animals

I’ve been getting a lot of goodies in the mail lately from reviews to purchases I made for myself.  Typically I know what it is from the packaging.  I’ll give it to Gage + Desoto, because they totally stumped me on this.  I knew ahead of time I was receiving a package from them and when it arrived it was really professional looking in a white large envelope with 1 simple mailing label.  I honestly though it was some legal documents I was waiting for, that’s how smooth it looked.  Low and behold, it was not legal papers, it was my Global Warming T-Shirt to review!!

Either people are really reading my reviews and noting that I enjoy a hand-written letter or everyone is just really polite these days, because as you can see above, Gage + Desoto sent along a nice note on their letter-head just for me!!  They kept it very simple with a simple note, the t-shirt and 1 small sticker for me to enjoy.  I appreciated that, because sometimes less is more.

Now for those who don’t know, Gage + Desoto are a unique resource for road cycling and design.  What does that mean exactly?  Well they like anything dealing with bikes and cycling and design.  Yes it’s actually pretty straight forward.  They sell items from books, to magazines, apparel, prints & stationary and even bikes!  Their shop is located in New York and they call it the The Red Hook Office: part offices, part bike studio, part clubhouse, and part storefront.  They are only open 2 days a week, but everything in store is also sold on their website – aside from the bikes of course.  So let me get to the point, Gage + Desoto partnered up with Pajamahouse to collaborate on a t-shirt.  Pajamahouse is a small studio located in New York and Tokyo dedicated to making fun and creative projects.  So now you see, these aren’t our typical t-shirt clothing brands (so I’ll cut them a little slack), these are design studios working together to bring you a brilliant t-shirt with baby arctic animals zooming down a bike lane.

The t-shirt is white and the design is very flattering placed right in the center of the tee.  The Gage + Desoto and Pajamahouse logos are screen-printed in the inside neck area (as seen in the photo above this).  They don’t give much of an explanation behind the design or tee on the website.  Why is it called Global Warming?  Why are there arctic animals on a bike?  Clearly putting two and two together the bike’s there because Gage + Desoto enjoy bikes.  Let’s go on…the animals?  I don’t know much about Pajamahouse but on G+D’s website they give reference to a “hit” by them called Desi Leaves Town .  I watched the trailer and it has animals in it.  It appears to be a game you can purchase to play with puzzles and tasks to complete, etc, etc.  Not really my cup of tea but if they’re making the games I mean I know how hard animation is so definite props to them for that.

Without much of a back-story to go on with this design I can only speak from opinion on what I see.  I”m a huge animal lover myself so the cute little cartoon-ish animals definitely captured my attention.  The word I’d use to describe this is “cute and quirky”.  It’s illustration at it’s finest from the bike to the animals.  Speaking from a design standpoint the lines of the bike draw your attention inward towards the animals, then up, down and around.  It’s a nice composition to look at.  Very flattering and the colors are subtle and friendly.  I think it’d be an outstanding children’s t-shirt, but as you can see in the photo at the top I totally rocked it by tying it up in the back, rolling up the sleeves (because they seemed to be longer than normal) and throwing it on for the day over my bikini.  It is a longer t-shirt, appears to be a unisex fit (not my 1st choice) which is why I’ll probably sleep in it or wear it as shown in the photo.  Being that it’s really one of the only t-shirts either of these companies have put out and it isn’t what they focus on as a whole; I think they did an incredible job with it.  It’s a really soft cotton and it’s a playful design.  I’m not sure of their target audience but as I mentioned, I would have suggested it on a children’s t-shirt or even a tote bag for that matter.

It’s for sale on Gage + Desoto’s website for $30 – which is way too much for a shirt like this in my opinion but their products are all on the pricier end so that’s to be expected.  After thinking about it for a bit, I’d guess that perhaps the name of the shirt “Global Warming T-Shirt” is a play on words relating to the design.  Arctic animals on a bike (you usually bike when it’s hotter outside and clearly these animals belong in a colder climate).  For those of you who caught on to that way before I do, let’s keep in mind I am a blonde.

Check out Gage + Desoto’s website and Facebook and Twitter !

Check out Pajamahouse’s website and Facebook and Twitter !

Thanks for the t-shirt Gage + Desoto & for allowing me to review it

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