Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Threadless picks of the week

This is shaping up to be one of the best weeks ever when it comes to new shirt releases at threadless (and i'm not just saying that because they printed one of mine this week!) i would wear six out of the seven new shirts released this week, and i've bought four of them so far. yes, my t-shirt interest has come to a poin where it's more of a collector mania....i buy tons more shirts than i actually need. i could probably wear a fresh shirt every day for six months without having to do the laundry by now. enough blabbering, on to the shirts:

Le Voyage Dans La Lune - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
One of my fave designers, Kenneth Lavallee AKA Kennnnnnnn (actual number of n's uncertain) has made a kick-arsch design for all us chin-stroking film club geeks out there in "Le Voyage Dans La Lune", mixing the man in the moon of the original surreal sci-fi movie yarn with state of the art government-funded space shuttle technology. it's a nice bit of retrofuturism, made even better by its unconventional colour scheme.

My Neverland - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
i'm normally not that big a fan of natural and white shirts because they stain so easily(and man, do i have a habit of spilling all sorts of crap on myself when i'm drunk), but it's ok in this case because the print is so goddamn huge and complicated. it's a lovely bit of illustration too, with exellent line work and colour management. top notch.


Don't Play With Matches - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
Smokey the bear goes feral, nuff said. Great concept, and drawn amazingly well in a swanky retro style. But as much as i love this, i'm probably not gonna buy it....simply because no one would get the smokey reference here in norway. that shouldn't stop all you north americans from snapping it up like free beer at a free beer festival, though.

Amoeba Boogie - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
I dig this one because of the thin linework combined with the huge print and bright, yet subdued colours. amoebas are always ace(unless they're feeding off your internal organs or something, i guess), and the above factors combine to make this one of the nicer abstract/subtle tees threadless have printed in a while. in fact, i wish they'd print more stuff like this.

Poker Hand Values - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
wear this to your poker night. it's white, so it will be covered in beer-and chili nut stains before the night is over, but you should wear those stains like a MAN, man. unless you're a girl, in which case you should wear them like a girl, i guess. both ways are nice in their own, uh, ways. so there. anyway, "ace" typography on this one(huhuh, geddit?ok, i'll stop.it's a nice shirt though)

Knight Ride - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
Oh, and there's this one. I designed it myself, so i'm not gonna gush about how awesome it is or anything....but obviously i think you oughta buy it. Be quick though, quantities are limited and they're already out of men's size L!

All of the above and more are available from threadless at $15-17 a pop. Go get 'em tiger! Rawwr!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Luckythreadz update (Commies and robots and gimps, oh my!)

A triple dose of red shirts today, and coincidentally all three off them will probably be offensive to a small minority of really boring people. Red is awesome. That's why girls wear red lipstick, i think.


You bring out the gimp in me by OlliRudi, $17, Luckythreadz

gimp:
(1) a derogatory term for someone that is disabled or has a medicial
problem that results in physical impairment.
(2) An insult implying that someone is incompetent, stupid, etc. Can
also be used to imply that the person is uncool or can't/won't do what
everyone else is doing.
(3) A sex slave or submissive, usually male, as popularized by the
movie Pulp Fiction.


A shirt that is referencing a piece of pop culture that is in turn constructed largely of references to pop culture? this madness would surely boggle even MC Escher's mind. Anyway, crap aside, i wanted a gimp shirt, so i made one. Go buy it at lucky threadz this instant, young man/lady/whatever you are.


Also out this week:




communist party II by tom burns, $17, Luckythreadz

tom burns made another trip to the well that brought us the original threadless communist party shirt, and delivers a second take on the idea. and why not? it stands repeating, and there's no reason they can't peacefully coexist. get it here or wait for the original to be reprinted (it won't be long) if you prefer that one. EDIT: Threadless have reprinted their communist party t-shirt plus a hoodie! The battle is ON, choose your favourite! It's like some kind of messed up communist version of Pokemon! Fight! Fight!


Wrath by Graye Smith, $17, Luckythreadz

Also, Graye Smith has made this awesome lowbrow tribute to Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. who can resist groinkicking humour? No one, that's who. That's the reason Home Alone was such a box office hit. get it here.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Some other threadless news that i forgot to post yesterday


In an attempt to expand their ever-, uh, expanding empire, Threadless just launched a seperate site for their kids' clothing line. Check it out here if you're a parent, a small child or a design-savvy midget. They've made some great choices when it comes to which designs from the existing catalogue to print(including the average bear by yours truly), it would have been cool if there was an option to submit designs spesifically meant for kids' shirts though.

