Category Archive for ‘in-hand review’ at Fantastic Blognanza!

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In-Hand Review: PopJunkie Design Are Dead On with ‘Out to Sea’

Published

Joe

on August 3, 2007

in in-hand review, new releases and t-shirts

. 5 Comments

I received the gorgeous Out to Sea t-shirt from PopJunkie a couple days ago, and it exceeds my high expectations. Everything about it is beautiful for every sense to which t-shirts can appeal.

Out to Sea (full) - PopJunkie

PopJunkie really put this one together: the composition, execution, and t-shirt selection complement each other terrifically.

Strong CompositionAs far as composition goes, printing the large design in the bottom corner gives the entire piece a dynamism that a center placement just wouldn’t have, an effect to which the circling gulls contribute (despite their low contrast with the background).

Out to Sea (detail 1) - PopJunkie

Precise yet Beautiful ExecutionThe print itself is excellent, and the crisp halftones of the clouds gives them a feeling of ethereal wispiness. Even though the white (or light blue—it’s hard to tell), flexible ink is slightly transparent, it just adds to Out to Sea’s immensely charcterful design.

Out to Sea (cloud detail 1) - PopJunkie

Thematic T-ShirtPopJunkie could not have chosen a better garment on which to print Out to Sea than Alternative Apparel’s Water Heather Contrast Stripe Crew. Despite its rugged, nautical look, because this t-shirt is a semi-sheer cotton/polyester blend, it’s superbly smooth to the touch. Although the exterior stitches on the sleeve and bottom hems look odd, fret not: they are blind stitches that are just as strong (see the thumbnail below for a detail picture) and make the hems practically invisible.

I couldn’t finish this review without mentioning the hangtag: it consists of a large piece of heavy, off-white cardstock embossed in dark brown. It adds a classic, upscale touch to an already wonderful t-shirt.

Link: [Out to Sea at PopJunkie (also for women)]
Expensiveness: $35
Garment tech specs: 40s, 100% polyester white stripe, 95/5 cotton/poly grey stripe. 1×1 100% cotton rib in collar, .625” blind stitch detail on sleeve and bottom hems. semi-sheer stripe fabric, 100% cotton threads. garment washed, pre shrunk.

In-Hand Review: I’m Smitten with I’m Smitten!

Published

Joe

on July 19, 2007

in in-hand review and t-shirts

. 0 Comments

My apologies for the terribly punny title, but it’s true: I am smitten with I’m Smitten! I’ve wanted to get Antler Girl ever since I saw it for women at Little Paper Planes; I don’t know why it took me so long to finally find their site! I’m glad I did, though, because the site is brimming with merchandise (like handbags and stationary, in addition to t-shirts) on which I’m Smitten’s signature human-animal chimeras are printed.

The packaging is a nice touch. The tee came wrapped in a sheet of pink tissue paper (adorned with a happy, dancing, ice cream-carrying teddy bear) to keep it clean and fancy. Very cute!

Halftones prints are relatively uncommon, so the dark blue halftone print of Antler Girl (which is well printed, by the way!) makes it more of a rarity, and I feel like the design wouldn’t work as just a line drawing. The print is pretty thin, so the light blue shirt (which feels really really good, even better than American Apparel) is still flexible. There is a big ribbon over the regular tag, but it is so silky smooth that it doesn’t irritate the skin. Even though the I’m Smitten website says it’s printed on a sky blue Alternative Apparel raw edged reverse crew tee, there is nothing reverse nor raw edged about it; in fact, it looks to be Alternative Apparel’s basic crew tee, so don’t worry if you’re not into the inside-out look.

Link: [Antler Girl at I'm Smitten (also available in white for girls and brown for guys)]
Expensiveness: $25 (limited sizes available)
Tech specs: 32’s combed ringspun jersey, 100% cotton, 2/3″ collar height, 1×1 rib collar, side seamed, garment washed, no shrinkage

Some Detail Pics

In-Hand Review of ‘Ruins’ at Sub Urban Riot

Published

Joe

on April 21, 2007

in Sub Urban Riot, in-hand review and t-shirts

. 4 Comments

Sub Surban Riot, a fairly new outfit based out of Venice, California, produce some high-quality t-shirts, my personal favorite being Ruins. Lots of crumbling stone buildings are featured here: the Acropolis, Stonehenge, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (not as much a ruin as the others), one that might be the Maison Carrée, and two that I don’t recognize.

