From the category archives:

Reviews

Naked Sunday Review : http://www.naked-sunday.com/

by DeeHYA on January 22, 2013

So late last week the postie brought me a jiffy bag of joy in the form of a t-shirt from London company ’Naked Sunday‘ so I shot in the t-shirt with local photographer Penny Edwards in the studio and I got my fiance Nicholas to brave the cold in the tee too.

Firstly, Naked Sunday has a lovely crisp, clean and easy to use website, you get a feel for their designs even via something as basic as the font of their logo. The tees are mostly black, white and red which little accents of other colours for particular designs. There are currently only 6 designs, I hope they come up with more as popularity grows.

As I was allowed to pick I opted for ‘X Marks the Spot’ which is a design centred around an old style map. My favourite design on the site is probably ‘Femme Fatale‘ but I thought that my fiance would prefer wearing the one we received.

At £30 these aren’t your basic, budget tees. Both the quality of the shirt and the print is super high and if you’re looking for a tee for a night out I’d recommend these big style. I even enjoyed the fit of the tee on me and sometimes I have problems with bloke fit tees. The shirt is flexible without feeling flimsy and the print is vibrant without being stiff.

I’m very excited about Naked Sunday and I am looking forward to more genius original designs on super quality tees!

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Effing Gear Hands on Review

by AndyRocksBluu on January 21, 2013

Hey everyone, its AndyRocksBluu again and I have a new review with the good people of Effing Gear. I’m not going to lie, when I first saw this clothing line I thought to myself “Is that a middle finger and a bird as a logo? Nope I think I’ll pass”. However, after getting my package and really dissecting what Effing Gear brings to the table, I have to say I’m pretty impressed. Dive In below and check out my Effing Review.

Design: 3.0-5.0

The two tees I received were pretty cool. One design was a logo tee and the other was an Eff Sandy relief tee. Both designs are simple and clean designs that had textures to the image to give it an old tattered feel.

Price: Average/High

If you’re going to get an Effing Gear t-shirt it’s going to run about 26 bucks. For some people this might be a little high but in my opinion it’s about average. While I was looking over their logo tee I found plenty of added details ranging from hem tags, hang tags, and leather bracelets.

Quality: 4.0-5.0

This is where Effing Gear really shines. Their clothes are soooooo comfortable it’s not even funny. Once I put on my Eff t-shirt it didn’t come off until the end of the day. I definitely give them two thumbs up in the quality department.

Presentation: 4.0-5.0

I wasn’t sold on the concept but the presentation really won me over. Each shirt comes with an Effing hang tag and leather bracelet. I really wish I received a little note that the leather string was a bracelet because I almost threw it in the garbage. Luckily for me I found out what it was when I visited the website. (the bracelet is a nice touch.) PS the tag line in the washing instructions “put some Effing clothes on” is the icing on the cake.

Conclusion:

If you like what you see and you don’t mind wearing clothes with a hand flipping the bird, then Effing gear might be for you. You can check out the site here. http://www.effinggear.com/

-AndyRocksBluu

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T-shirt Review for Tee-a-Day Site – ShirtPunch!

by Leah on January 19, 2013

It has been a while, but I am continuing on my reviews of the Tee-A-Day sites, this time with ShirtPunch! They offer a tee every 24 hours and each shirt begins it’s sale time at midnight EST – Eastern Standard Time. If you live in California, for example, it would change at 9pm. Living in the UK? The new tee goes live at 5am for you! I received my tees in a normal mailer, they were wrapped nicely in plastic inside the mailer, but what made it stand out was the Shirtpunch logo boldly presented on the front – adds a nice “punch” to the bag, don’t you think?

First up for review is an interesting tee and it took me a bit of curious questioning to understand the reference, but now that I understand it, I really like it! If you’re like me and not knowledgeable of classic video/computer games, then you might need some explanation. This tee is called A Better Tomorrow by Bob Mosquito and the t-shirt is essentially a cereal box design (probably figured that already), but what you might not know is it is also referring to Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle; a point-and-click 2D adventure game released on floppy disc or CDROM in 1993, wow I haven’t seen a floppy disc in ages. Well in the game the characters attempt to stop the evil Purple Tentacle (a sentient, disembodied tentacle) from taking over the world, sounds fun! I like that this reference is so obscure, yet the design is fun and interesting enough for a girl like me to enjoy.

This tee is actually printed on a Men’s Medium Black Gildan Softstyle and it obviously fits a lot larger than what I am used to. I still like to wear it though, it’s not uncomfortably too big, so why not? Print of A Better Tomorrow (and Scare-A-Lot, that tee’s next) are very good being as ShirtPunch prints using silk screening which always catches my eye for being a smooth and quality print. Not only that, but what I really like to see in a t-shirt company is a big print, and these prints are big! My only critique would be the tags – they are the original Gildan tags, and it would be nice to see a custom Shirtpunch sewn on tag or maybe a printed tag directly on the fabric.

I have a tee here a lot of you zombie fans would love, Scare-A-Lot by Truffleshuffle. It’s basically Care Bears in zombie land with a toxic rainbow, deadly little stars and hearts, and hideously cute bears staggering throughout the t-shirt. I especially love the blood (or ooze) flowing out of the one bear’s belly and the exposed ribcage on the other one – does add a bit of gruesomeness to the design! I am intrigued by the sweet, cheerful Care Bears that have been zombiefied; I like the juxtaposition.

