And my TypeTees Slogan-A-Day Experiment saga continues! I’ve got 7 new slogans for you all to vote on, so get on it! Show me some Threadless love! To see all of my slogans and to vote for them check out my Threadless profile page. Vote for me and I will make you an awesome avocado burger if ever we meet in real life.
Whenever I’m having a day thats lacking creativity I just blame the right hemisphere of my brain. The purveyor of all thing awesome. Stay active, stay strong!
The next two “psychology” themed slogans are a result of me working on a two papers on the subject. Universities should seriously offer a course in the Psychology of Awesomeness. What makes awesome people, awesome? Are there brain regions associated with extreme awesomeness? And, of course, what are the fundamental behavioral characteristics of awesomeness?Â
I seriously do. If it’s something that I wish to just have fly through one ear and out the other then that’s exactly what will happen. Selective attention, it’s not a choice, it’s an innate characteristic that I possess.Â
This is one of the statement slogans. I wish Bigfoot existed so that I could give him a cookie. I wish Nessie existed so that I could snap a pic of her/him and I wish that world peace existed so that we could all live happy and be happy. But of course, we know that Bigfoot doesn’t exist, Nessie was a hoax and world peace, well, until we get rid of religion (among other things) we can forget about that.Â
It seems that every week I have at least one slogan that highlights my laziness. In truth, I’m not a lazy person – I just wish I could lounge around all day. By the way, I firmly believe in doing homework – it builds character!
Double dipping has never really been a big problem for me (unless you have a noticeable cold sore). I’m not sure why people get into such hizzy about it. It’s not a big deal! Or is it?
Human Trafficking is a huge problem and Amnesty International in Germany knows this. They recently ran a marketing campaign to highlight the issues related with Human Trafficking and they caught it on tape.Â
Here’s a T-Shirt that is actually called Human Trafficking and was designed by artist Priscilla Wilson. You might be familiar with Priscilla since she is an avid T-Shirt designer and has had her designs printed at Threadless (she goes by the name valorandvellum). The design theme was Building roadblocks to human trafficking. It’s available at CommonThreadz, a site that produces Eco-Friendly T-Shirts that help fund programs that benefit orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa and other developing nations. For each t-shirt purchased, a school uniform is donated to an orphan or vulnerable child so they can go to school. The tee is available now for $38.
“Upon receiving the theme of “Human Trafficking” I started doing some research on the topic. There were a couple of things that struck me about the issue. Many of the victims, even as adults, enter the situation under false pretenses, and once they’re in it they don’t seek help to get out. It seems that it must be a devastating, despairing way to exist, and the only solution is if an outsider steps up and reports it. With this design, the intent is to show how small acts can mean big things to others and to show hope where there was none before.” -- Priscilla Wilson
If I were in the Big Apple I’d be checking out this gallery featuring works by artists like SEEN, Banksy, Damien Hirst and Russell Young. They’ll also be featuring items from pop culture icons like John Lennon and Andy Warhol. Here’s an image that I snatched from Juxtapoz of a life size hand painted fiberglass cow by SEEN.Â
And of course, I’ve got a T-Shirt for you if you’re itching to get a taste of this show but can’t make it out. It’s a tee featuring a Banksy design. And I bet you thought that pandas were friendly. It’s available for purchase at 8Ball for £14.99.Â
Here’s an excellent shirt that was put together by TeeFury curator, Wotto. It’s the 2009 TeeFury Street Art Collab tee and it features 45 different artist from all over the globe – amazing! Proceeds from the sale of this tee (the artists cut) will go to a charity that will help out Team Eagle, a disabled sailing team campaigning for the 2012 Paralympics in London.Â
I think that this TeeFury design is amazing, but it’s only going to be up for 24 hours so if you dig it then buy it! The tee costs just $9 which is totally worth it considering the art on the tee and  the cause you’ll be helping out.Â
Check out below for a list of all 45 participating artists and their respective drawing.
Here’s a tee designed by mimimimimimimimi and available at LaFraise and I absolutely adore it (and am somewhat intrigued by the name of the artist who designed the shirt). If you’re not familiar with LaFraise, it’s a European contest site that chooses 3 to 4 designs each work from user submissions. The Woods Are Alive is available now from LaFraise for 19,00 € (~$25.00).Â
LeBron James has been a beast this season and this has no doubt been his most impressive season to date. Nike has released the official LeBron James Witness MVP tee to celebrate his MVP season. I have to admit that I’ve been one of those LeBron skeptics since he first left high school and jumped straight to the league. But this season, something about his demeanor, confidence and team play impressed me. And I admit, despite not being a Cavaliers fan, that I am witnessing one of the most electrifying athletes to ever play the game of basketball. This MVP was well deserved .
