Review: Deep T-Shirts

The guys at Deep sent out this pretty sweet t-shirt. Looking at it online I wasn’t all that impressed but holding it in my hand, I thought it was a pretty sweet t-shirt. The design is very simple but of course that is part of the…I don’t know. Just look at it.  It is a nice tee and on top of that the presentation is pretty cool. There is a pretty cool hang-tag. I admit I probably binned it fairly quickly but I do appreciate this level of detail. There are also two tags on the tee, a standard tag on the inside neck and a small sleeve tag. I like sleeve tags, they make your shirt look cooler in general.

On the Deep website there are nine t-shirts from nine artists. They sell other stuff too but you didn’t come to a t-shirt blog to read about that. Back to the t-shirts, there are 8 more t-shirts with fairly simple but cool designs. I really like this Be Free t-shirt by Rick Cole too.

Their t-shirts are manufactured by American Apparel and are screen-printed with water-based inks as they are friendlier to the
environment. Deep is built around the artist and provides a platform for up and coming designers.They are looking for artists with positive, thought-provoking, unique and inspiring ideas. Check out the Join Us page for more details about submitting your art.

There is also a sign on the home page saying that there is a design contest coming soon so stay tuned.

Review: Kraezy Clothing

Well, it wasn’t that long ago that someone sent me some t-shirts and provided very little information. I was able to dig some up about that company but I am not too sure what is going on with this one but I did find an interview for those of you who are interested in where Kraezy Clothing came from. I especially liked this line:

…he did things at school and throughout his childhood that he refuses to speak about. “There are certain stories which must remain untold for now. One day, I’m sure all will be revealed, maybe in a book or a film, but I’m not quite ready for that yet.”

What did he do I wonder? Do an upper-decker in the headmasters bathroom?

Anyways, I should be talking about the shirts but first a word about the Kraezy website. It’s a splash page (first mistake) with … hold on. Just take a look at the screenshot of the website below and tell me how many links are on the page.

The answer is one. The only thing that you can click is the word “Enter”. Interesting. And when you do click it it takes you to the Big Cartel store. A url redirect to the Big Cartel store would be better than this. And if for some reason you wanted to go back to the splash page from the Big Cartel store you have to use the browser back button because the “Back to site” link at the top of the store is a bad link.

Anyways, t-shirts. The guys at Kraezy sent over three t-shirts. They all have sewn in custom tags as well as hang tags on pretty cool retro style string. I don’t know what the blanks are but they are heavy cotton tees. Great for cooler climes. I found them to be looser than American Apparel standard tees so maybe they’re not so bad in the summer either. Not Yokohama summer but somewhere less humid.

The first tee here is a logo tee. I thought I totally rocked this red logo t-shirt but Mrs. Retro said no. She’s not into the red on me. When did I get too old for red? Anyway, you guys know that I’m not all that into branding on the tees unless it is clever or the logo is awesome or perhaps just discrete. This red tee is a straight up logo tee. It’s a step up from a Hewlett Packard polo shirt that the printer salesmen wear when setting up in-shop displays. The one at 90 degrees in the store is much better but really it is still a logo tee.

I don’t remember what they were but years ago there was a product that spoofed lots of other products. Maybe they were stickers or something like that. You know, they would take a famous brand and change it slightly to make it humorous. I came across them recently on the web but I just can’t remember any details. Anyway shirt no. 2 reminds me of those. In this case they are adding a bit of humor to the wash (see how I did that) with a washing detergent parody. It’s a solid design but a little bit too square for a tee. Square as in the shape. I’m not quite sure who they are marketing it to though.

Tee no. 3 is pink. I know that Rude Retro totally rocks pink t-shirts but they are really not my thing. The design on this tee is the best of the three and the one that makes you think of the graffiti which is where his design skills were cultivated having been a vandal graffiti artist since the age of 6. Big typography with clouds/bubbles and surveillance cameras. Check, check, check. Other colors are available that I’m sure would suit my fair complexion a bit better though.