This tee is printed on a Women’s Medium Black Gildan Softstyle which if given a Gildan, the Softstyle are the best for what they offer in my opinion. The fit is very good being the right length for me, feels good, and isn’t too tight. I don’t usually prefer this type of blank, but it is not a bad one in any means. (A really nice size chart is available for a more detailed description.) Shirtpunch also offers a variety of styles of apparel to get the design printed on – from tees to hoodies, as well as other things like posters, stickers, and buttons!

Overall Shirtpunch didn’t disappoint at all, they put out really nice quality tees, especially for only $10 a pop. Thanks to Jon (Buzatron) and all the folks at Shirtpunch for the opportunity to give a review of their tees. Thanks for reading!

Keep in touch with Shirtpunch: Facebook and Twitter

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Twin Serpents – T-shirt Review

by Mr Four Fingers on January 14, 2013

Not too long ago clothing brand Twin Serpents posted an image on their Facebook page of some Black Mamba’s asking what makes snakes so scary. Before you answer let it be known that a black mamba has a reputation for being aggressive. Oh and they are highly venomous and the fastest snakes in the world.

Those who left a comment had their names entered into a random raffle and hey presto I got myself an awesome t-shirt. What made it even better for me was that a couple of weeks previously I let the guys at Twin Serpents know about a small post I created for them on Skull Appreciation Society about this very t-shirt.

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Review: Quote & Apparel

by Matt on January 11, 2013

I’m usually one for a graphic tee and not so much a text based design, but Quote & Apparel have combined those two elements to make some nice shirts that could fit into anyone’s style.

All their designs are based around quotes. Some you have probably heard before and others you haven’t. Each quote is brought to life with a sketch-like illustration, usually using a simple one color print. The artwork and text are directly printed onto Poly-Cotton blend Next Level Apparel tees, making both the print and shirt very soft.

They were nice enough to let me choose which shirt I wanted to review and being the proud Philadelphian that I am, I opted for one of their Ben Franklin designs:

“We must hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately.” – Benjamin Franklin

Because they use DTG printing, they can (and do) offer their designs on multiple colors. I got the “Hang Together” print on light blue. It also comes on off white, sage, and silver.

Overall, I think Quote and Apparel has a good thing going. My only suggestion would be to remove the Next Level tags from the blanks, so as to make a complete, branded product. Because they do have a printed neck tag that would take the place of that removed one. Check them out at quoteandapparel.com.

Next time: I review the DBH Collective

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Margin London at HideYourArms

by Margin London on December 17, 2012

Margin London has been kindly invited to contribute to HideYourArms. We’ll be posting some news about up-and-coming labels that will be exhibiting at Margin in February 2013, which takes place on the 10th & 11th, but firstly we think we should introduce ourselves.

Started back in 2002 as an affordable platform for new designers, Margin is the longest-running independent trade exhibition in London. The show presents designer women’s and men’s tailoring and accessories, as well as streetwear for men and women, to invited store buyers and press.

The humble tee has long been a starting point for numerous labels, and we’ve seen many an exhibitor start off with a t-shirt offering which has grown over the seasons to include a full range of clothing. Supremebeing, Lazy Oaf, Seventyseven, Dephect, YourEyesLie, and many others all started at Margin with tees before growing their stockist base and extending their range to include clothing, bags, jewellery (or jewelry for Americans!), and hats.

Margin has been providing a launchpad for brands to meet with key buyers and press for 10 years to date, and 2012 marked a decade of exhibitions.

To commemorate the occasion, a limited-edition 10 year book was printed for visitors to the show, but it’s also available to download as a PDF or as a super-interactive book for iPad. The iPad version features extensive galleries of previous seasons, as well as videos, and can be downloaded here.

Here’s the link to posts where HideYourArms mentions Margin including brand updates from when they last visited (well overdue for a revisit but Andy & the HideYourArms London correspondent are returning in February 2013!).

Margin is an intimate showroom exhibition in a white gallery space in the heart of Central London, and the only tradeshow in the UK where buyers and press can discover new & emerging design talent (most making their debut launch). When we say “NEW”, we don’t just mean new to Margin, we mean brand-spanking, never-been-seen-before, new!

Since the exhibitions first started back in 2002, Margin can lay claim to providing the successful trade launch-pad for many brands such as Chateau Roux, Your Eyes Lie, Supremebeing, Dephect, Emily & Fin, Miyson, 1 in a 100, Missmilne, Worn By, Ashley Marc Hovelle, Humdrum, Worn Free, Sugarhill, King Apparel, Terratag, Lazy Oaf, Famous Forever, and Ruby Rocks, as well as the UK launching point of overseas brands including Silas, Upper Playground, Tank Theory, Eastpak Apparel, Loreak Mendian, Syndrome, Al & Alicia, Gama-Go, Mimobots, Double Goose, Stereo Sound Agency, Diamond Supply Co, Urban Originals, and Uzi amongst many others.

Margin has welcomed key stores to the exhibitions since first launching in 2002; from online players like ASOS, My-Wardrobe, and Urban Industry; multiples such as Ark, Joy, Beams, and Ships; department stores, such as Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Liberty, House of Fraser, Psyche, Fenwick, El Corte Ingles, Galleries Lafayette, & Engelhorn Trendhaus; as well as the key independents Margin is renowned for, including Colette, Hip, Sakis, Wood, Royal Cheese, Natterjacks, 290sqm, Coggles, Market, Atoo, My Yard, Donuts, Caliroots, and Get Cutie, to name a few.

