrooper crossbones shirt or anything else, go ahead and contact them.

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