Androids, bears and moustaches – new tees out there!

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of emails from various tee labels, warning me about their new designs.  So why not present some of them in one singular post? First we have a new design by The Dept., called Vampire Androids Always Win. I like the use of purple colors and simpe cartoonish design. Good way of mixing funny slogan and nice design. This shirt is available for $22.00 there at The Dept. online store.

Second we have a design called Stride by a label previously unknown to me, called Bear Annihilator. I like this design cause it is inspired by 1920’s cartoons, you just have to love that retro stuff! Shirt is available for $24.00 from Bear Annihilator online shop (both in men and women styles and sizes).

And lastly, we have 2 new designs from those crazy Fuzzy Ink-sters – a label dedicated to create tee designs based around moustaches. You know that a real man is nothing without his moustaches. So, of you don’t have one – why wouldn’t you own one of these fine shirts? Both shirts are available for $18.95 from Fuzzy Ink online store.

Don’t forget the art in clothing – 1of7 clothing line

I agree with Jeff Peart, the man behind 1of7 limited edition clothing line, when he says that major clothing lines are too far removed from the artist or designer and it was this distance that diluted the final product. That’s why he started 10f7in the first place, with the principle of working closely with artists to ensure that their entire artistic vision is encapsulated on the clothing, with nothing being lost during the process.

1of7 will not release an item until the artist is completely satisfied. “We create only seven pieces per artist, per series”, says Jeff. ” One stays with the artist and one stays with 1of7.  The final five are made available for sale, thus providing our customers with a truly unique piece of limited edition fashionable art”.

Some of the artists 1of7 is involved with are from Portland area: Sean Denniston, Squid Vicious, Sherry Peart, Kristen Beatty, Doug Sabbertoothe and Liam Paquin. As each series is released the range of artists will become wider. Jeff informs: “For example, by series VI, I plan on having artists from around the US. For Series VII, I want one artists from each continent”.

So, if you’re an artist and you’re interested in joining 1of7 artist community, contact Jeff by all means!

Brilliant! Yet another Springleap.com winner

Springleap.com has another winner, folks! This time it is called “Brilliant” and it is made by designer theinfinityloop. Take a look at it, I think it’s really great, if not brilliant!

Design shows just a couple of gentlemen cats hangin’ out at the pub experimenting with their food. I especially like tees in brown color, so it’s a plus in my book for sure, but be your own judge. This shirt is available for $19 or 15 Euros there at Springleap.com online shop.

Shred to pieces – Shred Clothing interview

I sometimes think I have too much time on my hands. Other times I feel like I can’t finish all the things I’ve started, and there are plenty of them. Jonathan Kruse, a man behind Shred Clothing, a webzine called Shred News and a T-shirt blog How To Start A Clothing Company is someone who is so busy, and yet he manages to run all these aforementioned things with a style. And apart from all of this, he even managed to answer my questions. So, if you’re into metal, hardcore or alternative rock, I guess you already know about Shred Clothing, or if you’re a T-shirt blogger like myslef – you must know about How To Start A Clothing Company. However, here are Jonathan’s answers – hope you check out all the stuff he’s into.

Can you introduce yourself and tell what you do on a daily basis for your living? What are your stands / beliefs about life itself, and what would you say – what kind of person are you?
I’m Jon Kruse I sell shirts, make websites, help other clothing companies, and drink beer on a daily basis. I am a very easygoing person, you really have to be to be to have your own business. Failure is just something you have to deal with constantly and learning from your mistakes and constantly charging forward takes a lot of patience and you can’t stress the small stuff.

Let’s start with your clothing company, Shred Clothing. How did you decide to start with it, what’s the concept behind it and for how long it’s going on?
I started my first clothing company early last year. I am going to rename it soon to Totally Awesome Clothing and we do what I like to call smart joke shirts about the stuff I love. After doing that I met a lot of friends that did amazing designs and wanted to start a clothing company to utilize them. I started Shred to sell badass shirts, with the best illustrations, best printing, and highest quality shirts. It’s really amazing I can start up a company with a few thousand dollars and produce shirts just as good if not better than the giant companies out there.