Margin has welcomed numerous stylists and fashion editors from magazines including Vogue, Wad, Elle, Wallpaper, Arena, i-D, FHM, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Vice, DJ, Flux, WWD, Drapers, Sportswear International, and Sport & Street; as well as contributors from directional blogs such as BNTL, Coolhunting, Hypequest, Slamxhype, Hypebeast, and, of course, Hideyourarms.

For more info about Margin, visit the website here, find us on Facebook or Twitter, and we’ll be back soon to post about some great new labels that will be exhibiting at Margin in February 2013.

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Pepe Jones Born Out of Failed Ideas

by Umang on December 15, 2012

When Pepe Jones reached out to HYA, I was pretty excited to do a review for them. I see a lot of t-shirts and can become jaded by repetition and lack of thoughtfulness, something that Pepe Jones does not fall into. The irony is that Pepe Jones states, “Pepe Jones is the new modern/vintage t-shirt brand that was born out of the failed ideas and dreams of the notoriously elusive.” Making a mission statement like that could be a set up for failure. I found the contrary and feel that these guys are on to something interesting and thoughtful. I have written about the lack of creativeness in politically charged t-shirts that flooded the market during this past US Presidential election. Politicians are using social media to get some fresh voters, why not tap into timeless designs like Pepe Jones? Lincoln & Johnson won their election 148 years ago but this shirt is sure to get some looks from envious hipsters and political buffs. I assume the “failure” of the Lincoln & Johnson win, was that Lincoln was eventually assassinated by John Wilkes Booth 158 days later.

Enough history, lets get back to the actual t-shirt. The t-shirts are super soft and appear to be ring spun cotton. Pepe Jones, sourced some quality t-shirts so don’t worry that you will get a Hanes Beefy-T. The print quality is crisp. I also received a hand written note, sticker and a business card. The funny thing is that Pepe Jone’s image reminded me of one of my teachers from High School, named Mr. Fine, not that it should matter to you.

Get some Pepe Jones folks and to smooth the deal over, they have offered HYA readers a 20% discount. Use the code HideYourPepe20 at check out.

Lincoln – Johnson 1864 Presidential Campaign Shirt – Monetary Damage with the 20% discount $16.00

In 1864 this t-shirt would have cost you $0.91 but you are getting a great deal at $16.00 a pop.

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Jolly Christmas T-shirts Review : http://www.jollyclothing.com/

by DeeHYA on December 15, 2012

Who loves Festive T-shirts? I know I do, I also know that the High Street has been selling out like no-ones business and sometimes you need to have a hunt online! Christmas is fast approaching so you’re going to have to be swift if you’re wanting the ideal tee for Christmas day. Apologise for the pics, not as good as usual, had to use my Mam’s tree as ours looks like something out of a Katy Perry music video!

So I was hunting around online and I found http://www.facebook.com/JollyClothing this is quite a cool FB with competitions and stuff going on so it’s well worth a like, I was first won over by the fab designs and the fact they do guy and girly fit in a fabulous selection of colours in two awesome designs. You can access their shop via Facebook or you can head to http://www.jollyclothing.com/.

First design is the Reindeer tee! Modelled here by my fiancé! This is available in Green, Blue, Red & Brown for men and Red, Purple, Pink, Charcoal, Brown, Blue, Red and Green for ladies. My fiancé normally wears a size Medium and the fit is standard, the print quality is excellent and for £12.99 you’re simply not going to get a better festive tee!

Festive2 480x722 Jolly Christmas T shirts Review : http://www.jollyclothing.com/

I got my grubby mitts on the Snowman tee! Available in Denim Blue, Green, Brown and Royal Blue for fellas and Charcoal, Pink, Purple and Lilac (my fave) for ladies. I love mine, I did a little squee noise when I took it out of the packaging. It’s a fab fit, I normally wear a small tee and this is a medium and it fits perfectly with a tee underneath. I can’t praise the quality of these tees enough. When messaging one of the employees at the company he said there was limited availability in some colours/sizes so if you’re wanting a tee for Christmas day I would get in there quickly! Next year Jolly Clothing, I’d love kids ones!

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Choonimals Hands On T-Shirt Review

by Amy_F on December 10, 2012

After being affected by Hurricane Sandy here in New Jersey, I was pleasantly surprised and excited to receive a nice package from Choonimals for my next review. Especially since they drew me a lovely picture on the mailer of the state of NJ looking pretty angry or scared, I can’t decide.

Whether it was intended for that purpose or not, I enjoyed it and thought it was a special touch. I didn’t get to choose my shirt from them so when I opened it up I was definitely happy with what they had selected for me.

The t-shirt they selected was titled “Stranger” and really was an interesting piece of work. The description on their website for “Stranger” says,

“He doesn’t look like a normal Penguin, But he still tries to be a super penfriend. All the others run from him in fright, As soon as Stranger gets within their sights.”

The shirt is printed on American Apparel, which is always a quality, soft shirt made of 100% cotton. Choonimals has a lot of cute animal designs on their website yet with a twist. The animals all look cute but some have a rabid or demented look to them. They’ve got quite a selection of products from tees to tanks to hoodies ( I kind of want to grab every tank they have in stock even though it’s winter). Also, if you read up on their history of the brand it’s a pretty cool story how they got started and how the name came to be (from a server at Arby’s).

Needless to say, the design they sent me was cute and the colors were even better. The shirt gives you a bright yet subtle range of purples, pinks and blues that really combine to become an attractive and appealing shade for a shirt. The design is printed in what I’d identify as a boxy photograph approach; meaning they purposely made it square like an image was printed to the shirt so they’d have that sort of background, instead of the t-shirt itself becoming the background as a lot of brands do. This is the only shirt on their website that has this look to it and typically I’m bothered by shirts like this, but this one I don’t mind. They’ve seemed to incorporate a real image of a penguin with a designed image of a penguin which I think was totally creative of them. Mixing to 2 concepts of design really makes for a great piece of wearable art!

