Changethethought

The tee shirt craze has definitely fizzled in the past couple of years from whence it reached it’s peak back around 07-08 in my opinion. There are a few brands still holding it down when it comes to graphic tee shirts but fewer are making much of an impression as they enter the overcrowded market. Zatoon is a company that caught my eye as their wares look almost nothing like most of what I’ve seen lately. The artwork for the shirts is wildly detailed and bizarre. The attention to detail is really impressive and I can’t imagine one of their tees not making an impression.

written by Christopher | tags: apparel, Illustration, t-shirts, tee shirts, Zatoon

Pretty sure I blogged about Tee Shirt makers Any Forty somewhere back in the long mythical history of this here blog of lore. But anyway, I recently surfed my way back and was really impressed by some of the recent tees added to their collection. They are a little on the pricey (UK pound) side but might be worth it for hipness sake.

written by Christopher | tags: Any Forty, Fashion, Graphic Design, t-shirts, tee shirts

Dudes Factory have some absolutely kick ass tees by some of my favorite illustrators like McBess. The only problem is that between the prices and the shipping they have priced their way out of most buyers in the U.S., especially in this economy. If you can swing it, they have a nice catalog of tees for man, woman and child.

written by Christopher | tags: Dudes Factory, Illustration, McBess, t-shirts

‘Dope’ is a word I just don’t use much anymore. Probably because I am too old to use it or using it just makes me feel old or actually using it has fallen out of fashion and I am behind because I am old but I digress. ‘Sick’ is a word I just can’t get behind. It sounds lame. How did ‘sick’ ever become associated with something cool? I mean the word sick just sounds, well kind of gross or you know sick. Anyway, you can take your pick, ‘dope’ or if you have to go there ‘sick’ and either one will work perfectly to describe the shit hot t-shirts that French street boutique brand Be Street has put together. Straight up dope. There I said it. Now I’ll get on with my crusty old ass.

written by Christopher | tags: Be Street, Fashion, France, t-shirts

There are some rock solid t-shirts up for sale (and at reasonable prices) from Single Second. I am curious how they manage avoiding any copyright issues but they are kick ass t-shirts regardless and probably worth grabbing up while they still last.

written by Christopher | tags: clothing, Fashion, Single Second, t-shirts, tee shirts

I do a lot of design and illustration work for clothing and tee shirts. I am always pushing my clients to be more aggressive and have fun with what they print. I think the tee shirt is kind of a special canvas with a rather unlimited amount of possibilities and it’s rarely used as expressively as it can be. So I have a special place in my heart for clothing companies that just flat out go for it when it comes to their tee shirt designs and Drop Dead Clothing is pretty fearless. Their is no denying that anything in their collection wouldn’t make an immediate impression on any one within eye shot. I’d imagine wearing one would elicit the question ‘where’d you get that?’

written by Christopher | tags: Drop Dead Clothing, Fashion, t-shirts, tee shirts

The Strange Attractor launched a t-shirt line through their online storefront some weeks back. There are some really nice and very fairly priced shirts available that would strike a cord in any designer’s heart. Pete Barnett established The Strange Attractor a year or two back after leaving Denver for Chicago. It was another sad loss for the local community but Pete has worked hard the make his blog a really amazing contributor to the online creative community and the quality of the Pattern and Shape t-shirt series is exactly what you would expect from his level of commitment to all things creative.

written by Christopher | tags: Pattern and Shape, Pete Barnett, t-shirts, The Strange Attractor

I have previously featured the work of artist Kora Krit but I believe this may be a new website showcasing some of his very unusual and original clothing. Either way, his fascinating t-shirt designs are still worth a second look.

A little more about the artist:
“Previously known as “Pissingsquirrel”, “Kora-Krit” is a collection of tees, hoodies and fashion items made by Korakrit Arunanondchai. Korakrit loves having fun and hopes that people who wear his inventions will feel the same too.”

written by Christopher | tags: Abstract, Art, Fashion, Kora Krit, Psychedelic, t-shirts

Dripping in Fat is a small focused company committed to a high level of quality when it comes to the design and production of their unique collection of tees. Personally, I really like the tees but the display of the product via the website really makes Dripping in Fat hard to ignore. It’s a brilliant way to exhibit their wares.

written by Christopher | tags: Dripping in Fat, Fashion, Graphic Design, t-shirts, Tees

Well, I have been candid in the past about how my work sometimes is overly-influenced by other designers (the irony of the image I chose for that post and this incident was not lost on me). In an ever-increasingly globally digital creative environment it is something that I think happens to a lot of us. Sometimes you have to push away from the machine and pick up the pencil.

