Monthly Archive for March, 2008

George Orwell-Inspired T-Shirts Are Doubleplusgood

The dystopian writings of George Orwell, most notably Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm (not to be confused with Animal House), are pretty popular. It should come as no surprise, then, that there are some t-shirts that have been inspired by George Orwell’s work. What’s so amazing about these tees, however, is that I’ve only seen good ones. That’s right, no shoddy t-shirt knockoffs for George Orwell. Know of any (good or bad) that I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments. Without further ado, two by two, I give you t-shirts directly inspired by two of George Orwell’s masterpieces.

1984
1984 - Derek M - Enclothe
1984 by Derek M from Enclothe ($19, for men and women)

Miniluv - The-Affair
Miniluv from The-Affair (£25)

Animal Farm
Four Legs Good. Two Legs Bad. - Tom Burns - Kindred
Four Legs Good. Two Legs Bad. by Tom Burns from Kindred ($12)

Animal Farm - Tom Burns - Design by Humans
Animal Farm by Tom Burns from Design by Humans ($15-16, for men and women)

Links: [just click them above!]
Expensiveness: $12-£25

$12 T-Shirt Sale Section at Kindred

“Hey, Fantastic Blognanza.”

“Well, hey, Odd Bobby. What’s up?”

“Man, shirts are expensive.”

“Yeah, true enough.”

“But I can’t stop spending money on them!”

“Maybe you need an intervention!”

“No, I just need cheaper shirts is what I need.”

“Okay, okay.”

Don’t tell me what I need, FB.

“Easy, okay! Easy.”

“Like that store Kindred, you know?”

“Kindred, yeah! I know Kindred.”

“Yeah, yeah, but their shirts are, like, 25 bucks each. I can’t pay that much.”

“Why not?”

“I’m saving up to buy an automatic tarantula grinder.”

“Well, why don’t you just go right over here?”

“You mean—”

Darn tootin’ I mean. Kindred is selling select designs for only twelve dollars.”

“¡¿Doce dólares?!”

“¡Solo doce dólares! Snatch up classics like Time to Make the Donuts and Anyone Seen My Ox? for less than half their normal price!”

Time to Make the Donuts - Todd Lorbecki - KindredAnyone Seen My Ox? - Todd Lorbecki - Kindred

“Wotta bargain! With savings like these, I’ll be scarfing down delicious tarantula chunks and juices in no time flat!”

“Eew.”

Don’t criticize my eating habits.

Link: [Select T-Shirts on Sale at Kindred]
Expensiveness: $12.00
Should you hurry: not even Odd Bobby knows

Touché, Enclothe

In a recent email conversation concerning their three new designs, Greg remarked that “Enclothe is seriously one of the best stores ever.” Once you see these fresh prints for yourselves, I doubt I’ll have to convince anyone of this. (It helps, of course, that two of these designs prey on most geeks’ passing interest in ancient mythologies.)

death-from-above-plane-crash-skeleton-flight-206-t-shirt-enclothe.jpg
Death From Above by Derek M. NEW! at Enclothe: $22.00

While this design doesn’t boast origins in a particular mythos, it more than compensates with a macabre distrust of aero-planes. Joe claims that it references “a Twilight Zone episode,” but did not clarify [I take it back; I think it might be referencing Ultra Q, not The Twilight Zone. -Joe]. If you Look Real Hard, you’ll notice that the design features a subtle cloud pattern as a background—guaranteed (probably) to be unique from shirt to shirt! Fans of this design might want to check out Enclothe’s Horsebot as well.

athenas-temple-perseus-medusa-future-city-futuristic-t-shirt-sven-palmowski-enclothe.jpg
Athena’s Temple by Sven Palmowski NEW! at Enclothe: $20.00
Psst! Check out Sven Palmowski’s guest post for Fantastic Blognanza!

I’m all too tempted to try to reconcile Enclothe’s account of the mythological past with extant accounts despite my horrible memory (Wikipedia ho!). What bugs me the most is Enclothe’s suggestion—if I read their back-story correctly—that Medusa was the patron goddess of her own city, which I don’t think is right. There was, of course, a grizzly episode between Athena and the Gorgon at one of Athena’s temples. Poseidon was indirectly involved—sexually, as he and his brothers are wont to do. You can read about that cheery business here. I ultimately have to wonder: of all the creatures to battle for eternity, Athena would probably want to grapple with someone more … formidable.

