It’s been mentioned on HYA a few times but I’ll reiterate it, half of my family comes from the North East of England, and the ‘capital’ (which it isn’t, but it is) of the North East is the glorious city of Newcastle, which is where Brave & The Bold hail from, so I was predisposed to like them anyway, but seeing the attention they’ve given to being green and putting out some sharp designs I’m happy to say that I genuinely do like them, which I’m sure is a great relief to you all.

B&TB is a very new brand, launching in that awkward ‘I have no idea what to do with myself’ week that comes between Christmas and New Year. They’ve kicked off with 5 designs printed on 100% organic tees (described as Earth Positive so I’m confident they’re by Continental, and that’s a quality blank) which all follow along the lines of being brave but don’t feel too much like logo shirts, thankfully, thought there are plans in the future to branch out to other garments and accessories. As usual, I would like to see model photos on the product page since that is generally the best way to show off your product, and I know they’ve got some photos like that because I hunted down that model shot at the top on their Facebook page. It’s probably in the works to add more photos to product pages with them being such a young brand, but that’s the thing I’d like to see most from them at the moment.

The British Summer is fashionably late and Rapanui, an Eco fashion brand has launched some brand new prints just in time.  The prints are made entirely from organic, natural fabrics in a wind-powered factory.  They’re printed by hand in the UK with Phthalate-free inks, which are better for the environment.  I love a good environmentally friendly brand and this whole wind-powered factory thing totally tops the charts! (cept, what happens if there’s no wind? no work that day?  I could dig it.)

Rob, a co-founder of Rapanui contacted us to share some of his favorite new releases.  The whole back-story behind Rapanui and how it came about is really inspiring so if you have a few minutes I’d definitely go check out and click around their website (which is very professional looking I might add).  Co-founders Rob & Martin grew up on the Isle of Wight in Sandown Bay and below is a picture of them.  That in itself should make you head over there and check it out – look at those floating surfboards!  My surfboard doesn’t float on grass like that, but then again I wasn’t born in a place called the Isle of Wight.  New Jersey doesn’t breed floating grass surfboards, only water ones.

Aside from that silliness, these new summer designs are slightly different from their usual prints.  This ones one of Rob’s personal favorites entitled “Wolfpack” and it’s a Women’s scoop neck printed on a white tee.

I’m part of a 2-man wolf-pack and so I could definitely appreciate the name of this tee, though I’m unsure of the whole giant animal head on a t-shirt thing.  I’ve seen a lot of brands doing it with cats lately too and I can’t wrap my head around it, but either way, props to Rapanui for their humorous product description and amazing look-book shots!  The Wolfpack tee is 24.95 Pounds which is approx. $38.71 USD (quite an odd price for a t-shirt).

This next one is called “Heroes” or as Rob described it, “the Iwo Jima Wind Turbine design”!  This one comes in white or grey and also has a pretty inspiring product description.  I like shirts like this that, simply put, look like someone pasted a photograph to the front of a t-shirt.  Done right (as this one is), it can really make for an incredible garment.

Coincidentally, this is priced the same as the Wolfpack tee.  I mean they’re both done in sort of grey tones so I could see how they got that!  If you can’t get with the designs maybe you can appreciate the Wind-Powered Factory? No, alright well check out their site because they do have a lot of good quality items in a variety of styles, some that even I have my eye on – maybe if the price wasn’t so odd.  Either way a lot of hard-work went into these garments being that they’re totally and completely Eco friendly and took a lot of wind to make.

Cost = 24.95 Pounds    Buy Now at Rapanui 

I know that the underlying message of this t-shirt is fairly bleak and depressing, but on the other hand it’s a really cute design that I think most of us would enjoy wearing.