Monday, March 19, 2007

unhappy meals

I spend a lot of time at threadless. As far as t-shirt sites go, they definitly have the best community spirit. Even though that sometimes leads to (what i would consider) odd or bad print choices, there's always something for everyone in each batch of shirts. Most of this weeks shirts were great, and these are my personal favourites:


Inside You - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
Inside You by Matt Palmer, $15-17, Threadless

My fave shirt of the week comes courtesy of the one and only Matt Palmer AKA bananaphone, the illegitimate son of Mel Gibson and a thousand prostitutes, The Demon from Down Under, the Antipodean Annihilator, the Artsy Aborigin. This kangaroo punching, croc-hunting descendent of thieves and murderers has produced a shirt that manages to be both downright filthy and borderline innocent at the same time. I mean, I can't see this offending anyone, despite the fact that it centers on a tagline that would usually belong at t-shirt hell. Palmer's scribbly style fits the message well, and you really get a sense of the guy just going, fuck it. i'll put this on a tee. IMO, this should have won the fast food nation competition. get it here

Fast Food Meal - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
Fast Food Meal by Diogo Soares, $15-17, Threadless.
That doesn't mean the actual fast food nation winner is bad though, on the contrary it's my 2nd favourite shirt of the week. Despite some of the linework looking a bit wonky, it's a solid shirt with the kind of joke that doesn't really wear thin because you know there's a painful thruth behind it. Besides, you'd look a lot smarter while standing in line at burger king, high as a kite at 4 AM while wearing this than you would without it. It saves you the trouble of shouting "Yeah, i KNOW i'm eating pure, heart blocking filth that will one day kill me, i've learned to LIVE WITH IT FUCKERS!" at random passersby. So get it now.

Paint By Numbers - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
Paint By Numbers by Jesse Lefkowitz, $15-17, Threadless

Third recommendation isn't really related to the heart attack industry (except for the fact that it shows someone riding one of the most common ingredients in fast food), this unfinished paint by numbers-piece just looks plain good. If you're feeling frisky, it would probably be pretty cool to customize it by finish it off with some fabric paint, but the unfinished look is definitly one of the things that gives it its appeal (in addition to being a smart way to make the most of the max-5 print colours regulations of Threadless). Get it here.


Btw, where the hell is this weeks Threadless Select? i live and breathe off that stuff.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Collateral Damacy

It seems everyone and their mother is blogging these katamari damacy shirts, so instead of detailing them myself i thought i'd just let katamari creator/designer Keita Takahashi and desegner Ryo Kimura share their thoughts about the ones i consider the best in the series. IMO the ones with the more subtle katamari references are the better shirts of the bunch.


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Castle by Keita Takahashi, $25, panic shirts
Keita: "I let my mind wander with this one. I wanted a romantic shirt, and as a result i thought the shirt turned out wonderful. Gold foil on black..I like this combination of georgeousness and romance. Also, it's a castle, and it's gold, so I really want hollywood celebrities to wear this shirt.. That sais, I'm fully expecting this shirt will turn out to be the most unpopular..To my regret."

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Elephant by Keita Takahashi and Ryo Kimura, $25, panic shirts
Keita:"i wanted a shirt that expressed the magnidisence and coolness of animals. So, I enlisted Kimura to do the design. Because it is a Katamari Damacy shirt, we reluctantly added the small prince."
Kimura:"I thought about adding more wrinkles to the elephant, but I've never actually touched an elephant so I couldn't really reproduce the elephant's lines more accurately".

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Monogram Silver by by Keita Takahashi, $25, panic shirts
keita: "with a deadline looming, my ideas dried up a bit. This image popped into my mind, and now seemed like a good time to use the words "katamari damacy" on a shirt. About the colour: The gold on Castle turned out cool, and I've seen Japanese wrestlers wear silver glitter shirts that were cool, so we decidet to use shiny silver foil".

Get them here.

the REAL ultimate nerd shirt?

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animated pong shirt, $24, thinkgeek.

"Simply pop two AAA batteries into the concealed pack, push a button and voila! Amazing animated glowing old skool gaming on your chest. The two automated computer players are very talented and never seem to miss a shot... but you might want to watch for several hours just to be sure."

a pong shirt that moves. wow. just wow. it's so crazy i kinda want one, but i know wearing it would ultimately just look stupid.

anyway, its available from thinkgeek at the surprisingly reasonable price of $24.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Rock the Kazbah, mechanical reproduction style

The kazbah underground vendor section of Karmaloop is quickly becoming one of my fave places to spot (though sadly there's no international shipping available at the moment, so i can't get any of them myself, fuck that crap) fresh designs , so i thought i'd share some more from there today. merchant Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction does not only have a great-looking logo, but also a fair deal of tasty apparel.