Check out their selection: Kraezy Clothing.

Review: Altman Tees

If you have been following @RudeRetro on twitter you will know that about a week ago a t-shirt arrived from @altmantees. If you check out Altman Tees Twitter page you will notice that he has yet to tweet. Anyway let’s start with the t-shirt that was sent for a change.

The t-shirt is a standard American Apparel so definitely no complaints there. The design is what it is all about though and what is it all about? At first glance I thought it was a football (American kind) and then I thought it looked like a football boot upside down. That’s a bit strange so I thought perhaps it was  a blimp\airship. On the right side of the design it looks more round than the oval of the left and brings to mind a flying saucer. But what is connecting it to the ground? It looks like it is connected to the ground. It could be some kind of new-fangled traffic lights.  Is that a ladder going up?

As you can see this seemingly simple design is rather complex and I imagine it and all the other tees at Altman Tees are real conversation starters and isn’t that what t-shirts are all about. We wear particular t-shirts to tell others about our personality…or because they were a gift. So if you are sick of your college humor tees and you want something a bit more stylish you should definitely check out Altman tees. At the moment there are 6 tees on offer all with equally (as if you can quantify it) interesting one color designs.

So what is the image in the Aspire an abstract of? My guess is that it can be whatever you choose it to be.

Get close-ups and more information at Altman Tees.

Review: DVClothing

Writing a review is work. Let’s make that clear. It is just like any other job, sometimes you enjoy it and sometimes you don’t but whichever, it is still work. I do quite a lot of writing in my life actually. For example, one of my jobs is writing articles for Yokohama City and it is the same. Sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes it is tedious, sometimes it is hard work and sometimes it is stressful. Other times it is fun and I can’t believe I get paid for it. Writing these reviews is very similar except here I can give my honest opinion. But the pay is lousy. On the other hand, it’s my blog and I am the boss.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, I just want to emphasize that writing this particular review was work. Usually when people contact me to review a shirt they provide me with plenty of information but not this time. One guy just contacted me and said he wanted to send me a shirt and I gave him the address and a shirt arrived. There was quick note scribbled on to a scrap of paper that gave me some bare details. No information about the store or shirt or anything. I had to contact him to get some details…like the url of his store. Nice guy but definitely needs to learn some marketing skills.

Anyway, on to the t-shirt. The tee that was sent over is called Rosa Parks Station. It’s from a line of photography based t-shirts called Grey Matter that was started in 2006. I have nothing against putting photographic images on a tee but this particular t-shirt does nothing for me. I know who Rosa Parks is, even though I am neither black nor American but I don’t know the significance of Rosa Parks Station. Is it a tourist t-shirt? Why would I want a photo of this on my tee? I don’t know the answers to these questions. As you can see below the image looks like it might have been a good photo but I’m not sure it was meant for a t-shirt.

The tee is a black cotton Alstyle and looks like it will last a while. On the back of the t-shirt you will also find a quite uninspired logo. Another negative point. If you are going to put the logo on the outside of the t-shirt you should at least have a good logo or be very creative.

DVClothing (Dirty Vato Clothing) started in 2007 as a way to “creatively articulate the culture of L.A”. that Erwin Recinos (owner) sees. “From pop culture references, latino heritage, car culture and a true L.A. lifestyle that is ever changing.” After three years the line is still quite small and made up of a variety of logo t-shirts most of them going for just $10. Of all the tees on sale only the Dirty Dodge t-shirt seems to be “designed” although I do like the His Gun t-shirt. Just don’t try and get on an airplane while wearing it.

DVClothing is hosted on Big Cartel. You can check it out here: DVClothing.

Review: Izzi Pop

Izzi Pop sent over these two tees quite a while ago and it has taken me all this time to actually post about them. Sorry about that Izzi.  Before I talk about the tees though I think  I will talk about the store. I hadn’t really checked out Izzi Pop before the tees were sent over. After getting the t-shirts though of course it is my duty to check it out. I have to say I was a little surprised by it. I mean the tees were perfect, not something that I would buy for myself but definitely something that I would wear. The Izzi Pop website is far from perfect and I tell you this so when you visit you won’t be put off. There is quality in there, you just have to click…and click…and click…and click to see it.