What I love about this shirt the most is there is basically no textural different between the shirt and design. It’s all smooth as can be which makes me wonder about their printing process myself? They have private labels printed on the inside neck which is always nice , especially since their Font, or lack there of, relates to their brand’s overall image as seen in their deranged animal designs.

They also have a pretty legit hem-tag on the bottom of the tee with a little logo of there’s. When a brand takes the time to pay attention to detail with private labels and hem-tags, you know they’re in it to win it.

Overall with the incorporated details Choonimals includes in their shirt, along with the quality of the product, I’d definitely place an order from them in the future. The fit of the shirt is not a women’s fit, but more a men’s slim fitting tee. Which honestly sometimes fits nicer than a women’s fit. The men’s slim fit is usually longer, a little boxier than a women’s style but still slightly form-fitting. It’s not a shirt I would solely use to sleep in – we’ll put it that way! The design being so adorable (being that I am a huge animal lover), it’d definitely be something I’d wear out in public.

Choonimals is an environmentally conscious, animal friendly, fun brand full of playful designs. Some of my other favorites on their site are “Owl Capone” and “Elemeno Peacock” (so if anyone wants to send me a Christmas Gift, please feel free, I’m a small, thank you!). Oh! and don’t let me forget to show you one of my favorite parts of this package.

They wrapped my shirt in one of their branded bags inside the mailer. At first it made for a confusing first look at the t-shirt because the image on the bag is clear and I really didn’t know what was going on. Then I realized the shark and logo on the bag are actually really cool looking and a very nice touch to an already quality-made product. Nice job Choonimals, I had a wonderful time reviewing your product and would happy to do more in the future. Feel free to send me lots of free products (I kidd, not really).

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Hop Aboard The T-Shirt Subway – Music Tee Reviews!

by Ben_P on December 10, 2012

I’ve been in two minds over these t-shirts I received from T-Shirt Subway. It’s been something quite difficult to really write about so here it goes.

First off, I love indie business’s I fully support their efforts and wish them all the best in the world when struggling to compete with large corporations that churn out design after design after design like conveyor belt of appalling designs. So to me I appreciate it when I see indie companies put a lot of thought and effort into their designs and choice of tee, this is why to me personally T-Shirt Subway has been a little bit of a let down. Their designs are devoid of what I have come to expect of indie brands – that being passion. These images are (in all fairness to them) officially licensed so they do own the rights to produce t-shirts with them on, but I’m struggling to fully commit to this brand for those few niggling reasons.

However, personal opinion aside the t-shirts are printed on Continental Clothing’s garments which are delightful to wear. Less rough against the skin and hug the body nicely – although a tad too much around the neck (perhaps the type of t-shirt they chose? I can’t hold it against T-Shirt Subway anyway). The first design is of Slash himself, it’s actually a design that is used for his biography. I absolutely ADORE this design because I love Slash, he just encompasses everything that’s awesome about rock. I suppose this is the exact reason T-Shirt Subway was created, they want a venue for people with a passion about music to be able to buy clothing to show that off. The print is DTG to my understanding, it’s no where near as good as screen printing but it is sufficient enough – especially given the control over your garment choice you want, it’s certainly an understandable trade-off. For the designs though you can see visible cracks and it will undoubtedly get worse, but hey faded rock t-shirts are even better, so in all essence it doesn’t really detract from the feel.

The second t-shirt is another shirt that I believe I’ve seen the design of again however I’m unable to find where to buy it on their store, which is a bit odd!. It’s just a Guns n Roses t-shirt, which are one of my favourite bands so I particularly also enjoy this one also. The design is nice and something I certainly have been wearing and will continue to do, but again it’s not an original of theirs so I feel I can’t really give them too much credit for it. The print is good enough but the same problem with the prior shirt is that it’s DTG printing. Much like the Slash one however the cracked effect won’t really harm the style when you wear it.

I like these guys because having chatted to them they are nice people. I wish them all the success in the world and I’m certain that they will get it, because while the designs are nothing you can’t find in a high street shop such as HMV (band section), the t-shirt quality goes give me a reason to buy from them – and I really do enjoy supporting indie labels. I’d really love it though if they did their own designs, but I’m curious as whether they really can and that’s why they just use officially licensed images that they pay for. Definitely check out T-shirt Subway especially if your stuck for an Xmas gift for a music lover. You’re bound to find something within the vast amounts of band tees they do.

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Snob Mob Has Some New Tees

by Mr Four Fingers on December 4, 2012

The ever industrious Rob over at Snob Mob sent us over some of his new tees for review and generally people only do this when they are confident of their product and in this case it’s pretty much bang on.

The first thing I noticed is how damn good the colours are and by that I mean pucnhy as hell! The grey t-shirt is a design called Check Mate by Matt Glasby, who is pretty much a resident artist (second year running out of two). What I really like about the design, apart from the cool illustration, is the colour combinations, man do they pop. I’m also a sucker for bright colours on heather grey (or as Rob say: “fucking boring grey” to “fucking ridiculous neons”). Snob Mob have decided to print this design with plastisol ink so it’s relatively thick with a textured feel. I’m sure this will soften up a little after a few washes. If you are thinking that the texture might put you off then don’t let it as plastisol ensures bright colours that don’t fade and increases longevity of the design.

