Yeah, it might be a little bit pricey, but there’s a huge amount of detail. The print, the zipper, the exaggerated and distressed stitched and seams, and you haven’t even seen the back yet, that’s almost a work of streetwear art (I’m such a tease…). The vintage look isn’t exactly all that authentic, but it still looks pretty good.

Costiness=$165 (free shipping) URL

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Peter from T-Post e-mailed me on Monday, the tee arrived on Wednesday. Now, I realise that T-Post don’t have control of the post between Sweden and the UK, but that’s pretty great customer service. But I guess it’s important for Peter to get t-shirts out to people as soon as possible, after all, he is running a news organisation.

Yep, it says it right on the tee, 63% news, 37% cotton. T-Post send a new t-shirt design to their subscribers every six weeks based upon stories that were in the news, maybe not the big mainstream stories, but something that really sparks the imagination for a great design. That’s probably for the best, because I like a design to stand the test of time, like, are you really going to be wearing that Sanjaya t-shirt next year? They even put the article on the inside of the shirt where you’d usually expect to see a printed tag, so if someone asked you “hey, what’s that tee about?” Then you can explain it. Yeah, you probably thought I was gonna do one of those ‘yeah, you can take off your shirt and read it to them, but then remember to put your shirt on otherwise you’ll be walking around topless’ gags that other blogs do, but you know what? HYA does not roll that way.

Talking about the design seems a little strange since they seem to use a fairly wide variety of styles from month-to-month, but for what its worth, I do think its a cool design. It’s based upon a story that I actually hadn’t heard before I read it on the tee (and if its on a t-shirt, its gotta be true!), about how there is a section of your brain that is dedicated to selflessness. That part of the brain is represented in the design as an angelic lump of brain, complete with wings and a halo, and the helpful little tag ’sense of awesome’, because when you do help other people, I do generally think, “that was pretty awesome.” There’s almost a 70s school textbook feel to it, especially with the way that the orange ink of the brain comes over the black outline, just like with a real newspaper!

In terms of quality, the stock brand is American Apparel, so you know what you’re getting (well, if you’ve bought a few tees off the internet before). The print feels good quality too, it’s deeply sunk into the cotton, so much so that you can actually see the pattern of the cotton. I had worried that having a news article printed on the inside of the shirt (which is fairly sizable at about 6-inches square) would be a bit itchy and scratchy, but you can’t really tell that its there.

A subscription runs you $32 (or €26) a month, and that includes all shipping costs, and I don’t know how much it would usually cost for an American to have a t-shirt sent to them from Sweden, but I think that’s a pretty fair price considering you’re getting a t-shirt that is fairly limited edition (they’ve got just under 2000 subscribers at the moment), and you’re not just buying t-shirt, you’re also buying into a really cool and fairly unique idea.

Costiness=$32 (monthly) URL

Click through for some more pics.
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I’m not entirely sure how it is that sheep are associated with war (war on cloning perhaps?), but it is a pretty cool design, I really like the little touches around the edge of the sheep, they kind of make it look like a technical drawing. And good on DUI for not letting that zipper get in the way!

Costiness=$55 Shipping=$5 US/CA $10 INTL. URL

[via Josh Spear]

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I know what you’re thinking, Andy, did you rip the rhinestones off this tee so that you could pimp out another item of clothing? No, PJE doesn’t actually put rhinestones on everything, in fact, the tees you’ve seen over the past couple of days are special editions, PJE do have a full range of ‘normal’ t-shirts. Obviously, I had to throw a pair of air quotes around ‘normal’, because it’s still a pretty special tee.

If you were to ask me straight off what ‘X Crown‘ is about, I’d probably start spouting off some garbage about the separation of church and state, even though thats an American issue and from what I can tell the only person that wears a crown in America is Flava Flav, so I’m just going to let PJE blurb it out for me: “Centuries old blazon combines the distinctly American motifs of sacrifice and triumphalism in a powerfully evocative design.” It’s a solid design, simple but effective like the rest of the line, and the colourway is extremely complimentary. If only it fit me! (maybe its time to put down the Japanese crackers)

Explaining how soft fabric and ink is with an item of clothing is a pretty hard thing to do, even after a year of telling people about clothes I struggle with it, so you’ll just have to trust me that these tees are really high quality, I haven’t noticed a dropped stitch or a loose piece of thread on any of my three review samples.

Costiness=$32 URL
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Since Kevin asked for one a few posts back, and I have a couple left, I was just (or should that be joost… sorry) wondering if anyone else wanted to get into the Joost beta. It seems like a pretty cool programme for streaming video legally, although my connection (512k DSL) isn’t really up to enjoying it to the full.

Leave a comment if you want an invite (I only have two left though).

