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

Nothing special at no star. It’s a fitting name for them since their collection has potential but nothing stands out. I guess if I had to pick one it would be for the ladies…

Women: Free Bird

• humorous
• illustration
• Jokes
• 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

Lately I’ve been warming up to joke tshirts and of the mainstream sites Bustedtees has some of the wittiest ones around. They also have a great user interface with large tshirt thumbnails and a nifty availability chart on the tshirt’s full page. I actually laughed out loud at many of their shirts! I dug around a little bit on the site and found out that Bustedtees is affiliated with Collegehumor.com, which is certainly not a bad thing.

Bustedtees does have some of the typical joke tshirts that are seemingly everywhere, but there are a number that are rather unique and rather funny. My personal favorites are Visit Cuba!, Florida…Stay Awhile!, Pierce & Pierce and Don’t Talk to Strangers.

• humorous
• Jokes
• Vendor Review