When a blogger like me sees a picture of such a fine mustache he feels compelled to shoehorn it into a post in any way he can. But I would assume that at least a few of you would be interested to know that Seibei is going to be setting up shop at the Renegade craft fair in Brooklyn, and from the sounds of it has a pretty sweet spot right next to team Etsy.Get the full deets @ the Seibei blog

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Tags » brooklyn • mustache • NY • renegade • seibei

David has put up a few new items and colourways into the Seibei store… rejoice!

The first thing to get refreshed is the Ice Wizard hoodie (which I first reviewed back in March last year) which is now available in a ‘Red Baron‘ colourway of red/white, and a there is also the ‘Blockhead edition‘ for those of you that have a yearning to look like a bumblebee. The new hoodies have drawstrings that match the vinyl trim colours too, which is cool because I know that there had been a problem with sourcing decent coloured drawstrings in the past.

“I like to say stuff and eat things” has been completely reworked and looks awesome, I really love the gradient print and putting it on a striped tee is a bold move, but I think it works pretty well.
I can’t remember if ‘Superpredators’ is new or not, it might be the case that it has just been a work-in-progress for such a long time that I just presumed it had made its way into the store at some point. Either way, its a massive dinosaur on a t-shirt, and that can’t be a bad thing. [available in Mint or Pink]
Last but not least, there’s Fierce, which involves a three-headed dog wearing a gold chain, about to eat some diamonds… naturally.

Seibei

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Tags » • Hoodies • red • releases • seibei • T-shirts • text • white • yellow

Isn’t it nice when things turn out well? From the Seibei blog:

So, it is with a happy heart that I tell you this: Hot Topic will not be reordering the shirt. They’re going to sell off the remaining units (it was in “test markets”, so there are probably more Sandwich Dinosaurs in the world than Awesome Monsters), and then end it there, which is fine by me. With the number of stores they have, it would be hell of expensive to get all the shirts back and then just toss ‘em, so I can’t expect them to break their backs. All I ever wanted was for it to stop, and now it looks like it will.

He also went on to say that the guys at Hot Topic were great about the whole situation, and Goodie Two Sleeves too (I hope those of you calling them names feel appropriately embarrassed!). It is possible that the design could be picked up by another vendor after it is done at Hot Topic, but I guess that David (and what seems like a small army of internet-followers) will have to deal with that situation if it arises in the future, but hopefully for the moment David can stick to the important business of training his new feline interns.

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Tags » dinosaur • dispute • ripoff • seibei

Let’s get this clear from the outset: I like David (Mr. Seibei). He’s a good guy, we bounce e-mails back and forth on a variety of issues, and he’s sent me stuff in the mail before. For that reason I feel as if I’d be on dubious moral ground shouting accusations about what the comparison picture above suggests. That said, when I saw the tee on the right, I immediately thought “dude’s been ripped,” and whilst the two items are fairly different, the similarities are undeniable.Here’s the back story: Seibei first put the tee on the left of the picture on sale in the summer of 2005 and it has gone on to be one of their best sellers. I’ve always thought of the dinosaur as being the unofficial mascot of Seibei, especially as it has also popped up on the Ice Wizard hoodie (late 2006? early 2007?) and Dino checkerboard tee (I have no idea of the date, sorry). In January of this year Hot Topic started selling the the tee on the right, which is by a brand called Goodie Two Sleeves, who I know nothing of, though my research suggests they’re pretty big and are suppliers to chain and department stores across America. So there’s about a two and a half year gap between the two tees going on sale.

David’s hope is that G2S stop producing and selling the “Awesome Monster Tee,” and has contacted them to that effect. In reply they have stated that any resemblance of their design to “Sandwich Dinosaur” is completely unintentional. Offers were made to David (I am broadly aware of what the offers were, but I don’t think it is appropriate to share them), stopping selling the “Awesome Monster” was not one of those offers, so David declined what they put on the table.

I think that gets us up to speed. David seems fairly resigned that there is little he can do about this. We’re looking at a David vs. Goliath situation (in this case the David is actually called David, which helps the metaphor) and his one-man-brand can’t really compete with G2S and HT on a legal battlefield. I guess the only way he can console himself is that he’s not the only person that this has happened to, which I would presume isn’t much consolation at all.

Links:
Sandwich Dinosaur tee: here
Awesome Monster tee @ Hot Topic: here
Seibei: here
Goodie Two Sleeves: here [warning: Fash site with some sound]
Original post on the Seibei blog: here
Fantastic Bonanza’s take: here [note: slightly less restrained than mine]

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Tags » dinosaur • dispute • goodie two sleeves • hot topic • ripoff • seibei

Seibei seem like a really nice company to me, cute graphics, a regularly updated blog (which isn’t just filled with encouragement to buy Seibei clothing), they’re happy to link to their competitiors (and me, top o’ the list y’all!), they mow their lawn in a bunny suit (the grass stains must be a nightmare) and most importantly, they’ve got some great designs, like the infamously awesome Intramural Zombie Hunting League tee.

The shop at Seibei had been closed since the July 1qst, and after a number of setbacks David has finally managed to reopen the store at the weekend, all the tees are now printed on American Apparel, instead of the previously used Anvil brand, although I don’t think that the prices have gone up that much compared to how much more the tee stock costs. The tees have their own custom printed Seibei tag in them, which is cool since you don’t see that with too many small brands at the moment.

Most of the tees are $16, but if that isn’t a sweet enough deal for you, HYA has been set up with its very own coupon code, so when you make and order just put HIDEYOURARMS (all one word, not case sensitive) in the box on the shipping page, which is the first once you’re in the checkout, and you’ll get $4 off your order.

*I forgot to mention it earlier, but the coupon is valid until September 10th, so you have 19 days(ish depending on time zone) to pick up a bargain.*

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Tags » costume • coupon code • seibei • zombie • zombies

So, wanna buy a cheap tee AND help someone out?

I know that when you buy a tee from and independent shop on the net it’s usually a pretty small operation, and your sale will mean something to the artist, because a) you like their designs, and b) you put a couple of dollars in their pocket. But this time it really really will mean something to the artist. Really.

The dude that runs Seibei needs to get to Hawaii for a wedding, and I don’t know how much it costs to fly to Hawaii, but I can almost guarantee that its a lot. He’s also moving house soon aswell, and with all the stress of moving house, is he really going to want to shift boxes and boxes of tees around. Hell no! So he had the great idea of putting almost everything on sale to $12. I say almost everything, because the awesome ‘Intramural Zombie Hunting League‘ tee is $14 as they’re still made to order (incase you want more blood, and who wouldn’t?), which is still a bargain anyways.

So if you were thinking of getting a tee, and couldn’t decide what, pick something up from Seibei, it’ll make you feel warm in the inside, and if you’re warm on the inside, then you don’t need sleeves (until Monday, when I write about something sleeved again, please come back…).

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Tags » seibei • zombies