Buy a T-shirt and help Japan – Japan Relief benefit project by Mighty Fine

What a better way to help with Japan Relief benefit projects, then to buy an awesome T-shirt that you’ll wear with pride, knowing that you’ve done something good? Mighty Fine has a couple of such tees for you, created exclusively for this noble purpose.

Mighty Fine Inspires is the name of a special category in Mighty Fine’s online shop. It features T-shirt designs made especially for Japan Relief projects fund raising, as portion of proceeds from all tees in that section will go toward Architecture for Humanity’s rebuilding efforts in Japan. Not only this cause is noble, but the designs themselves really look great, so we wanted to share some of them with you.

"Lucky Cat" T-shirt design by Tomi Monstre; available in juniors fitted sizes

"Big Hug" T-shirt design by Patricio Oliver; available in unisex sizes

As for Mighty Fine, the label has been in existence for over a decade but it went live with welovefine.com, selling exclusive web product direct to consumers, in spring of 2010. “We have steadily sought to create inventive, fun, smart designs for fans of our licensed brands, which include Marvel, Sanrio, Scott Pilgrim, Sesame Street, Adventure Time, Peanuts and many many more”, says Nicole Campos of Mighty Fine, adding: “we have recently branched out into consumer-built T-shirt designs with our MyTee shirt builder, giving customers the chance to modify their own designs, choose their shirt color, etc”.

Cap Against Drugs T-shirt - available at Mighty Fine

Mini Count Blah T-shirt - available at Mighty Fine

Only Date Heroes T-shirt - available at Mighty Fine

Mighty Fine also run a fun contest on their website, where they are asking you to guess the next in their X-Men Nouveau line and you can win a free T-shirt – or a three! Megan Lara, whose Nintendo nouveau designs were well trafficked on the web, is working with them on this set, so Mighty Fine is really excited for the big reveal, which they hope will be in a few weeks time.

We cannot wait to see next X-Men Nouveau design! How about you? Would love to hear your opinions on Mighty Fine’s offering, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. Thank you!

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Help Japan earthquake and tsunami tragedy victims

Earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan couple of days ago are one of the worst tragedies in the history of this country. Among many people that are helping victims through donations are many clothing labels and designers, which are donating part of their sales to help with the disaster relief efforts. These are just a few examples, and if you wish to participate in helping out make sure you visit their websites and purchase something.

Imprint T-shirt design by Sistine.co

Sistine is having a sale, so the prices for all the tees in their online shop is slashed to $30, down from $36. They will donate $10 out of every tee sold to the Red Cross for the disaster relief efforts in Japan. They also plan to continue to do this for as long as they can, making a donation at the end of every month and posting the receipt of the donation on their blog to ensure the good folks that have made their efforts to help they are committed to this cause.

Wild Wolves T-shirt design by Vicious History

Vicious History is also taking part in the relief efforts of those affected by the tsunami in Japan. From March 11-13, 50% of each Vicious History sale will be donated to the Red Cross Disaster fund. In case you don’t know – Vicious History specialize in contemporary apparel which incorporates a vast range of historical influences into it’s designs.

Help Japan poster by Rob Dobi / FullBleed.org

T-shirt and poster designer Rob Dobi at Full Bleed created a benefit poster for Japan. “I did what little I could and designed a print to benefit relief in Japan. All profits go straight to disaster recovery”, says he. You can purchase this awesome piece of art and do something noble at once.

These are just some of the examples. If your line is having a benefit sale – or if you know about one – please do let us know by leaving your comment below.

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Evil Series T-shirts by Dance Party Massacre

In Western civilization the Japanese tale of the Three Wise Monkeys with the proverbial principe “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” often refers “to those who deal with impropriety by looking the other way, refusing to acknowledge it, or feigning ignorance” (according to Wiki). Based on that proverb, the conceptually-driven graphic apparel line Dance Party Massacre made a nice collaboration with three artists, releasing the limited “Evil Series” T-shirts.

First one is “See no evil” by Elli Egilsson, a.k.a. AC Bananas, a self-taught illustrator who lives in London, known for his music-related works, such as lettering, character, t-shirt, and logo design. He says: “See No Evil for me does mean all the horrific stuff I need to see every now and then, like some killer splatter and thriller movies”, adding: “what you see is an image of the most popular girl in school: the prom queen, the main cheerleader… so one day she looked in the mirror and saw the real her in the reflection. She couldn’t face herself anymore so she pulled her eyes out so she wouldn’t See No Evil”.