The second design is called Miyok Madness, a new guest artist to the Snob Mob crew. Miyok actually means ‘bad medicine’. Miyok is a street artist that bombards the walls of New York with these disruptive pills (also a form of promotion for his skate brand Miyok Madness). The design has been printed with discharge ink so it’s pretty soft to the touch.

Snob Mob HYA 6 Snob Mob Has Some New Tees

The first t-shirt I received from Snob Mob was Skull Muck which was printed on a white t-shirt and as I mentioned before it was a little loose on me. These t-shirts are still Gildans, though one thing I have noticed is that the grey and the black are a better fit , this may be something to so with the dye shrinking the fabric a little. Whatever it is I like it.

Included with the t-shirts was also a nice note on a small flyer with an illustration by Mr Penfold. This design also happens to be a t-shirt on sale for £15.

Snob Mob HYA 7 Snob Mob Has Some New Tees

Some people may look at the £25 price tag and hmm and haww but just have take a look at the talent that Rob is infusing his brand with by bringing some great designs to the public. Snob Mob also has free UK delivery which is pretty damn good and £4 on international delivery.

On Friday night when we were taking these photos in the freezing cold a friend of mine from work randomly walked past us. His first thoughts upon seeing us at a distance was ” who are are these crazy people wearing t-shirts in this cold weather, they must be skateboarders”.

Not bad then for a brand like Snob Mob to have that effect at a distance!

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laFraise Review – http://en.lafraise.com/

by DeeHYA on November 25, 2012

I have had this tee for flippin’ ages! I’ve had these pics too by I just don’t like them and I was hoping I’d have time to re-shoot but I simply haven’t. Anyhoo, these tee is from French company ‘laFraise‘. I got to choose a tee and I chose this one mostly because of the fact it is ZOMBIE DOLPHINS! but also because I liked the green and yellow colour combo on the black tee.

This company has a ‘Threadless‘ sort of feel because it’s all community based, there are designs contests and there are releases of fresh designs weekly.

The website is easy to navigate, it is colourful, attractive and enjoyable to use. You can flick through the designs by gender and size so you don’t need to get seduced by tees that you can’t buy because of lack of availability. Although I have to say there are tonnes more designs on the site now than there were when I received this tee so it probably bodes well for them than I have delayed the blog. Massive selection now, one thing I will say though is that their website would benefit from a search mode so you can find ones that are relevant to your interests.

ZombieDolphine2 480x318 laFraise Review http://en.lafraise.com/

I like some of the kids tees too there are some designs I would sure put on my two little minions. I like this Green Monster design which is available in ‘hoodie‘! Simple but awesome!

Quality of the tee is amazing, the print is second to none, there is absolutely nothing I have negative to say about this tee, I have washed it 3 times and it is the same condition as it was when the postie popped it through my letterbox.

I would recommend the bright and kooky style of laFraise! The collection of designs is so varied that I am sure there is something for everyone whether you’re talking ladies, fellas or kiddies!

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Wordans Custom T-Shirt Review

by Amy_F on November 19, 2012

I’ve been asked to do Custom Reviews before and really enjoyed myself since I got to try out the companies website and custom design process and design my own shirt. Not that I don’t already design my own shirts for a living but it’s always fun to try out other ways to go about it. This most recent Custom Review was for a company called Wordans. I had never heard of them prior to this so I was eager to check out their website and design center online.

Their website is clean and designed well making it very simple to find the “Create Your Own” custom t-shirt section in the top left corner on the front home page. They give you a drop down menu which sometimes I personally find annoying if there’s too much clutter happening in there or too many options, but they give you a reasonable amount of items/products to select from to custom design yourself. I think it’s great that they’ve given you so many different items to custom design because there are so many creative people in the world that could just sit there for hours designing things which will in turn become lots of orders for them.

Let’s get right to it so I can start showing you my custom shirt. I obviously clicked on custom T-shirt and while that page is loading they give you a brief 1-2-3 step process of how the website will work. Once the design center loads they give you a slew of t-shirt styles and brands to choose from on the right hand side and color options for each shirt underneath plus sizing and quantity and all that good stuff.

Wordans gave me a lot of options which I liked but disliked at the same time. Let me explain; I’ve done custom t-shirt websites that give me 4 shirts to choose from and I hated it. But too many options, especially options that are very similar where a normal consumer (not a clothing company owner/designer such as myself) would know the difference between the brands and fits and styles. I’m not sure if they get a lot of every day people shopping for a few custom shirts or more so clothing companies or business’s purchasing in bulk since they have that option as well. If it’s more consumer-related then I think you should limit the brands and styles of the clothing. What do I mean by that? I mean don’t give me the same style shirt in a Gildan and an American Apparel because a normal person isn’t going to know the difference they are only going to look at color, fit and price.

The Gildan-Women’s vneck fits perfect!

I chose a Gildan Women’s fit v-neck t-shirt in white though the color options were endless I was in a simple mood. The next part is simple, simply choose your text or image to place on the shirt. They give you a much broader range to place your design on the shirt than most other custom design websites do. They basically give you the entire front or entire back to maneuver your text or image around. This was great because I got really frustrated on other websites with the small limited area they allowed me to play around with. Now you have the option of typing your own text and playing around with styles, fronts, colors, etc. which could be an all day process. Or you could upload your own image for the t-shirt or even better CHOOSE from one of the MANY selections they give you.

I actually overlapped two separate designs together to create MY custom t-shirt design at Wordans!