*UPDATE - None left, I’m turning off comments since I think there’s more than enough people in the queue, it’s amazing how many dedicated HYA readers are also interested in internet TV!*

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Made out of bamboo, which I hear is really, really comfortable, I only ever hear good stuff about bamboo clothing, maybe I should pick some up to sample (hell, I can’t wear freebies all the time). That colourway is pretty sweet too.

Costiness=$116 URL [via Stylehive]

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I feel as if I’m stereotyping PJE as being some kind of rhinestone crazed t-shirt company when I post two shirts of theirs in a row that have the crystals on, which is unfortunate because most of their tees are completely without any kind of rhinestone embellishment. I’ll show a tee that doesn’t sparkle tomorrow, but for today, we’re going to keep on shining!

I don’t know exactly what the guy is meant to be smoking, maybe it’s a giant cigar? Or perhaps some form of more herbal relief (you’d probably need a painkiller after lighting a flame that big using only your hand)? My confusion aside, it is a pretty simple design, silhouettes are often a popular part of a collection, especially if you’re going for one-colour designs as PJE seem to be doing. I guess that when a design is so simple there isn’t really a huge amount I can say.

Just like with yesterday’s tee, the quality of this is excellent, I’ve got a little information about their tees and printing process from Peter, who runs PJE:

“The print has an extra-soft feel because we use specially mixed and carefully applied screenprinting inks to avoid the harsh feel you get from just doing a straight screenprint.

We have the shirts made by a small manufacturer that uses really high quality cotton, which we then further soften with a special enzyme/silicone wash. And yes, they are definitely made to have a fitted look.”

It’s a good thing I could quote Peter on that, because my knowledge of these techniques is still quite limited, so whilst I don’t totally understand why a silicone wash gets them feeling so soft, I can tell you that they do feel extremely good, and I’m sure you’re all far more concerned with the end product than the process anyway, right?

Costiness=$48 URL ($28 non-rhinestoned version)

Read the rest of this entry for more pics.
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I don’t find that many sweatshirts to feature, but I like this, even if the day-glo print is a bit 80s for me. Another top product from Clear-Cut-Case.

Costiness=€54 URL

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There’s nothing like waking up on a sunny April morning and finding a package waiting for you from another part of the world. It actually happens to me quite a lot. But it’s not very often that I get a package with three tees in it. So expect to see quite a lot of PJE Los Angeles over the next few days. Unfortunately, despite dropping a few pounds this year none of them fit me (one of my friends says everyone in LA is thin, so I guess that’s just listening to your market), so it was a pretty good day for my brother.

Clearly, the most notable aspect about this tee is the use of Swarovski rhinestones. The danger with these rhinestones is that they could be used as a gimmick, but I don’t think that’s what is happening here, they suit the design, they’re a bit of fun, and whilst some people might say that they make you look a bit flashy, well, sometimes I don’t mind a bit of attention.

Their current line is called ‘American Exceptionalism’, and because I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on American culture, I’m going to let PJEs blurb explain what that name is all about:

“More American than a motel room meth lab, the debut “American Exceptionalism” collection from PJE Los Angeles presents a laidback survey of street-level Americana that’s both casually sophisticated and knowingly irreverent.

From obnoxious hedge fund managers to strippers “working their way through college,” the collection casts a gimlet eye on the rarely applauded–but uniquely American–people and values that keep our nation humming.

With an unbeatable trifecta of boldly austere imagery, superior, loomed-in-LA fabrics and distinctive Swarovski rhinestone detailing, “American Exceptionalism” steps beyond the familiar, big-issue debates with a vision of an untainted “America” where we’re all on the same page.”

So basically, PJE is a clothing line that puts the essence of America onto cotton, right?

The tee itself feels like high-quality fabric, incredibly soft, I think they’re using some kind of custom garment rather than a widely available blank tee. They run small, quite fitted, although quite stretchy too, so if you like your tees quite loose then order a size up, and if you want to show off your well-sculpted guns then order your regular size. The print is really soft too, as if it has already been washed in a few times.

As you would expect, having 12 Swarovski rhinestones on your tee pushes the price up a bit, the standard ‘Mas Duro‘ shirt without the rhinestones comes in at $36, whereas the special edition is $52, which I don’t think is too much of a jump, you’d pay a lot more this kind of thing on the UK high street.

Costiness=$52 URL

You know the drill on extra pics by now.
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Yep, I’m taking the easy way out this week, I’m picking a reprint, a reprint that even has the all-important Zach Braff endorsement (the tee can be seen in Scrubs at some point). In my defense, You Sank My Battleship pretty much blows all the other releases out of the water this week (I do love a good pun!), and it really suits the track jacket style. It probably would have been better if the print were much bigger, because it wouldn’t have been that hard for them to print it across the zipper, right?

Costiness=Tee $15/$17 Track Jacket $40 URL

(Congratulations to Josh from Go Ape on having a submission printed)

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