Second design is “Hear No Evil” by Carey Haider, the designer, photographer, animal lover and an instigator. Though in traditional depictions of “Hear No Evil” the monkey uses his hands to cover his ears, Careys’ monkey has free hands and dons ear plugs, which is maybe a more effective sound barrier. Why? “Humor, pure humor”, says Carey, “takes a serious situation and makes it lighthearted. The monkey is blocking out hearing any evil—he has a mind of his own on what he wants to do and hear”.This monkey is also dressed for protest, along with suggestive details like the flower in his helmet and his American flag shirt. “Make party, not war”, suggests Haider.

Final design is “Speak No Evil” by Damion Silver, a senior designer at Converse. He has also had international success at both street and commercial art. His style is multi-layered, -medium, and –genre in painting, collage, wood, found images, drawing, and glass. “I wanted to extend the idea of what you think is religious”, says this Catholic-rased, “it’s supposed to be like a holy word, or coming from that source, it should be a precious thing, and I wanted to remove that. Obviously in the past several years, we’ve seen the religious world and religious figures turned on heads and we reevaluate what their words mean”. Enough said.

Each of the “Evil Series” tees is limited to a run of 50, so better hurry up while they’re still there at Dance Party Massacre online shop. You should get your tee for $27.95 and a free sticker pack. And while you’re waiting for your order to show up – watch “Evil Series” promo video!

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Death Before Dishonour knows Samurai

To tell you the truth – I was attracted to this London clothing line because of their name. The term “death before dishonour” can be often heard here and there and you mustadmit it sounds fatalistic. Just like Samurai. The “harakiri” thing these guys had – when they would kill themselves if they felt they’ve betrayed their family or country – is just one of the motives for Death Before Dishonour Clothing designs. Their latest offer was inspired by Buddhism, which is also very important for the Samurai philosophy.

Now, before you conclude something else, I must tell you guys behind Death Before Dishonour are driven by the irony of “blood and guts” approach, “throwing it straight back at anyone foolish enough to embrace thuggery”. Mr. Chris Manning, the designer, says: “this is a play on Sleeping Samurais lose their eyes. The eye of wakefulness is a Samurais greatest protection”.

“The eye shining above the bones signifies that the true state of wakefulness (enlightenment) is beyond the mortal structure of man… i.e. bones & sinew”, adds Manning. By the way – the word “kanji” in Japanese writing says “samurai”, and the title of the design is “Eyeball”. Browsing DBD website, I particulary liked this “Sleeping Samurai” design.

The design is inspired by the classic works of Miyamoto Musashi, one of the greatest Samurai warriors of all times, famed for his duels and distinctive style. He also wrote “The Book Of Five Rings”  – a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today. As you can see, the tee is also available in women style and is screen printed, containing part of the Samurai code inside the garment.  Apart from tees, DBD Clothing offers swatshirts, too, and here’s the one I really liked.

This one features another famous Japanese warrior – Ninja! Quicker than shadow and more quiet than the summer wind, Ninja Skeleton creeps out of the darkness and is about to assassinate you! I really liked the graphic novel Noir style inspired design with dynamic and highlighted shadowing. This sweat is of heavyweight high quality combed cotton. Just like this DBD Clothing logo hoodie, which is among their sale items now.

Apart from the very nice designs and the broadness of their apparel, I’ll make one annotation to DBD Clothing; they should perhaps redesign their website. I don’t wanna say it’s not easy to navigate, but this version makes a slight unjustice to such fine looking items.

And so, all of you tee Samurais, before you go and sacrifice your life for some higher purpose, please make sure to check Death Before Dishonour online shop. And please off yourself after your order arrives.

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How about some pop horror, baby? (a.k.a. Akumu Ink has new shirts!)

If you for some strange reason do follow what I write on this blog, than you must have noticed I’ve already written about this American dynamic duo Dora and Joey, hiding behind the name of Akumu Ink. If so, than you surely know they create their designs based mostly on Japanese imagery (“akumu” means “nightmare”), be it cute Japanese pop icons or it’s horrors.

Big prints and carefuly colored hand drawnings are the main characteristics of Akumu Inks’ designs, which are screen-printed onto garments, be it regular T-shirts, V-necks or hoodies. Now, Dora and Joey recently added three new designs to their online shop, and here they are.

I must add my favourite new Akumu Inks’ nightmare is the first one, called “poisoned” – I just love the drawing and the black / pink / white combination. All shirts are available for $21.99 plus shipping (Akumu Ink delivers internationally). Just a hint for Dora and Joey – how about some karate zombie lessons?

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