tshaped - t-shirt reviews

Great collection of unique t-shirts over at Kindred. Their most interesting designs contain hints of Gilliamations, urban art, and an awesome fascination with the dismemberment of large deciduous forest trees. Kindred also seems to understand the relationship between the t-shirt and the artwork. Their designs work with the canvas that is the t-shirt and don’t overly dominate it. I like that! Favorites below.
Mens:

• artistic
• illustration
• musket
• tree
• Vendor Review

Indieshopper.com is an online boutique that stocks a great selection of t-shirts from a wide range of designers. I won’t go into too much detail here but they are a great place to stop and refresh your collection. I also found one of the best dog shirts I’ve seen around, though I haven’t seen many and I don’t even own a dog. But if I did, it would be one of these and I would buy him a shirt that was way too small so he’d look like the HULK!

• artistic
• illustration
• mens
• Vendor Review
• womens

Human Empire has some gems hidden in their strange order by email site. Even stranger, every time I read their url, www.humanempire.com I read it as “Humane Empire” which I like much better than “Human Empire.” It’s got such an oxymoronic ring to it, doesn’t it? After all,  has there ever been a human empire that’s been even one cotton-fiber’s width humane?

• artistic
• illustration
• Vendor Review

Beautiful Decay has a fantastic collection of artistic t-shirts from many different designers. Most of them fall in the $26 to $37 price range but even at those prices they still rock, although not quite as literally as this t-shirt.

Men:

Women:

• artistic
• illustration
• mens
• Vendor Review
• womens

Fabric8 Bazaar is the place I always go when my t-shirt wardrobe needs a complete replenishing…like now. They stock t-shirts from a wide spectrum of designers such as Forensiks (or here), U2 Designs, Hechas A Mano, and Ropeadope. The search and browse functionality of their site is sub-par but if you have some time to kill, perusing Fabric8’s inventory may well be worth your while…though it may take a whole lot of that worth out of your checking account!

• artistic
• illustration
• mens
• Vendor Review
• womens

Sometimes you just want a simple, nice design.That’s right, I said “nice!” The word that has chagrined innumerable high school English teachers and continuing education professors since the beginning of time (and of adjectives). Possibly the most overused word in the English language! Anyway, here are Service’s nicest…

• artistic
• illustration
• Vendor Review

The Anti are a group of Boston based urban artists who also have some T-shirts for sale. They really capture the grit and grime of Boston in their designs. As soon as their site loaded I was brought back in time to my days as a college student trekking through Kenmore Square with a fist full of used CD’s from Nuggets! Those were the days…I miss my Urban Outfitter’s Canadian hat and old army knapsack. My personal favorites are Boston Roots and Mission Hill.

• artistic
• illustration
• urban
• Vendor Review

A while back I stumbled on a flash site that had some nice tshirt designs, but was going the way of Good Times family amusement center. Well, it was a good thing I kept the link because Hecklewood is back with some fresh designs and a non-flash interface shopping cart. The site is sparse now but these hipsters seem active and judging by the amount of PBR the drink, the new designs should keep flowing (Pabst Brewing Co. should pay Hecklewood for product placement because the references are everywhere).

My personal favorites are:

Men: Neon, Arnold Uber Alles, Cock the Cop, and Drop Riffs (on sale!).

Women: Pee Chee and Hecklewood x Cryin Tiger.

• artistic
• illustration
• Vendor Review

The first time I came across Custom Industries apparel was at a fashion sampler sale in Venice, CA. At least I think it was Venice…and I think it was Custom. I don’t remember being blown away by their selection either but with the way my memory has been working lately, I may have flagellated myself to a bloody mess at the foot of their discount bin for all I know. Whether or not I was in awe of their apparel then doesn’t matter now because I am both scar free AND have their url. Now you have it too!

My personal favorites are Easter Island (on sale!), Baja and 10,000 Buddhas.

• artistic
• illustration
• Vendor Review

My favorite t-shirt is a black American Apparel with a blue, hand-drawn blaster on it. Simple. Blue. And a sci-fi gun. Perfect. Unfortunately it’s no-where to be found on Option-G’s apparel website. Actually, that’s good for me since it’s probably been retired from the vast cannon of Option-G’s designs. Hopefully I own the last one in existance! For those of you who don’t already own Option-G’s Blaster t-shirt (because I own the only one), there is a worthy replacement available on their website.

Nice is nice! First of all, I love the penguin. I’m going to guess that it’s an emperor penguin and we all know how worthy they are of our respect (from that documentary). Plus, the adjective “nice” is extremely generic and annoys writer types, which makes displaying it, well, nice! I once had a professor lament over the word “nice” and that has stuck in my head like an vengeful case of deja vu. Maybe with this t-shirt I can finally end that nightmare. That’s one down…

• artistic
• ice
• illustration
• Vendor Review