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Abe/JFK zip up by Printliberation, AITAOMR, karmaloop. $70

One example of that is this sweet Abe/JFK zip up hoodie designed by Printliberation. Zip ups are an interesting canvas when it comes to print design, because it positively encourages you to do creative things with the split in the fabric. Unlike yesterday's tricky dicky shirt (dude, what's with the dead presidents?), this prez patchwork tackles a couple of the most well-loved leaders in US history, from the i lived with my male friend instead of my wife most of my life, yet no historian dares claim i was gay Abe Lincoln to the so grand i took Marilyn Monroe as a mistress John F Kennedy, effectively erasing the history between them with the pull of a zipper. buy it here.

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Fangs tunic by Paul Coors, AITAOMR, karmaloop. $36

Sadly available only in women's sizes (lucky ladies!), Paul Coors' design Fangs is a delicious piece of 1-colour Pop Art simplicity. The print is huge, it looks great, and i'd basically fall in love with any girl wearing it in combination with some suitably dorky glasses (as shown in the above pic). they should do some guys tees too though, not even skinny heroin chick art-rock type guys look god in women's tunics. buy it here.


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More scared of you by Tim Gough, AITAOMR, karmaloop. $36

Last up we have More Scared Of You by Tim Gough, an exellent rough-looking anaglyph stereogram type-overprint of a fuzzy cyclops. Cryptozoology is always a great theme for tee designs, and this is no exception... It practically glows on that yellow gold shirt. I'm probably not meant to get this association, but it totally brings back memories of the first miniboss of Dr. Wiley's castle in Mega Man 3. Geek pride, sucka! available here.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' nixons, who'll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch

i found these gems in Karmaloop kazbah merchant e.5.charlie's online bazaar stall, and boy do they shine. Two pretty different tees here, linked together by a common sod off gov'nor attitude.

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
"snips" by e.5. charlie, karmaloop, $28
In "Snips" arrangement is key, the seemingly household plier and scissor tools produce a high degree of visual tension via the way they point towards the wearer's neckline. The effect is both fascinating and slightly disturbing, but primaliry visually interesting and fresh.


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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
"tricky dicky" by e.5charlie, karmaloop, $28
"Tricky Dicky" captures the soul of one of the seedier oval office-squatters in history (bah humbug, they're all seedy) with a high degree of visual flair, his usual fangs replaced by a hefty set of golden gnashers for the occation. I'm a sucker for photo quality prints done right. It looks a bit weird floating in the middle there, but the huge size print and Stark B/W punch makes up for that. go here to check 'em out.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Silverfront!

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Silverback by Maki, $18, go ape shirts

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Superfrog found Graye Smith VS Blair Sayer, $18, Go Ape

The awesomeness that is Josh Perkins and his marching band of gorilla style design warriors (AKA Go Ape Shirts) recently released a new batch of shirts, and they're keepers to say the least. My faves this time out are "SilverBack" by the whimsical and dead sexy designer couple MAKI from the sinful, dirty netherlands, and "Superfrog Found" By the slightly less sexy, but still awesomely talented Blair Sayer and Graye Smith.

Or BlairSmith, as the tabloids have dubbed them after those revealing hawaiian vacation pics printed in last month's Digital Arts magazine.

Anyway, "Silverback" features an awesome depiction of Go Ape Shirts' totem animal, the gorilla, printed in REAL SILVER* on the front of the shirts. And it's awesome. "Superfrog found" is a thoroughly effective warning of our impending doom, now that the earth's mightiest defender has been sacrificed in the name of biology. And it has the weird distinction of being the second t-shirt i've blogged today featuring a dead frog(see the "host" design in the blog post under this). weird coincidence, that.

Anyway, if you like naked little squashed up hairy boys! You know! With the hand feet! The brown little hand foot men(gorillas) and superhero amphibians, head over to go ape shirts and have a looksie. Oh, and remember to check out the rest of the catalogue too. there's some gold there.


(*May not actually contain real silver, but at least it's shiny)

Host your daddy and what does he do?

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Host, designed by leon ryan. Available at Noisebot.com, $18

One of the greatest t-shirts ever designed by an owner of an inflatable sheep, this sweet ass mashup of two beloved pop cultural icons from our collective childhood (i think i actually saw Alien before i watched the muppet show, which might explain a few things about my psyche) comes courtesy of aussie designer and vector graphics powerhouse Leon Ryan, AKA d3d in t-shirt circuits. Really creative, dude. I'm glad it got printed somewhere. Available on a multitude of different tee colours, but seriously, this NEEDS to be on green.
Btw, Noisebot.com should start taking proper product pics of their tees, we like seeing stuff printed on fabrics. Help a brother out, dude.

available here.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tank you very much!