The Witness tee is available now for $30 and the the Zoom LeBron VI MVP Edition will be available on May 30 for $150. Â
Are any of you keeping up with the NBA playoffs? Who are you cheering for?Â
In this episode I wear the 3 Little Pigs: Mechanized Assault by Ian Leino and review two tees, one from Rethink Clothing called Fortune Cookie! and a second from All For One Clothing called Spray Paint. If you follow the blog and this show then you might already be familiar with ReThink Clothing because I’ve covered them many times before. All For One Clothing is a new brand that was started by Brandon Hopkins and is based out of California. A portion of all sales from All For One Clothing goes straight to animal relation charities. Use the coupon code “COTY” on your next ReThink Clothing or All For One Clothing purchase and save 20% and 15% respectively. As always, enjoy with tea and a comfy tee!
You can also watch this episode on Vimeo, Viddler, YouTube, blip.tv and download and sync all episodes to your iPod or iPhone by subscribing for free to Co-Tee TV in the iTunes Store.
Coty’s Thoughts:
Spray Paint by All For One Clothing.Good: Great fun shirt, perfect for the animal lover! Comes in a unique box and is packaged with a lot of goodies including stickers and milk bone treats for your dog! The tee has a comfortable feel (not sure what kind of blank) and is printed in three different areas: neck, front and the back, it is also tagless for itch free comfort. A portion of sales will be donated to animal charities. Bad: No real issues with the tee itself, I just wish that the website would give me more information about the tee like who designed it and what kind of blank was used. Other than that, great way to fill a niche!Price: $22.99 but you can save 15% if you use the coupon code “COTY” at checkout. $2 from each tee sold will go to an animal charity.
Fortune Cookie by Andrew Olivier for ReThink Clothing.Good: Excellent collaboration here between Andrew from Wandering Whale and ReThink. I think Andrew captured the ReThink style with this tee. Printed on American Apparel so you’ll know what size fits best, great colors! This is the shirt to wear the next time you go out for Chinese. Bad: Only gripe that I’ve got with this tee is the tag, other than that, great design and awesome collaboration. Price: $19.99 but you can save 20% if you use the coupon code “COTY” at checkout.
3 Little Pigs: Mechanized Assault by Ian Leino for Threadless. Another great tee from Threadless, and the second Asian themed tee covered in this episode! It’s got a huge 5 color print and the design by Ian Leino is awesome. This is the perfect tee for anyone into Japanese culture or anime. Price: $18.00 but is no longer available for sale. You can however checkout Ian’s Threadless profile and see his latest Threadless designs.
If you want to send me a product to review, please feel free to do so. You can find my information in the contact menu above. Thanks!
You might know that I am a huge fan of the guys and girls over at 410BC, I really dig what they have been doing the past couple of months. And they’ve been pumping out some amazing tees at an astounding rate! Didn’t they just release a collection of tees a month or so ago?! Either way, I’m not complaining! Definitely another amazing collection of tees from our friends at 410BC. The new tees are available now for $20-$25 but remember that you can save 15% off your next 410BC order with the coupon code “coty” at checkout!
“Nice work! Very unique, classic, memorable style.” – Johnny Cupcakes
And if the new line weren’t enough, 410BC is having a huge $10 sale on their older stuff at their Big Cartel Store so be sure to go pick up a tee from them now – it’s the perfect time!
After a one month hiatus, the Indie Tee Spotlight is back! In the 22nd edition of the spotlight I feature Josh Perkins from Go Ape Shirts. If you enjoy fun tees, that are a little bit wacky, then Go Ape Shirts is definitely one to check out. Perkins, who resides in Tucson, Arizona, started Go Ape Shirts in May 2006 after having some success on the popular contest site Threadless. Since then, he has worked with a ton of brilliant artists and have delivered some of the most creative tees available on the Internet.Â
Coty: How did you get started in the T-Shirt business? Do you have any formal training in graphic design?
Josh: I started off just playing around and submitting designs to threadless. I had a lot of fun trying to come up with creative ideas and seeing how much people liked (or disliked) them. I finally made a winner in April of 2006. Pessimistic or Optimistic was my first design printed there.