The website looks like it was built by someone just trying out a new CMS, using the default template and perhaps changing a color here and there. From what I can see there are two logos, the one on the top corner is so small that the words “Izzi Pop” are illegible. I know they are there only because I got stickers with my t-shirt. Then there is another logo right in the middle of the home page and as far as I can see it is not even available on a t-shirt. If that were me and I had no choice about the layout of the store I would put my best selling t-shirt there.

On the Izzi Pop website the images are too small and I bet that most people don’t even bother to click through (4 clicks to largest image) which is a pity because for those into vector collage designs Izzi Pop has this style down pat. I think the popularity of this style has subsided but there is still a market and if people could actually see the designs in Izzi Pop they might take a small bite out of it.

Anyway, enough about the store design. Let’s talk about the shirts. The mans shirt I received is a silver gray tee of super soft cotton. The print on three areas is flawless.  The chest design is a bit generic but that’s OK and across the back shoulder is a logo with some embellishment. I’m not into logos on my tee as I may have mentioned. The third print area is the tagless tag for your comfort.

The second t-shirt that was sent I really like. It is a very clean vector graphic design that has a combination of elements that make it just a fun design. It’s called Hair Pop Graphic Tee and contains a lot of swirls, ink splashes and hearts. It even has a hair comb….I mean, what else would you need. It is a light blue super soft cotton tee too. And I don’t think I mentioned but they both smelled great.

There are only five mens tees and 5 womens tees at the moment but Izzi Pop are having a holiday sale at the moment with tees marked down to $23 from $27 with further discounts available (if I am reading it right) if you buy 3 or more shirts. On top of that you can receive 10% off with the code Izzi Pop kindly gave to The T-Shirt Review readers:  retro. Now that’s awesome! Thanks Izzi!

Review: Hypnic

A few weeks ago I received this sweet tee in the mail from Hypnic. Hypnic does seem like a strange name and truth be told I had never heard the word before. I was sure Hypnic’s founder, Mike Hammer (Really!), told us that the name of his web store comes from his design process but I have nothing to back that up. According to Wikipedia a hypnic jerk “is an involuntary myoclonic twitch which occurs during hypnagogia, just as the subject is beginning to fall asleep. Physically, hypnic jerks resemble the “jump” made when a person is startled.” I have had a few of those. So Mike Hammer wakes up suddenly with this idea in his head and sets to work creating these awesome abstract yet somehow comfortingly familiar designs and we get the Hypnic store. (Disclaimer: I may have imagined this.)

There is not much of a selection. With only five distinct designs (available in several colors), you don’t have much to choose from but what they do have is originality. You won’t find these tees anywhere else, in fact I imagine it would be hard to find similar tees. All the tees in Hypnic are wearable and are perfect for people who are sick of the the current trends such as the oversized prints  produced by stores like Design by Humans, lazy pop culture references by stores like Busted Tees and grotesque Zombie tees by just about every indie tee designer with a Big Cartel store.

Anyways, the tee I received in the package may be the Hypnic signature tee and is available in navy, brown and lemon yellow. The design is used as the background to the website. It’s called Ootline which makes me think that it must be a typo but it doesn’t really matter what it’s called. The design looks like smoke wafting over the shoulder and the placement of the design is what really makes this t-shirt. As you can see the design goes right over the sleeve and over the seams. There are a few minor print issues at the seams but that’s the norm for screen-printing and they are barely noticeable and don’t take away from the overall effect of the design.

Another tees that really caught my eye was the Winter tee. The design looks like a block of ice that has naturally formed tree patterns as it melts. It is a stunning design and really does make me think of Winter when I look at it.

Hypnic uses American Apparel so you don’t have to worry about sizing or wonder if they were made my little kids in China. If you want to wear something different you have found it. Hopefully he will crank out a few more designs before Christmas.