Ruins at Sub Urban Riot $40

The shirt easily lives up to their claim of using ‘cloudsoft cotton’ even under close scrutiny; it feels both slightly softer and smoother than American Apparel. The seams look and feel very sturdy as well, so I am not worried in the least that this tee will have a short lifespan. I really like the cut of their blanks as well (which are custom-made): the cut is a bit slimmer than American Apparel, and the sleeves are a little shorter and tighter. Basically, the cut is perfect for me.

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“It’s Raining on My Hat” and “Bringing Food to Master” at innerTee

Published

Joe

on January 15, 2007

in in-hand review, innerTee and t-shirts

. 1 Comment

I know I’ve written before about innerTee, but that was before I’d even seen any of their goods! Now that I have, I can say that I’m pretty impressed. The concept, if you’re not familiar with it already, is mixing user-submitted pieces of wearable art (called “elements”) in whatever way you please; they then screenprint every customized shirt individually. Even though each shirt is unique, they don’t sacrifice the quality of their prints, which have a soft hand. They feel like they’re probably plastisol inks with softener added.

This is one of the shirts that I myself mixed and ordered from innerTee:

If you’re curious about what this shirt looked like when I designed it on their site (and you should be!), take a peak:

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‘Somewhere’ at Imaginary Foundation

Published

Joe

on January 9, 2007

in Imaginary Foundation, art, in-hand review and t-shirts

. 0 Comments

I’ve always been very impressed by the vivid colors and absurd/surreal imagery used by Nick over at Imaginary Foundation. Their new releases are no exceptions. This time around, it’s Somewhere that stands out to me most. I’m a really big fan of what they’ve been doing with clouds lately. First they had their Cloud Hoodie (which may just be the best hoodie ever… too bad I’ll probably never get to see one in person), and now this. At least the t-shirt is within my budget.

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“Parliamentary Party” at Owl Movement (Plus a Sale!)

Published

Joe

on December 22, 2006

in Owl Movement, in-hand review, on sale and t-shirts

. 0 Comments

Not too long ago, I placed an order for a t-shirt from Owl Movement, and just a few days after that, a shirt arrived from them! Crazy coincidence, I guess. ANYWAY, that shirt is “Parliamentary Party”, and it’s my favorite new shirt from Owl Movement!

I like the owl motif going on here. Owls upon owls upon owls (well, maybe not… but owls upon owls, at least!) have been crisply printed onto fine American Apparel t-shirts for your wearing pleasure. I was worried that the small owls wouldn’t have much definition when I placed my order, but I was wrong! They have very fine, very crisp edges. I’m also impressed with how the colors turned out, since it looks like they printed the top colors directly onto the dark shirt without an underbase!
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“Industree” at Enclothe (plus a sale!)

Published

Joe

on December 18, 2006

in Enclothe, in-hand review, on sale and t-shirts

. 0 Comments

First of all, Enclothe is having a $13 sale on most items. Second of all, I really like their wares. I have Ghost Ship (though I wish I had waited until they reprinted it in tan), Destroyer, and their newest t-shirt release, Industree, which you can see pictures of below. There are girlies of all of these designs as well.

I really like the juxtaposition going on in this design. From afar, it looks like a gray tree with black leaves lit up from beneath by some sort of ominous red light source. Only upon closer inspection can you tell that the tree is actually made up of metal-plated tubes and pipes billowing black smoke. The red is a little more vivid than the pictures on their site reveal (on my Mac monitor, at least); the contrast is really nice. There’s more detail to the print than you can see on their site, too. The pipes and tubes have a lot of detailing, and the red embers among the smoke drift around the cloud of poisonous fumes.
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