Several months before that, I decided that I wanted to print one of my designs and a few others that I liked. The winning money definitely helped fund that. In May, I launched Go Ape Shirts with four designs total. I do not have any formal training in graphic design.
Coty: What’s the story behind the Go Ape name? What does it mean and how did you come up with it?
Josh: In high school I had some sort of weird fascination with apes. My friends and I would call each other ape instead of, say, dude or bro or something like that. One day at school, I walked into my friend’s class with an ape mask, ripped him out of his desk onto the ground, roughed him up a little bit, and left without anyone saying a word. I was a Planet of the Apes fan growing up. I even had the box set on DVD. I guess I just liked that they seem like goofier, animal versions of humans. To “go ape” is to get excited, go crazy, etc. To go ape shit is a step up from that. Go Ape Shirts is a play on that phrase.
Coty: Branding is important to any company, how would you define the Go Ape brand?
Josh: Interesting question. As you probably noticed, my shirts don’t have the company name branded across them or anything like that. I was never really into being a walking billboard. Now I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. In fact, I see those companies as much more of a “brand”, and I have a huge respect for what they do. I really consider Go Ape Shirts to be more of a store or a shop where people can just go to get cool shirts. I do go ahead and put my proud mark on each inside tag with the logo and url. The downside is that you can’t just look at a shirt and say, “Hey, that’s a Go Ape shirt.” However, I feel that the Go Ape name is more about the high quality of shirts and art. It’s almost a gallery of my personal taste, and I just go out and hope that people share the same interests. I hope that made sense…
Coty: You’ve featured many amazing artists on Go Ape. How do you go about selecting artists? Who would you like to work with in the future?
Josh: What goes to print is really all just based on my personal taste. I contact most of the artists to see if they want to work with me. Sometimes they have a piece that I am already interested in. Some like to make something new. I often get contacted by different designers, and I always will take a look at their work. I am really blessed in that I get to work with such talented and amazing people. Right now, however, I’m really backed up with designs to print, so I’m not taking any new submissions at the moment. Off the top of my head, some artists I would love to work with in the future are Little Friends of Printmaking, Oliver Hibert, Dan Sheffield, Emil Kozak, Sonmi, and loads more. I could really go on and on, but I have to hold on for now.
Coty: What has been the most challenging part about running Go Ape?
Josh: Go Ape is really a side project for me. When I first started, I was still finishing my bachelor’s degree. It got a bit rough when a ton of orders would pile up and I had an organic chemistry test that same week. I managed to find a balance though. This fall, I’ll be starting optometry school. I think this transition will be the biggest challenge in that I have to put order fulfillment and customer service in someone else’s hands.
Coty: What is favorite Go Ape tee and which is your best selling?
Josh: They’re all my favorites! Really, though, I think I wear Killovision and Evolver the most. Boo Boo Walker is the top seller since the beginning.
Coty: And finally, for those interested in starting their own t-shirt brand, what are three things that they should expect by being in this business? What is one bit of advice that you would give them?
Josh: I see so many t-shirt companies popping up all the time. Seriously, don’t go into this just to make money. Do it because it’s fun and something you would love doing. There is a lot of competition out there, and people are spending less money nowadays. Don’t go into it trying to make a quick buck. Also, a lot of people don’t realize… it is a LOT of work. As always, anyone can feel free to hit me up with any specific questions.
I’d like to thank Josh for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with me! Check back next week for the next Indie Tee Spotlight and in the meantime, go buy some tee from Go Ape Shirts!
Most geeks that you meet will probably admit to being fans of robots. And why not? Robots are representative of the technical advancements that we wish we had, and, well, they’re just cool to see, imagine, build, etc. As an 80′s kid I grew up watching Transformers and Voltron, and in the 90′s I admittedly watched The Power Rangers series. There’s just something so innately appealing about robots for tech geeks like myself.Â
But enough reminiscing, here’s a tee from the guys over at the Chop Shop. It’s their newest tee and it’s called robotRock. I love the image, but not so sure of the Japanese text – can anyone translate? The tee is available in three different colors: olive, dark chocolate and black. You can pick one up today from Chop Shop for just $20.00 but remember to use the coupon code “cotygun” for 15% off of your next order at the Chop Shop! And, seriously, does anyone know what the Japanese text means?!