As an added bonus Hypnic is giving a 30% off coupon to anyone who becomes a fan on their Facebook page before the end of November. Also you should follow their blog for other offers, news and new t-shirts.

Review: Symbolika

I received this little package from Symbolika a while back but am just getting around to it now. It’s been a while since my last post and I had been doing so well too. I admit to setting up a few robo-posts though. I had time one day and stuck a lot of posts on a timer. Anyways, back to the tee shirt that I received all the way from Israel.

First impressions are important and Symbolika know this. Not only is their website stylish it is a perfect match for the demographic they are targetting. It’s  a pity they didn’t do the same with the packaging. That said, even in its lack of style, the packaging is impressive enough. Inside the white envelope there was a smooth silver envelope and a sticker. Who doesn’t love a freebie?

OK, so environmentalists won’t be too happy with the next layer of packaging but they would have to admit that it looks good.

The t-shirt itself is quite nice, not too heavy, not to light…just right but it just seemed a bit loose for my taste. I couldn’t find the size on it so I guess it is either a medium or a large. I have a feeling it is a medium though as it is short. In either case I think the neck hole is too big but that may be the preferred style in Israel. I also feel that the  fit is a little odd…maybe I am just used to slimmer fitting tees.

The design is beautiful: a computer generated 3D model of an elephant’s head on the front. The print is perfect and much better than I had expected from looking on the website. The back print is also quite and amazing piece. It employs some visual trickery which I find very clever. At first I didn’t notice how many creatures were there. The back print seems to be a bonus because the front design totally carried the shirt.

As I have mentioned countless times before, I don’t think that shirts need to print their logo on the outside of the t-shirt as we paid for the tee, why should we advertise their company for free. But this logo actually adds to the shirt. The location is subtle and the logo itself is a work of art.

I think the design of the symbolika.com web site perfectly matches the products that they are selling. It’s a bit confusing but it looks good and with a bit of patience you will find what you are looking for. It seems all the designs were created by this dude called Fabian and if he wrote all the text he comes off as as quite pretentious but of course it could be just google bait. “Symbolika is a peephole into Fabian’s psychedelic and spiritual creation.” I wonder what his spiritual creation is. I guess I need to be more enlightened to see it.

The designs are all pretty good, the kind that you’d expect to see hippies in the sixties wearing. Well, if computer generated images were all the rage back then instead of batik or tie-dye or whatever at-the-time innovative technique was actually used.

While I think many people with no interest in the eastern philosophies and cultures referenced at symbolika would love to wear some of these shirts just for the aesthetics, for me the fact that these designs have a deeper meaning and one that may not be in line with my own beliefs or lack thereof is a negative point. For the same reason I don’t wear a crucifix or a star of David around my neck I wouldn’t wear the symbols of a belief system that I know nothing about on my chest. At least not intentionally. That said, I do find some of the artwork very attractive. The beautiful line work reminds me of 3D models that you might have seen in eighties science fiction movies.

Review: The Originators

The guys at the Originators sent over a few tees a couple of weeks ago that I am only getting around to reviewing now. Sorry guys. I was pretty busy back then and that was topped off with having a virus on my pc that led to my websites getting hacked. I think all is back to normal but I have to say that McAfee sucks. Hopefully I will remember that when my three year subscription runs out sometime in 2012. Anyway, back to the Originators.

Before I talk about the actual t-shirts I’d like to mention that the Originators just recently opened a bricks and mortar store. It’s great to see web businesses make it in the real world. Hopefully it works out for them.

This flagship store is in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles and exclusively sells Originators’ clothes, skateboards, and more.

The Originators Store LA is located at:
142 N. Hayworth Ave.,
LA, Calif. 90048

The purpose of the Originators brand (apart from profit) is to tell the world about the early years of hip-hop and the people who founded the movement. The founder, Adam Bach, previously considered making movies to tell these stories but the proposition seemed too daunting so instead he started this t-shirt brand (or so the story goes). The Originators is not simply profiting off these hip-hop legends though:

Every Artist involved in this thing, is under a per-unit licensing deal, so the Artist makes money on every shirt sold bearing their name and likeness. This was very important to us when setting up the company. I wanted the Originator to make money as the company made money. They do well as we do well, and that’s the way it should be.

