Y’know, this tee probably takes self-indulgence just about far enough for me, I can imagine getting away with it on a night out, but only because people would know that there’s a bucket-load of self-mockery going on. There’s only two types of people that can really wear this kind of tee, people who don’t mind joking about themselves, and celebrities. I got this tee for free, so I’m going to put myself in both categories, fair?

Even though most of Local Celebrity’s range of tees have images on them, I usually associate them with text, and considering that most people would probably just think of them as a college tee type company, they actually seem pretty particular about their use of typography. The fonts used on their vintage-style tees really do maintain the illusion that these tees were made in the 70s and 80s rather than in the 00s. The colourway also helps to create that vintage image aswell, I dunno why, but the red, cream, and blue does invoke a certain element of Americana, at least in the eyes of this Brit (we have the same colour flag, yet this makes me think of the US).

Quality is top notch, the ink on this tee feels and looks as if has been washed a few times already, so its probably a case of what you see if what you get. In terms of cut, I think its a lot like American Apparel, but they say that their “t-Shirt Fit & Fabric [is] Exclusively Made for Local Celebrity” so I guess my earlier thoughts that this is an AA blank was off base, guess I can’t be right every time!

Costiness=$19.95 URL

• 2 Comments

I’m not entirely sure if this hoodie is from their latest releases that were announced this morning, but this hoodie is looking mighty fine no matter what season it came from. Cute, fun hand-drawn style that reminds me of The Beatles Yellow Submarine image style, and the content is suitably trippy, with pyramids, clouds and a man puffing away on a pipe.

If you wanna make an order then you’ll have to e-mail them, which does make the process slightly awkward, but I think it would probably be worth the extra bit of hassle.

Costiness=€49 URL

• 0 Comments

This tee seems to be a bit of a departure from their usual style, but there’s nothing like getting out of your comfort zone to test yourself. Go Ape actually have lots of different artists, so my comfort zone comment doesn’t apply to them entirely, but its always good to see a brand trying something different, especially when they manage to keep up the quality.

Josh is actually on holiday until July 6th, so if you put an order in it won’t be shipped until a bit after then.

Costiness=$18 URL

• 0 Comments

So, here we are, the last in the long series of Public Domain tee reviews. I know I wasn’t exactly writing the magna carta, but it still felt really good to take such an in depth look at a clothing company, and go off-base a bit more than usual in the reviews. And of course, it helped a lot that I was reviewing excellent shirts, these reviews might have been a bit of a struggle if I had to find nice ways to describe crap for the past couple of weeks.

Yet again, PDC are employing that retro consumeristic style that everyone seems to love so much by heading back to the days when if you had a ‘mobile’ phone you needed a bag to carry it around in. As if having such an old cellphone wasn’t enough, this phone may well be the same design as was sported by Zack in Saved By The Bell. Okay, okay, I just really hope that this is the same phone as Mr Morris had in Saved By The Bell.

The design is big and strong, just like the rest of their ‘mega’ range. I would have usually expected more detail in the design, although its entirely possible that they made a version that had all the letter and numbers put in, and then decided that it was just a bit fussy, and I can see how it would be. The colourway certainly isn’t for people who are shy, but the green and brown do work really well together if you’ve got the balls to wear it out in public. I should point out that the first two pics in this review best represent the actual colour of this tee, the flash kind of threw off the colour in the rest.

For the seventh and final time, the tee quality is top notch, and so is the printing.

Costiness=$25 URL (and for the girlies)

• 2 Comments

If you have room in your wardrobe for yet another tee of birds sat on a telephone line, then I really would recommend letting this tee be your choice. If it wasn’t for the fossils this would be a pretty standard design, but the fossil designs really kick this tee up a notch.

And still only $10, you can’t go wrong!

Costiness=$10 (duh…) URL

• 1 Comment

That may well be the craziest name for a hoodie that I’ve ever heard, I love it!

That said, I can’t really see the association with either Daleks or Monekys in the pattern. Blurb!

Dalek’s space monkeys go apeshit on this stylishly freakadelic hoodie. There’s no doubt you’ll be ready for take-off with this one.

