Damn, why did I spend so long (about 30ish hours works) a couple of weeks ago building my Tron costume for a party when I could have just bought a hoodie from streetwear giant Marc Ecko?

I like the way that this hoodie isn’t too ‘novelty’, I must admit that I can’t imagine myself buying it based purely on how it looks, the Star Wars element is clearly a big draw for this hoodie, but at the same time it feels as if they’ve really thought about the design (something that can be seen in a lot of the Ecko x Star Wars range) rather than just cashing in on the franchise.

You can also pretend to be Boba Fett if you want.

Costiness=$98 Buy it at Marc Ecko [via Tcritic] *You can get $10 off your order when you spend $100 (yeah, $100 frustrating right?) by using the coupon code STARWARSFAN8 at the checkout, this coupon code expires on Sunday at midnight.

• 4 Comments
Tags » black • boba fett • costume • hoodie • Hoodies • marc ecko • movies • novelty • star wars • storm trooper • white

[I don't know what that sign is about, I took this photo in Manchester!]

I’ve got a bit of random site news to bring you, and since they didn’t seem quite big enough to mention on their own, this post is packed with not one, not two, but three things that you might want to look at!

1. I AM THE TREND - I’ve been trying (and failing) to build a directory of t-shirt shops and blogs for at least a year, clearly someone has had the same idea and unlike me, they have the skills to pull it off. I Am The Trend may well sound like the name of a scene band, but its actually an online directory of indie companies which users can rate and comment on. They focus on clothing art an music, and whilst the directory isn’t huge at the moment I can see a lot of potential. If you run a tee site it might be a good idea to get yourself listed now because after Christmas they’re going to start charging for ‘Pro’ listings.

2. How To Start a T-shirt Company - Jon Kruse, the guy behind Mediocore Clothing has set up a new blog (which actually has some old content from when he was starting Mediocore) which, as you may well have guessed, it all about how to start a t-shirt company. By his own admission he’s still got a fair way to go before you can learn everything about getting your tee label off the ground on the site, but its certainly not the worst place to start if you want to start making t-shirts for fun and profit.

3. Buy-Tees T-Shirt Toolbar - I haven’t had a chance to play about with this yet (just installed, but I need to restart Firefox and with about 20 tabs open that won’t be happening anytime soon), but it looks pretty cool. The t-shirt toolbar, put basically, is an easy way for people to find t-shirts, reviews of t-shirts, videos of t-shirts, and even chat about t-shirts. In lieu of a proper review from me, MilitantGeek has given it a good look and I’m afraid its a thumbs down. **** Apparently there are ’serious problems’ with the installation of the toolbar, so its probably a good idea to not install it.

• 3 Comments
Tags » buy tees • directory • DIY • howto • i am the trend • mediocore clothing • resources • T-shirts • toolbar

I’ve got no idea who these two guys are, but I guess I’m a bit of a sucker for photo tees.

Costiness=$28 Buy it at Urban Outfitters [Rumplo Link]

• 0 Comments
Tags » blackandwhite • Mens • photo • photo tee • rumplo • rumplo rocks • T-shirts • Urban Outfitters • white

Sometimes I wish that HYA was a TV show so that I could accompany stories with music, because I think that backing this story would be the music that plays during the Darth Maul x Obi-Wan lightsaber duel during The Phantom Menace. Partially because I want to over-hype the return of Oddica after an unfortunate hiatus of 9 months, and partially because I think that me presenting a segment on TV with music that ridiculously dramatic would be totally badass.

Sorry, I believe I have a news item to tell you. Oddica have released there first new designs since 2007, and they certainly do not disappoint. Good to have you back Oddica, we’ve missed you.

Oddica

• 1 Comment
Tags » American Apparel • movies • oddica • Polo Shirts • relaunch • T-shirts

I’m glad to see that this design got printed somewhere since I used to love playing Duckhunt when I was too young to hold an actual rifle (not that I do much rifle-holding now. mind you), and for it to be at Unetee is even better since it means that you can pick it up for $12 if you buy it this week.