I don’t know much about hip-hop past or present but if that’s your thing or you are interested in learning you can find out more on the Originators website. They have since branched out into different genres but hip-hop history is still the heart and soul of their business.

As I have mentioned numerous times, I am not a big fan of logos on t-shirts. I mean if you pay for the t-shirt you shouldn’t have to advertise for them too. The Originators tees don’t shy away from branding, with two of their tees having both a sew on patch on the front bottom and a printed logo on the sleeve. To be honest though, in this case, it adds to the t-shirts. And it’s not like you are marketing a big planet-raping mega-corporation.

The t-shirt on the left is a well placed photographic image of who I assume is Jo Jo, the original b-boy. It’s a pretty sweet t-shirt and really captures the spirit of break-dancing. The tee on the right is an example of how The Originators are branching out into other areas with a graffiti style I Heart Tokyo design. This tee doesn’t really do anything for me and being in Japan is something that I wouldn’t wear in public.

This t-shirt has a small target audience. Yankees fans. It’s a nice take on a pretty common design. They have added their own style and it works. For some reason this t-shirt was smaller than the others even though it is marked as a large, like the other two. I might just keep this one for myself.

The tees were all made of quite heavy material. I don’t know what blanks they are using but they look pretty durable. I don’t know if they are ideal for summer weather though. The tees come with a hang-tag giving details about the images but unfortunately they were unable to provide images of them so I can’t show you what they look like.

They have a pretty big selection in their store which uses the Big Cartel shopping cart.

Review: Format Tee

Not that long ago I introduced the loyal readers of the T-Shirt Review to a new t-shirt store from the guys who brought you internet fashion magazine Format and they were kind enough to send a t-shirt over here. The tee they sent was a black number with front and back print called Naked Eye. It’s American Apparel so can’t really complain there (unless you are concerned about their hiring of illegal immigrants). The quality is top notch and the print was pretty sweet.

It’s a nice t-shirt but it looks like one of those work t-shirts that you get if you work in a bar or a restaurant. You know, the logo on the front and the menu on the back. Maybe a part of it is that the back print reminds me of the girl in a cocktail glass image. That said it is a pretty nice image and the line work and halftone effects just add to the sexiness of it. I don’t think the legs would have worked well as a front print so that may be why it was designed this way.

If you want to wear something different from what others are wearing check out the store at Format. There is a small selection at the moment but is is sure to grow.

Review: Babycakes

Babycakes clothing definitely caters to a particular market. All their shirts are very colorful, bright and fun. I would just like to emphasize that they do not shy away from bright colors and there are definitely people who dig that. I am not one of them though. They sent over a couple of tees to review which you can see below modeled by my kind wife rather than I as they were both a little small for me. They were a little big for her though as you can see.

Our first impression when we saw this t-shirt was “Wow!”, but it wasn’t a good wow. It was more of a shocked wow. Never mind the future, this t-shirt is so bright you gotta wear shades. When we had time to look at a bit longer the best thing my wife had to say about it was “At least it’s American Apparel.” She wouldn’t wear it, would rather I didn’t wear it and she wouldn’t give it to anyone as a gift. My opinion of this shirt is a bit harsher and I’ll leave it at that except to say that this t-shirt is not suitable for my generation and I can imagine that it might be popular with teens.

The second shirt we received was the Babycakes logo t-shirt and regular readers will know that I don’t like advertising companies on my chest but there is something cool about this shirt. Maybe because I had never heard of the brand before and I really like the word babycakes. I like the simple red and white design on the black tee as well.

I found that the print on both these tees is quite heavy which I am not a big fan of either. This is often the case though when you want to print white ink.

They do have pretty cool ad which you can check out below.

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