* Long-sleeve drawstring hoodie with metal front zipper. All-over silkscreen print. Two front pouch pockets. Ribbed hem and cuffs. 80% cotton, 20% polyester.
* Available in charcoal.
* Sizes: Small (34-36″), Medium (38-40″), Large (42-44″), X-Large (46-48).”

Costiness=$80 URL

• 3 Comments

I like Black Sea Apparel, they get that its quite hard for some people to get into the mindset that goes with the messages behind their designs, which is why they’ve advertised their latest offerings with the following tagline:

“Just in time for Summer! New… Hoodies.. WTF? Plus 2 new shirts with cheesy positive messages! :)”

After my faux-mockery last time I mentioned Black Sea’s hoodies I’d like to think that I was something to do with that line! But since it was Fathers Day on Sunday (and I bought a card but forgot to write in it or call home because I was too busy rocking out) I thought that their message might resonate better with some people.

The design is pretty cute, fairly different to what I’d normally associate their aesthetic with, but fun nevertheless, and the colourway helps to maintain the rather light hearted nature of the design.

Oh, and its good to see a brand that doesn’t price out the very people that they want to buy their product.

Costiness=$26 URL

• 0 Comments

Quick Stitch: This may or may not be a name that I’m going to use for quick, slightly off-topic posts. Tell me if it sucks or if you think of something better.

David from Seibei had a stall at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn at the weekend and has done a quick writeup with a few pictures.

Oh, and my apologies to David for using a picture in which he describes himself as ‘looking fat’.

Ack! How could I have forgotten to mention that you get 10% off your order if you use the coupon code ‘hideyourarms’, without the inverted commas, of course.

• 1 Comment

Nodiktat are a pretty new outfit (only running for 6 months), but they’re really showing some promise, and they’re located in Antibes, which isn’t that far from where I worked in France last year, and for some odd reason that makes me like them even more.

Even though I can’t put my finger on what makes me feel it, there’s definitely a feeling of European style in their designs. The designs are quite varied in terms of content and style, owing to them using various designers, but the level of quality is consistently high.

They’ve apologised to me via e-mail about the quality of English on their site, and whilst it is slightly awkward in a couple of places its still all perfectly understandable, their blog is French-only though, which is a bit of a pity, but I’m sure most consumers are far more concerned with their products rather than what they’re doing on a daily basis.

They also sell some posters and wall stickers, which aren’t exactly my areas of expertise, but I do think they look pretty cool.

Nodiktat

• 2 Comments

I know what you’re thinking, “Andy, that tee looks a wee bit too small for you.” And you’d be right (although I’ll have you know I have dropped a tee size this year, huzzah!), this tee is actually a HYA first, a review of a tee that is designed for girls. I was really hoping to get one of my sexy, sexy friends in for a photoshoot, or at least to give me their opinion on this tee, but I’m a bit pressed for time at the moment so I’m afraid that the ladies in the audience are just going to have to rely on my rather repressed feminine side for an opinion of this tee.

The print is vintage-style, I mean extreme vintage-style. Yeah, its pretty clear that you’re looking at the Delicate Tomboy logo, but it isn’t that clear. The print is big, so naturally I approve, and I whilst it would be foolish of me to engage is some Mel Gibson-esque mind reading, I think that big prints have a tendency to slim women down, and I would imagine that the ladies of HYA town would quite like that.

The colourway works very nicely together; pink, brown and yellow, it kind of sounds like the colours of a magnificent dessert that doesn’t exist (prove me wrong readers, prove me wrong!).

In terms of quality, the tee feels soft and well-made. I think the print might benefit from a couple of washes for it to settle down and soften up a bit, and the glory of the vintage printing style means that its almost impossible for washing it to ruin the print. Its pretty much impossible for me to comment on the cut and sizing since I have no frame of reference, when I pulled the tee out of the bag I did think it was quite small (the review tee is a medium), but that could be entirely standard sizing, I have literally no idea.

Costiness=$25 URL

More pics await if you click through.
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• 7 Comments