Now here’s where the fun began because they gave me a lot of different categories of images to choose from from “Funny” to “Love”, “Music”, “Animals”, “Sports”, their Top 25 image selections and a ton more. Plus, every category had sub-categories which killed me because there were even MORE options to choose from. Again, something that could be good or bad. Here’s why I say that; because I love options but with more options comes perhaps me making more shirts = good for Wordans. With more options comes me sitting on their website longer = good for Wordans. Here’s why it’s bad. More options could mean I get frustrated and don’t want to deal with it and just give up on the designing thus Wordans loses a sale. Too many options can give one a headache and drive them up a wall. This is sort of what happened and I ended up having to stop searching for more images, rethinking the design and starting over.

I am so excited with the final result of my custom t-shirt!

I have to give it to Wordans though because overall they were the best custom t-shirt website I’ve tried out in my short 28 years on earth. Their pricing was stellar starting t-shirts at $9.95 before the design. If you recall I did a review for Zazzle and their pricing was outrageously high before the design amongst a lot of other poor qualities about their website and custom t-shirt center (ie: limited design area on the t-shirt, poor blank t-shirt selection, etc.). Wordans made me happy and pleasantly surprised with the overall quality of their website, design center and product.

Thank you Wordans for allowing me the privilege of reviewing your custom design feature. I had a lot of fun and am thrilled with the final product I created on your website. Next time I need a custom product made I will be heading your way!

FUN FACT: Wordans hails all the way from Montreal, Canada!

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Dusty Paw – Dandelion Tee Review! (Hint: It’s Good!)

by Ben_P on November 12, 2012

It’s become a real pleasure reviewing anything by Dusty Paw. While his designs might not push the boundaries that does not detract from what he produces. Having spoken to him for a few months now as well I know that he’s a straight up top guy with a passion for what he does. It’s also great to see him getting involved in charitable causes by donating 50 percent of his Movember t-shirt to charity.

Anyway on to the tee, it arrives in a plain postage bag, what would be nice is to see some unique or individualistic postage methods from him because the rest of his service is top notch. So that’s really my main suggestion for him today!

The t-shirt is a lovely black on dark grey design which I always like because it’s subtle. The design reminds me of the scene in A Bugs Life where Flick flys across a canyon on a piece of dandelion. The actual description shows that the design is inspired by Gullivers travels. Each to his own I’ve not seen that so I’ll stick with my A Bugs Life reference!

The print is perfect, nothing to fault and again the biggest selling point of Dusty Paw’s slightly above average expensive shirt is the shirt itself. Made from bamboo and organic cotton it’s an absolute delight on the skin which makes a change from many of my tees that I own which are quite rough. The best part aswell is that the softness doesn’t go after multiple washes so you can appreciate it for the duration of the tee’s life!

We also can’t forget the lovely little Dusty Paw tag which adds a refreshing air of professionalism to the t-shirt.

photo 19 480x360 Dusty Paw Dandelion Tee Review! (Hint: Its Good!)

Not only is Dusty Paw a charitable soul with his recent movember t-shirt but all of his tee’s are certified by the fair wear foundation.

Our tee’s are all certified by the Fair Wear Foundation. The FWF aims to improve labour conditions in the garment industry. It is an international verification initiative dedicated to enhancing workers’ lives all over the world. FWF works closely with a growing number of companies that take responsibility for their supply chain. Their principles include the prohibition of forced and child labour, prohibition of abuse and discrimination, fair rates of pay and the provision of a safe and secure working environment. Further information can be found on the Fair Wear Foundation website.

I think what is truly fantastic about Dusty Paw’s t-shirts are that they don’t pigeon hole themselves into a certain demographic. His sleek and charming designs are something everyone can enjoy, my dad who’s not exactly a t-shirt enthusiast enjoyed the Dandlion t-shirt and said he himself would wear it! What better seal of approval do you need? One last little note, he is running a competition for his latest Movember tee, you can join in here!

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Dodozero Review : http://dodozero.bigcartel.com/

by DeeHYA on November 1, 2012

Recently got sent a sample from UK based company Dodozero. The designer lives in London but is originally from Mauritius The tee which was for me to review arrived in a cute litte brown bag which would be awesome for gift giving. I love when tee companies go that little bit further for their customers and make their customers more likely to buy from them again. It’s always the little things that count especially at the moment when it’s even harder to get people to purchase things!

I opted for the tee named ‘Tie-Shirt‘ and I got in a cutesie baby pink colour. The print quality is nice as is the tee quality. It’s a tee I know I will wear again, it’s nice to review a company that caters for woman, I always feel more confident in my shape when I am wearing a girl fit t-shirt.

I do presume the company is quite a new one simply because their isn’t a massive selection of designs and they haven’t taken pictures of them all, some of them are just on Threadless templates, which personally I don’t think is cool but then I’d image it’s expensive to get a bunch of tees printed and if you don’t know a photographer to shoot them that can be costly too. I would like to see images of more of the designs in person though, particularly ‘Big Fat Zero‘ because I think that’s a pretty good way they have thought up to promote their brand.

Their website is simple but it is a bit bare, this makes it easy to navigate though and it’s pretty easy to make a purchase.

You can also connect with Dodozero on Twitter and Facebook if you want to be updated on their news and forthcoming products.