In your opinion, what makes Shred Clothing unique amongst all those companies out there? Any specific detail you’re paying an attention to?
It’s the whole package, amazing designers, American Apparel shirts, awesome printing, they all make us stand out from the crowd. A lot of what we are trying to do now is make deals with bands for sponsorships and help them out down the road. We started a side site called shrednews.com and we have a great team of writers that constantly do great articles. The site is really taking off and it will be a huge part of our success if everything goes well.

Do you design all tees by yourself? What’s the process of making the designs?
I don’t do any shirt design anymore.  I contact a designer I like, make sure he is with in our budget, give them 50% up front and work with them to create a bad ass design.

What kind of printing and garments do you use? How much do you charge for tees?
We use American Apparel. It’s tough to do everything at such high quality and sell them for the prices we do but I feel like $20 a shirt is the price point we need to meet to sell to this market. We’ll bring our production costs down later but right now we are just focusing on making the best product and meeting the needs of our customers.

What ways of marketing do you use with Shred Clothing? Any bands you’re sponsoring maybe?
Protest the Hero, Vanna, Conditions, Armor for the Broken, we are sponsoring all of them. Most of our hits are just from word of mouth. I know a lot of bloggers and they all write articles about which helps out a ton. I also go to shows pretty often and do a lot of SEO on the site.

Apart from Shred Clothing, you’re also running some kind of a webzine, called Shred News. Can you introduce it, please?
We have an awesome team of writers that love the music scene and write great articles. I’m just behind the scenes making sure everything runs properly, tweaking the SEO, implementing new stuff to make it better.

Many tee lovers enjoy your other wonderful website, a blog called How To Start A Clothing Company. How did you decide to run that site, too?
I actually started it when I started my first clothing company. There was a lack of info on the web and I like helping people out. Almost a year ago I bought my own domain for it and separated it from my clothing line. Today I get 18k viewers a month and growing.

Is there any other project you’re involved into?
The wheels are always turning. I am starting a website called awesomeshirtblog.com We should be up and running in a few weeks. I’ve got a few friends in the clothing business that are really passionate about shirts and design and we are just going to highlight shirts we love and talk about them.
Also my roommate and I have been throwing around this idea of doing a show where we just talk about all the awesome things we loved as a kid. Really everything is very similar to what I am already doing and it just makes sense.

What is the most important thing to remember when dealing with so many stuff, like yourself?
That failing is part of the game. You just got to make the best of it and charge forward.

Who are some of the designers / brands / people you look up to, or who is your biggest inspiration?
Alex Norman, Dan mumford, Godmachine, Stereo bear, Pyknic, Eric Terry, Obey, Electric Zombie, Rockett, Glamour Kills, Johnny Cupcakes, Mathew Skiff,  Brandon Heart, Survival, Discordant art, Heavy Prints, Phillm, Tim Toomey…

Ancient and iconic – Ivory Skies

Can ancient be re-produced and made as an iconic rock fashion brand? If so, isn’t it sort of a cliche maybe? Judging by relatively new indie label from London, called Ivory Skies, it isn’t – at far as I’m concerned… Focused only on T-shirts so far, Ivory Skies combines rare ancient artwork with their own designer cuts.

Their first collection, called “Ebony & Ivory”, really made an impression on me. I haven’t seen black print on white shirt that’s so eye-catching for awhile, and I think it’s a great idea to breathe in some new life into the designs which bring to mind Aztecs, Leonardo Da Vinci sketches, and some Biblical elements, such as angels. Paying an attention to detail, they explain: “We take pride in our garments and make it our priority to deliver comfort, durability and last but not least, a damn good looking tee”.

New releases are to arrive very soon and Ivory Skies is sticking to their plans of releasing different colors and even better designs. However, if you’re into those big fluorescent prints that are considered “in” in the tee business nowadays, don’t hold your hopes high, because Ivory Line is not that kind of a label. Can’t wait to see more from these fine lads!