However, I was a little personally outraged when I saw this particular LRG shirt for sale at Karmaloop. I personally don’t really know very much about LRG, although I did buy a t-shirt of theirs a few years back at a boutique. Apparently their logo is a circular arrow pointing down, almost the inverse of my logo except that mine is a 3 quarter circle turned upward and the arrow is split down the middle. It’s not exactly a new or highly original logo treatment, but when I designed mine (over 5 years ago now), it was meant to symbolize the constancy of change. Again, ironically there is just so happens to be an article in the upcoming issue of Computer Arts describing what my logo stands for.

Regardless, I am not so sure that really gives LRG the right to just flat out lift a poster design I did to promote myself close to two years ago now. Here is the original post to Changethethought when I released my first poster series for sale. Being influenced by someone or bearing a similarity in styles to another designer or artist is one thing, straight taking an existing design, barely altering it and then calling it your own is another thing entirely. And I am positive after comparing my now 2-year-old, copyrighted and globally distributed poster design with this LRG t-shirt that is exactly what LRG did to me. Even the way I pulled all of the colors used in my original poster and placed them in circles at the bottom was handled the same on the LRG t-shirt. I was just kind of shocked when I stumbled upon it while shopping at Karmaloop. I really would like an explanation from LRG. I would also like to know if there is anything I can do legally to resolve the matter. I am guessing not, since I am the little guy but at least I have this blog where I can tell you about it. If I were you, I’d think twice about buying anything from LRG for a while, if not forever.

I design apparel graphics for all kinds of big brands and have been working almost exclusively on apparel graphics the last two months. I would have been happy to discuss designing some graphics for LRG and even consider altering some of my graphics if the price were right and it made sense for both my brand and theirs. Instead of contacting me, I guess LRG felt like it was fine to just go ahead and take without asking. Do me a favor if you feel so inclined, and send LRG an email telling them what you think. And if any of you know how to get in touch with their creative department, please email me and let me know how to get in touch with them. I’d very much like to speak to them myself.

UPDATE:
Just out of curiosity, I decided to recreate the LRG design using the design taken from my poster. You can see this depicted in the last image at the top of this post. The top left corner shows the original treatment from my poster. To the right you can see LRG’s design. In the bottom left my poster graphic has been flipped horizontally and then slightly warped by ‘squeezing’ the image and pulling in the edges. In the bottom right the warped image of my poster has been multiplied over LRG’s t-shirt graphic. Can you even tell which is which?

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, LRG, Posters, Rip Off, t-shirts

It’s pretty much impossible not to like and appreciate the amount of work that went into creating this little stop motion video. You might recognize the guys in the video from I Love Local Commercials. It gets a little self-promo heavy at the end but that’s part of the genius behind these two gents, they just know how to market themselves.

Via my brothers-in-arms at Joyengine.

written by Christopher | tags: Fashion, Graphic Design, Stop Motion, T-Shirt War, t-shirts

There are some very artistic and good-looking t-shirts in the Das Monk online store. They run about twice as much in price ($59.95) as an already overpriced t-shirt, so that might deter you a little. But they are still pretty cool, and I couldn’t resist mentioning them for the potentially more fashion-conscious and still tee wearing readers.

written by Christopher | tags: clothing, Das Monk, Fashion, t-shirts, tee shirts

Just when I have finally swore off buying any more t-shirts I stumble across the storefront of Freegums and discover an awesome cache of simple, smart and damn-good-looking tees.

written by Christopher | tags: Fashion, Freegums, Graphic Design, Illustration, t-shirts

Ugmonk got in touch to inform us that they have updated their already flawless cache of shirts with a new design that you can see above. The extra special part of their correspondence was that they would like to offer Changethethought readers an extra 15% off of their purchase until December 15th. Just enter the discount code CHANGETHETHOUGHT at checkout.

written by Christopher | tags: clothing, Fashion, t-shirts, Tees, Ugmonk

Publik has been kind enough to grace the world with a genuine reprint of the Experimental Jetset t-shirts that swept over the globe and inspired a million imitations.

But now you can grab the OG.

written by Christopher | tags: Experimental Jetset, Graphic Design, Publik, t-shirts

Handsome Clothing has recently released a series of space-inspired t-shirts that are pretty damned Handsome.

written by Christopher | tags: Fashion, Handome Clothing, Space, t-shirts, tee shirts

Bag of Bees is a new online t-shirt shop establish by the people behind Paperjam. It is set for actual launch in October when the shirts will be for sale to the public. Until then, you can vote for the shirts you like the best and which ones you would like to see printed and available for purchase. There are some beautifully designed t-shirts already their to consider. Personally, I would definitely sport the two t-shirts above without hesitation.

written by Christopher | tags: Bag of Bees, Fashion, Paperjam, t-shirts, tee shirts

There are some very unusual and highly artistic t-shirts for sale at Boutik Boutik. The art on the tees could just as easily be hung on a wall. Really beautiful stuff.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Boutik Boutik, Fashion, Illustration, t-shirts