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
The world's a Circus, Tank Theory, $21/slim fit $23

Tank Theory continiues to impress, and the highly intimidating psychedelic typographic clown face design that makes up the March installment of their T-shirt of the month club is no exception. (It may be called the t-shirt of the month club, but unlike with Threadless you don't have to sign up for a year of monthly shirts to buy one, they're all individually available)
No matter how many designs there are out there with a CMYK colour scheme, it almost always looks great, and it's used to great effect on this shirt. my only beef with it is that the print could have been even bigger, covering the entire front of the shirt. it looks absolutely great in its current form too, though. Definitely worth a purchase.

Available here.

Other mindblowing shirts from Tank Theory: (man, i'd love to work with these people!)

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Who's your Rushmore?

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Official Rushmore uniform tee, Max Fischer. $25(?)

Man, i totally forgot to write about this a while back.
This is certainly one of the best faux-uniform tees i've seen, The Wes Anderson-loving chaps at Max Fischer have certainly succeded in recreating the uniform worn at Rushmore Academy. this full-print t-shirt features a collared shirt, loosened tie, and navy velvet jacket wrapped into one easy-to-wear piece. To top it off, they're are including two very special pins that will add the final flair to your ensemble. unfortunately they're not taking orders at the moment due to the staff being out of the country (to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed one of their friends in the distant past, no doubt), but bookmark this page and watch it like a hawk until they return.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Beard & Hair






Facial Hairshirt on Vimeo



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$24, Wire and Twine

Wire and Twine is quickly turning into one of my favourite shirt dealers, simply because they feel so personal and genuine. It doesn't hurt that they make beautiful videos documenting the creation of each shirt either, it's always nice to see skilled people work their craft. Anyway... this pair of shirts does a fine job of documenting the many styling options available to those of you who are lucky enough to have a head with hair growing out of it. Needless to say, they'd look good on any classy couple(of course, there's nothing to stop you from buying just one of them or buying both for yourself). they're available here.

Smoking is big and clever

Smoking Hot - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever
threadless, $25 ($20 until midnight, monday 13th!)

the threadless select line keeps impressing, and this is one of my faves so far. I've always been a sucker for colour gradients on relatively simple illustrations, and this is a prime example. this is the first time i've seen any of steven harrington's work, but the man's got class, that's for sure. buy it here.

(PS: if you see this before midnight on mon 13, make sure to take advantage of the ongoing threadless spring broke sale! regular tees $10, select shirts and longsleeves $20 until midnight)

unicorns fart magic

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
nerdy shirts, $ 20

whoah, Nerdyshirts are really pumping out the quality design these days! a few more and they'll be a proper powerhouse of t-shirt goodness. And start printing 2xl shirts while you're at it, half of the ner population in the world is obese anyway.
It's pretty self-explainatory why this one is great, so i won't really go into detail. Anyway, this shirt Is a prime example that tee graphics don't need to be pretty to make awesome shirts, this wouldn't be half as funny if it didn't look like it was drawn by some demented little kid with mashed-up crayons. buy it here

Sunday, March 11, 2007

some would call 'em ugly, i call 'em geektastic


reebok glow, price TBA

ok, so this isn't a shoe blog, but these glow in the dark tron sneakers are too awesome to go by unnoticed. no word on when they'll be available, but keep your eyes peeled.

best nerd shirt ever



nerdy shirts, $20, printed on AA

Dig this teecreation (i think i just coined that phrase) of the classic windows shifting vector lines screensaver! it's the kind of thing that's so simple and iconic, it's frankly baffling no one's thought of turning it into a t-shirt before. props to whoever it was who came up with that one. get it here!

One of my fave puns ever


designed by higren, approx. $48

Awesome t-shirt from norwegian one man shirt business and all-round good guy Higren that's both highbrow and lowbrow at the same time. these are stencilled by hand and shipped from norway, so they're a bit more pricy than your average t-shirt.... but it's worth it. get it from here.

Trussell , meet Oddica. Oddica, Trussell.


designed by joel trussell. $20, oddica. printed on AA

one of my favourite music video-type guys, joel trussell, has collabborated with oddica in translating some of his artwork for the m ward video "chinese translation" into the t-shirt medium. the results are magic. buy it here.

This tee goes to eleven



$21.95, found item clothing. printed on AA

found item clothing has recreated nigel tuffnell's iconic shirt fromthis is spinal tap!
ok, so it's not sleeveless...but as shown in that other classic comedy, monty python and the holy grail, any fool can cut off a couple sleeves. anyway, awesome! buy it here.


"This is my exact inner structure done in a t-shirt.
Exactly medically accurate."
"So in other words if we were to take all your flesh and blood and and take them off, this is what you'd see...It wouldn't be green though..."
"It IS green. See how your blood looks blue."