Costiness=$30 Buy it at Gage+DeSoto

It’s an amazing thing how much each shirt really does for both America and the planet. Besides the fact that we use 100% certified organic cotton grown from non-genetically altered seeds and that it flourishes without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers, that it’s grown in the USA and keeps our farmers farming, our products are also made in the USA and we are committed to following all fair labor standards and practices. Our shirts are hand-printed using eco-friendly methods to minimize the effects on the planet. Every aspect of the creation of this shirt has the creation and sustainment of American jobs in mind, which does not even include donations. Some donations are harder to break down on per shirt level, but two things that each purchase of a shirt does is provide four meals for Americans and plant five trees! Pretty epic, wouldn’t you say?

Andy: They certainly are saying all the right things, and pretty cool designs too.

Geniuz Ink Clothing has just come out with relief t-shirt that 100% of the profits will go to the American Red Cross to aide in the ongoing Colorado Wild Fire relief efforts.  Geniuz Ink hails from Denver, Colorado, so these wild fires are hitting close to home for owner, Julian Donaldson.  This shirt is appropriately titled “Rain Dance” and in the word’s of Geniuz Ink,

“This shirt is a commemorative piece done for all of the people affected by the fire. Being a Colorado native it has broken my heart to see my friends, and fellow Coloradans watch our state burn to ashes. Colorful Colorado will be colorful once again but until then we need all the help and blessings we can get.”

This is a pre-order t-shirt and will be available in the middle of July.  Every order comes with a sticker of the artwork.  The simplicity of the design and the impact of the shirt’s statement is very powerful, especially for those who are sadly getting hit by these wild fires.  So remember, you’re helping the American Red Cross and those involved by purchasing this item!

Cost = $20.00    Buy it at Geniuz Ink Clothing 

Very nice release from team Sutsu as usual, mixing eco-concious materials with strong, bold designs. Whilst I’m not a skateboarder I am interested in this couple of new decks they’ve released because they’re made with bamboo rather than the traditional maple deck, which apparently gives 3″ more ‘pop’, is lighter and stronger than maple, and of course is much better for the planet since bamboo is amazing. Another cool thing is that for every full-priced item bought at Sutsu this season the buyer will receive a native British tree for them to plant and grow, as part of their efforts to bring native species back to Britain after many were cut down in the 19th century for ship-building and rarely were they replaced.

I don’t think that these winning designs are in the shop yet at Springleap, but it certainly is neat to see some well designed shirts to help raise environmental awareness since those two things don’t always seem to go hand in hand.

Urban Hand got in touch to introduce themselves, and in the process they gave me a very nice overview of what the brand is all about:

we are a new clothing company based in Dublin, Ireland. We started trading at the end of last year and our original collection included t-shirts and hoodies for men. We concentrated mainly on logo placement designs to try and get the brand established. We expanded the range to include hats and caps as well as a range of t-shirts, hoodies and bags for women. We are now taking the next step along the road and are incorporating designs by young, up and coming Irish designers. After doing some research into the cotton and printing industries we have decided that all our t-shirts are now going to be fully organic offerings ie a 100% organic cotton t-shirt, printed organically using water based inks by a company which is certified by the soil association so we’re doing our bit for the environment. Priced at €19.99 with free standard delivery to Ireland & the UK we hope it’ll be a success.

When I see all those ecologically sound terms being thrown around I worry, because it tends to mean that there’s going to be a high price tag attached to the shirt, so it’s really refreshing to find a brand creating tees are guilt-free without having a premium price. I have my usual quibbles about brands that focus heavily on their name and logo in their initial releases, but that’s a personal choice and these guys have a pretty cool logo so that does make things a bit better.

Here’s another nice one-colour design from Pier-Luk Bouthillier, I like the way that it creates the connection between our choices and actions (using a bike instead of driving, in this case) to the wider world, and that it isn’t particularly preachy about it.

Costiness=$27 Mens / Womens

Feel free to substitute ‘eco-concious bikers’ for ‘smug and preachy’, because if you know meet someone that bikes to work instead of driving you will learn about that within 5 minutes of making their acquaintance. Intersesting to see TweetTees over at RedBubble, I thought they found their home at MySoti.

Costiness=£16.67 Buy it at RedBubble