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The Yetee: Today’s Tee For Your Torso – Hands on T-shirt Review!

by Leah on October 28, 2012

Two tees for me! Sorry for being especially excited, but I received some great tees from The Yetee, and I know you wouldn’t blame me for being even more cheerful than usual after you see the tees I get to wear. For this review, Andy went ahead and ordered from The Yetee’s grab-bag, (grab-bag meaning random tees) for me to review. The guys over at The Yetee are mind-readers, or maybe I am just really lucky, because I got two t-shirts that I have always wanted from them, but missed when they were printed a little while ago.

Let me back up a bit, are you familiar with The Yetee? Well you really should become acquainted soon if you aren’t. They are a tee-a-day site which basically says it all; they showcase a new tee daily and once that time is over (and in The Yetee’s case, it’s 24 hours most cycles, though sometimes 48 hours depending on the shirt), then after the timer runs out, the tee is gone forever. The Yetee has come a long way since they first launched, which I can’t believe was only a little over a year ago, but their success doesn’t come as much of a surprise since it’s run and owned by two dedicated artists, Glen O’Neill and Mike Mancuso, which needless to say, both have a great passion for tees. It’s also safe to say that The Yetee is a generous crew as they have been involved and hosted various fundraisers for charities throughout their time as a business, and we all can’t help but admire and applaud that.

My tees were nicely packed in a normal mailer, everything printed clearly, and even the cute Yetee mascot placed sweetly on the shipping label. I would love to see a custom printed mailer with their mascot on it somewhere, that would be an excellent touch. Inside, tucked in with my tees, were several stickers, and cute ones at that! The illustrations are based on The Yetee’s mascot – the pretty Yetee lady by Megan Lara and the cool, growling Yetee face by WinterArtwork, both being designers that are dominating the t-shirt world.

Speaking of Megan Lara, this one titled Do What You Dream was designed by her and is inspired by one of my most loved childhood films, The NeverEnding Story. As you can see, it’s completely filled with characters from the film and the art is just gorgeous, simple as that. I am especially drawn to the composition, as well as the astounding glow of Falcor above the Empress – this t-shirt is a dream to those who know and love this story.

This shirt is printed on a women’s small Gildan Softstyle, which I mentioned in my previous review, tends to be a little short for me (and, sadly, a little too tight, ugh.) I really need to remember to order a medium when it comes to Gildan! I am not criticizing this blank, rather I actually really like the softness of the Softstyle as it’s name gives away, but I like tees to fit a little loose rather than being really form-fitting.

The next tee is a good one on many levels. 1.) It’s The Yetee’s 100th design to be printed, which makes it special to me. 2.) It also features the one and only, Yetee, the mascot and logo of this company. AND 3.) Yetee is repeated on this tee and in so many different pop-culturey ways, I can’t pick a favorite! Actually, I lied, I love the Chewbacca Yetee the best…

Unlike the other tee, this one is printed on a women’s small Tultex Fine Jersey blank. It fits nicely as well, but seems to feel a little thicker than the Gildan Softstyle, as well as a little larger and longer, so I like the fit of this one a little more. I also like how the sleeves are longer on the Tultex – I prefer them to the normal capped sleeves that most girly fitted tees have. The Yetee also prints using heathered tees on occasion, which are of a poly blend – so it seems to me that they print on several types depending on the design and availability.

As for print, both of the tees are spot on. The Do What You Dream feels especially smooth and soft, and when you look at it up close it’s incredibly clean, obviously screen printed and all proudly printed at Threadbird! The only thing that I miss when examining everything, is the possibility of a custom printed tag or sewn on tag – either one would have really grabbed my attention. Even The Yetee logo printed subtly somewhere would be a great addition to the tee as a whole.

Thank you Glen and Mike over at The Yetee for sending me tees to be reviewed, though you had no idea I was going to, but don’t fret, you won me over with your quality and branding, that’s for sure! And as always, thanks to everyone for reading!

Keep in touch with The Yetee: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

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Review: Awake and Dressed

by Chris_S on October 26, 2012

Awake and Dressed is a motto for my life. I’m not someone who likes to faff about in the morning, lying in bed. I have to be up and about fairly quickly, otherwise the day’s not worth counting.

My Old Dutch (£29.99) is the sort of design typical of Awake and Dressed. It’s becoming increasingly fashionable, and (I mean this as a compliment rather than an insult) is the sort of thing you’d see in a branch of Triple S, or in a club on a weekend.

The design’s pretty great – and you’ve got to hand it to Jonny Wolf, because the whole thing is deliciously packaged. The print quality of the design is razor sharp, and has blended in with the shirt fabric brilliantly. This isn’t one of those designs that feels like it’s slathered on the shirt and is so thick that it artificially shapes it in perfect straight angles. The whole shirt is supple and giving.

In fact, it’s the shirt quality I want to talk about. I’ve got a lot of tees in my cupboard, and this one is – to my mind – the smoothest wear I’ve had. It’s so soft! I haven’t been able to put it to the test with several washes to see if that changes things, but certainly on first wear it’s like a second skin. Really, the only thing I can fault is the price – at nearly £30 it’s a little steep for my tastes, but then again maybe I’m just thrifty. Plus when you wear it you begin to realise that you’re paying for a premium product, not just an overinflated price tag.

These are the sort of t-shirts that people want to be seen in these days; they’re very fashionable. And I haven’t seen many brands doing it better than Awake and Dressed.

(Costliness = £29.99)

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We Are The Recipe! Review (http://www.wearetherecipe.co.uk/)

by DeeHYA on October 24, 2012

Literally my new favourite t-shirt! Literally! I had no idea what the package was when I received the tee from ‘We Are The Recipe!’, it arrived in an adorable pizza-esque box with a napkin and a postcard. This makes these tees absolutely ideal for gift giving.