But enough of my pedantic antics. What’s important is that Sven Palmowski has produced a great shirt that takes advantage of both Medusa’s irregular sensuality and snake-hair while incorporating the powerful allure of Cities Of Tomorrow. I’ll take as many Greek mythology shirts as I can get—it’s about design, after all, not historicity.

ragnarok-norse-mythology-helmet-beard-t-shirt-jeremy-hanlin-enclothe.jpg
Ragnarok NEW! at Enclothe: $20.00

I purchased a handbook on Norse mythology a while ago and admittedly haven’t read much of it yet. Still, you need no handbook to know these two truths: 1) Norse mythology rocks and 2) Ragnarok is gonna be bitchin’. While not depicting the legendary battle itself, this design still earns points in the Excellently Eerie department with the aid of its haunting glow-in-the-dark gaze. Guaranteed (probably) to impress the folklore department at your local university! Those wishing for a more comprehensive understanding of the Norse worldview, look no further.

There you have it. As their previous releases have shown, Enclothe know what they’re doing and where they’re going. I’m eager to see what they’ll offer next. Perhaps it will involve … a Kakapo?

Link: [Enclothe]
Expensiveness: $20.00-$22.00

This Week in T-Shirts, March 9-15

“New” Shops

New News (From Old Shops)

Sale-Tacular!

  • Fashion Dr.: investigate their Spring Clean Sale—all tees just $18.00.
  • Vintage Vantage: in addition to introducing new designs, they’re jettisoning the old ones in their Retirement Sale—just $10.00 each.

Stuff You’ve Already Seen

$19.95 Sale at Thriving Ink

Greg just posted an in-hand review of one of Thriving Ink’s new t-shirts, and now they’re having a sale!

Thriving Ink Sale

For a limited time, all t-shirts at Thriving Ink are on sale for $19.95!

Link: [Thriving Ink]
Expensiveness: $19.95 (for now!)
Should you hurry: we have no idea! so maybe!

Lions Roar at Thriving Ink

A little over a week ago, I got Lion from Thriving Ink in the mail. I’ve been meaning to blog about it ever since then, but since last week was the sort of week that keeps throwing things at you and just doesn’t let up, I never found the time to write my review. So apologies to you, dear readers, and to the kind folks at Thriving Ink, for dragging my feet on this one!

When I first saw the package, I was surprised to find myself greeted by a rather largish poster mailing tube. (Sorry—no pictures of this one! You’ll have to use your imagination.) Inside was the shirt, as well as a couple of small Thriving Ink posters. The posters had gotten all rolled up from being in the mailing tube (as posters are wont to do), but the shirt was in perfect condition.

I suspect the distinctive packaging style has to do with Thriving Ink’s philosophy of “t-shirts as art”. From their About Us page:

Thriving Ink shirts are designed by real artists from around the world as art for art’s sake; Thriving Ink has simply put the art onto a wearable canvas – shirts.

So just as you would send an art print through the mail in a poster tube, they’re sending out their t-shirts that way, too. Or at least, that’s my interpretation.

Anyway, on to the real stuff.


Lion - Full Shot

The shirt is American Apparel, so you know you’re getting good-quality stuff as far as the actual shirt itself is concerned. In fact, I had never tried on a black AA tee before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was. Nearly every other black shirt I own has an uncomfortably heaviness to it; this one, on the other hand, was good times all around.

Lion - Close
Click on image for larger verson.

Not only was the shirt comfy, but the print itself was surprisingly soft. Not perfectly soft, of course—it’s a big print with light colors on a dark background—but much better than one might reasonably expect.

Lion - Real Close

All in all, I’m a big fan of this shirt, which makes me look forward to getting my grubby mitts on some more quality stuff from Thriving Ink. Awesome work!

Link: [Lion from Thriving Ink]
Expensiveness: $29.95

This Week in T-Shirts, March 2-8

News

  • Me&Yu: new monster-licious releases for the summer.
  • ReThink: t-shirts designed exclusively by college students.
  • Reverie: dressing the dreamers.
  • Junkfunk: graphic tees featuring the talent of some UK designers.
  • Mom N Pop (NSFW): simple black and white t-shirts with the text ‘Is Barack Obama gonna have to choke a [censored]?’
  • Disinformation: dedicated to providing you with patently false t-shirts to confuse your ignorant, gullible friends.
  • Astrosauce: music-inspired t-shirts for music lovers.
  • Hans and Fras: adorable character t-shirts that seem to be to some degree Japanese-inspired, created for the sole purpose of having fun.

Sales

  • PopJunkie: $5-10 off all t-shirts for men and women.
  • ReThink: use coupon code TENOFF for (you guessed it!) 10% off.
  • Contrast: several items significantly reduced.

Familiars

This Week’s Features