Costiness=$12 Buy it at Unetee

• 1 Comment
Tags » American Apparel • duckhunt • funny • games • geek • grey • NES • nintendo • rikkiB • silver • T-shirts • unetee • videogames

What? Did I just manage to go a whole week without writing about a tee from Local Celebrity? I guess you could say the same thing about going a whole week without seeing a tee that was about Voltron!

Anyway, here we are with yet another Voltron tee that gets a lot more love from my friends than the usual arty stuff that I usually cover my unnecessarily-hairy torso with (you got a mental image of that? awesome!). As with the other Voltron tees I’ve reviewed from Local Celebrity, this one is fully licensed and features artwork that accompanied the show when it was first broadcast on television, which I think it almost a necessity in a culture that’s as otaku as anime people and tee people can be.

So, you’re looking at this tee and thinking, “hey, they’re printed it in a burnout-esque kind of style” or perhaps “I wonder how they got that vintage look?” Well, this tee is actually printed completely normally… except the print is on the inside. Unusual right? So, if you turn it inside out it looks like a regular t-shirt with the writing backwards, but I think that it gives it a good look, not necessarily a vintage look, but something reminiscent of a vintage look, which may or may not make sense to you. If you’re worried about having the print going directly onto your chest and the problems that you cause, you can’t feel the print at all, and the tee itself.is super soft as well, in case you’d forgotten my gushingly positive reviews of their tee quality in the past.

Costiness=$27 Buy it at Local Celebrity

• 3 Comments
Tags » 80s • anime • cartoons • Local Celebrity • retro • review • Reviews • T-shirts • vintage • voltron • white

Hot damn that looks like some good printing, it practically looks like a painting on a tee.

Foe Paws

• 1 Comment
Tags » animals • bears • foe paws • text • wolves

Well, here’s a novel concept, a t-shirt company that think everyone is an artist. I think they realise that not everyone is the next Rothko or Mozart, but they might be on to something with this idea that ‘everyone doodles’. I guess that’s true to one extent or another, and it actually works surprisingly well as the basis for a clothing line.

Despite the whole “everyone is an artist” thing, their first range of tees shows a lot more doodling talent that you’d find on the writing-pad next to my telephone, and the 3 tees are all pretty cool. Each range (released every few months) is based upon a theme, and the first theme was ‘monsters’ which always provides excellent fodder for designers. I don’t think that there’s actually any kind of prize for people that submit their doodles (although even designs that don’t become a tee get shown off in their gallery), but I really like the old-school way that to submit your artwork your have to send it via snail mail, after all, its hardly a doodle if you’ve done it in Adobe Illustrator!

Draw Limited

• 1 Comment
Tags » American Apparel • characters • doodles • draw limited • illustration • monsters • T-shirts

Kieran from Lhome got in touch to let me know about a few exciting new developments that are going down with them. First, they’re in Roktic, which is a British webshop that’s quickly establishing itself.as a good place to shop by stocking some really great brands (what a novel process), and the addition of Lhome only strengthens their roster (there’s also free shipping to anywhere at Roktic until the end of the month, hurry!).

Second, they’re going to be one of the brands selling their wares at this years Afternoon Tee in Plymouth. Afternoon tee is an event on October 12th where some of the UKs top small & independent brands come together to sell their clothes, with live screen printing, live DJs and music and a couple of parties to provide extra entertainment. I’m really glad that there’s an event like this in the UK, hopefully it will be a big success, and maybe inspire further events around the country.

Lhome : Roktic : Afternoon Tee

• 0 Comments
Tags » afternoon tee • event • lhome • roktic • t-shirt

I’d vote McCain/McClane over McCain/Palin any day, not that it matters since I can’t vote in the election anyway.

Vote John McClane

• 0 Comments
Tags » black • die hard • funny • john mccain • john mcclane • movies • parody • political • T-shirts