Their website is awesome and simple to navigate, there isn’t a massive amount of selection of designs on the website currently and I would definitely say that Panda Milk (the tee I am wearing) and I’m So Chill are the high points of the site although the other designs are awesome too! They are simple but effective and sure to have people oggling and smiling at your belly! Which some people will love and some will find creepy.

These are all guy fit tees which is normally something I complain about until the cows come home, however for some reason with this tee it doesn’t bother me at all. This tee is comfy, excellent quality, design placement works perfectly and although it’s not girly fit I think it looks amazing even on us half of the population with boobies. The material is so comfy, not rigid and stiff like some new tees I have received.

We Are The Recipe! also have a special off at the moment where you can get 2 of their glorious tees for £24 with code : 2For24, this is a fab chance to take advantage of the amazing tees at an excellent price.

I wasn’t lying when I said this is my new favourite tee, I wore it for 2 days and I was reluctant to take it off! Drop by their website or Facebook or Twitter and check them out, I’m confident that you won’t be disappointed.

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Hands-on Reviews: Masked Hero Clothing Unmasked!

by Ben_P on October 24, 2012

I’m going to start off by saying I really like Masked Hero Clothing, it’s a really strong start with a few flaws but overall I really enjoyed everything that I received. First off, 3 shirts, that’s awesome amount for a review but I can’t just give him credit for sending me a lot of stuff – that’s not how we roll around here! The whole concept of Masked Hero Clothing is interesting in that it’s t-shirts you’d find in the superhero universe, your average Joe might not quite understand these shirts (which I didn’t to be fair) but it certainly will appeal to a market, I mean I buy shirts of less known things so there’s got to be a big market for superhero clothing especially with the recent Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight Rises for instance.

The packaging was really cool that it came in, a customized box with t-shirt and goodies slotted in. Badges, comic books, calling cards for the company. Pretty sweet deal in my book. What really struck me was that a lot of thought and care had gone into the packaging and the whole experience of getting your t-shirt, and that’s what a lot of guys are missing even in the more established brands.

This one more people are likely to understand given the recent Dark Knight Rises film, it’s a design based around the Gotham Rogues football team which are featured within the film. I wouldn’t actually know because I never got round to seeing the film – woops. A 2 colour presumably screen printed design, the print is decent not showing any visible signs of cracking when stretched. The tee (all of the tees in fact) also washed well and didn’t degrade or shrink. I think what might have been nice was the inclusion of the football team name either on the front or the back, but at face value of what it is you’re going to probably love this t-shirt if you’re a big fan. While the designs are good, not particularly massively strong with some designs you can find out there, what really brings the whole t-shirt together is the inclusion of an inside custom label and a sleeve tag, which look really nice.

The Spiderman – Hudson University t-shirt much like the Rogues t-shirt is a single colour print and again includes all the additional charms of the inside custom tag and sleeve tag. No visible signs of cracking, the design is a bit more subtle compared to the rogues one so I believe you’d have to know a fair bit of superhero lore to really enjoy this t-shirt. That’s not to say that it is a bad thing because there are markets for t-shirts like this out there, and I hope that Masked Hero Clothing does reach their audience because it’s well executed. I think what could be interesting as an addition to this design could be a list on the back of graduates from the university, to give it a more authentic feel.

The final tee, The Superman – Strykers Island Penitentiary is my favourite because of the dark grey on black design which to me feels quite classy, it’s a cracked design and the print is a little bit loose, I think this is due to the process in which they make the design cracked. Someone feel free to educate me on this because I believe it is to do the curing process? I did notice you could pick off little bits of the design but really it doesn’t make a difference as it is a purposely cracked design.

Overall these 3 designs are pretty cool, and if you’re a fan of the specific superhero I’m sure you’d love to express your passion with these t-shirts produced by an equally passionate guy. One thing to note though was that the 3 t-shirts all seemed to have a slight different feel in size/shape to them. I noticed it less after the wash but when I first tried them on it was quite obvious that they weren’t all one size. This however isn’t a fault of his own and you can’t expect him to try on every t-shirt he has made, so don’t let that put you off buying the t-shirts as after the wash it did feel better.

photo 21 480x640 Hands on Reviews: Masked Hero Clothing Unmasked! It might sound like I’ve nitpicked a lot at this brand, and I really only have done this because I want him to succeed. The designs are strong on their own but I think they could benefit from being a bit more to edge in front of similar tee designs like this, saying that though the whole experience of getting your t-shirt is fantastic the inclusion of such interesting and fun goodies is awesome. Reading the old comic books is really interesting too and it’s nice that they didn’t repeat with each order I received. I truly wish him the best of luck because he clearly is passionate about what he does as you can tell from his website and blog where he discusses lots of upcoming superhero based news such as the recent release of The Arrow TV show.

I’d also like to publicly apologise for my appalling photos of myself wearing the t-shirts. I don’t photo well.

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Yonil – Review

by Mr Four Fingers on October 22, 2012

Not so long ago Andy posted about Yonil and his massive 40% discount and upon seeing some of his designs I definitely had to check them out. As it happens Yonil is one seriously talented person and the discount made the purchase a no brainer. These are designs I would buy regardless of the discount. I actually first saw one of his designs without the name sinking in with one of his designs for Design By Humans called We Did This To Ourselves, one of the most interesting design placements on a t-shirt I have seen. It was only after reading another post on Yonil by Andy that I found out that this design was actually a winner in a competition in DBH that saw him win 10K! [click to continue…]

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