And the awesome SXSW shirt sightings keep rolling in! Here’s my Day 3 recap of some of the awesome shirts being worn at the 2010 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Note that Sorry My Phone Died, We All Fall Down, Nerd Is The New Cool, Diner, Infinity MPG and Hey Let’s Go Do Fun Stuff are available for sale (links below).
Day 2 of SXSW 2010 has come and gone and I’ve got a collection of 14 tees that I spotted (despite not being there) worn by 14 different geeks! Note, the T-Rex Drums tee worn by Gary Vaynerchuk, Cutters tee and the Vimeo T-Shirt are available for sale.
*All photos belong to their respective owners.
Day 2 SXSW T-Shirt Sightings:
1. I Shoot Food, photo by hawaii. Awesome Foodspotting tee parodying the ubiquitous I Heart NY design. You had to participate in the SXSW Street Food Scavenger Hunt in order to score this awesome shirt. Visit Foodspotting and Hawaii Weblog.
2. Cutters, photo by davidjschloss. The 2010 Bike Hugger Mobile Social at SXSW brought hundreds and hundreds of riders together for a social ride, BBQ and schwag fest. This attendee is sporting the Cutters tee from the classic cycling movie, Breaking Away, and available from our good friends at Found Item Clothing. Buy Cutters from Found Item Clothing. Visit Attention Deficit David.
3. Indie GoGo, photo by Betsy Weber. Indie GoGo is an awesome community of various indie artist to share their media, whether it be film, music or writing. Discover new indie stuff at Indie GoGo. Visit Indie GoGo and Visual Lounge.
4. Dot Jenna, photo by NoNo Joel. dotJenna is a web personality and the President & CEO of The Marketing Shop.com, a new media company in Frisco, Texas. Visit Dot Jenna.
7. Andrew Mager X Obama, photo by magerleagues. Andrew Mager work on design engineering Ning and also blogs about the social web on ZDNet’s The Web Life. Visit Andrew Mager’s Site, The Web Life and Ning.
The social media Gods have taken over Austin, Texas, as part of the annual SXSW Interactive Festival. And wherever the geeks are you are sure to find cool T-Shirts. Let’s get one thing straight, if you’re at SXSW, I am jealous of you. In any case, I thought that I would track the T-Shirt sightings over at SXSW during the next few days.
I should note that most of these tees will be of a bit different from those that you are used to seeing on this site. You’ll probably see a lot of tees sporting the logos of startups or established tech brands. I lust for logo tees so these are just up my alley!
Some things to note:
1. I will be tracking tees during the Interactive Session (March 12 – 16). Depending on how things goes, I might do this series of posts throughout the entire festival. We shall see!
2. If you’re a startup and you see your T-Shirt here then please note that I want it! If you’ve got an extra Men’s Large send one my way and I’ll be sure to review not only your tee but your service/website on this blog! Should be fun.
3. If you’re at SXSW, 1. I am jealous and 2. Be on the lookout for cool tees that you spot and send them my way!
*All photos belong to their respective owners.
Day 1 SXSW T-Shirt Sightings:
1. Google Bike Maps, photo by Hugger Industries. The Googlers that made the Bike Maps are riding around SXSW in these awesome tees - I want one so bad! Visit Google Bike Maps and Bike Hugger.
2. Under Pressure Screen Printing, photo by KXAN. Under Pressure Screen Printing doing their thing at the Ustream Breakthrough Party. The event featured performances by the band Gym Class Heroes with Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy hosting the festivities. Visit Under Pressure Screen Printing and Ustream.
3. Jon Carroll of Gowalla, photo by hawaii. Jon Carroll of Gowalla sits down for a chat over some Mexican Coke and Gowalla swag at Juan Pelota Cafe at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop. Visit Gowalla and the Hawaii Weblog.
4. The Startup Bus, photos by dekrazee1. The Startup Bus is the brainchild of Elias Bizannes, an Australian now living in America. The original concept was for 12 strangers to board a bus in San Francisco – and at 60 miles an hour and over 48 hours – they were to conceive, build and launch 3 tech startups in time for a SxSW party in Austin. BTW, looks like Storenvy is one of the sponsors – cool! Visit The Startup Bus.
5. Other Inbox, photo by dekrazee1. OtherInbox, Inc. is an Austin-based company that builds technology to automatically organize emails from online shopping and social networking sites. This puts consumers in control but also creates unique opportunities for improving the relevance and targeting of email marketing. Visit OtherInBox.
6. No More Servers (Rackspace Hosting), photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid. Rackspace Hosting plans to unleash their next big reveal that will “revolutionize the music industry and their artists’ experience.” The Rackspace Revolution Rock Party is set for March 15 at SXSW.Visit Rackspace Hosting and Laughing Squid.
I was fortunate enough to sit and chat (in Internet speak, that means we conversed via multiple emails) with Andy Bowness of the popular hoodie and tee blog, Hide Your Arms! It’s a pretty long and comprehensive interview, but I think that I provide good insight into my life in and out of just this blog. I also provide some advice on how you can get more eyeballs looking at your blog. My suggestion: grab a cup of coffee or tea and get ready for a good read. You can check out the interview here at Hide Your Arms.
Can you believe it? This is the 1000th post on CotyGonzales.com! That’s a lot of posts. And it sure did come during an amazing week! In the past week, CotyGonzales.com has been featured on some of the most popular LOST fan sites, including the elusive DARKUFO. And yesterday, we were given lots of love for the 101 LOST T-Shirts for the Ultimate Lost Fanatic post by Entertainment Weekly, they called the post “Wowza”, and Carlton Cuse, one of the writers and producers of LOST who called the post “Cool.” We even made it to one of the top Hungarian Movie/TV blogs (think of it as the Hungarian Slashfilm – how about that, LOL). Needless to say, the LOST list has been spreading over Twitter (over 200+ RT’s) and Tumblr (over 700+ reblogs). Yep, this was a pretty big week. And by the way, the bacon list is still getting mucho love.
Also, the Co-Tee TV Facebook Fan Page has just received its 250th fan! I’m stoked and can’t wait to meet even more of you through Facebook. Click the image below and let’s connect!
This might be the 1000th post, but, don’t worry, I plan to be around for 1000 more and beyond! I appreciate all of the love you guys have been giving this blog in the past year and half. It’s been amazingly fun and 1000% worth it.
It’s been a while since the last Indie Tee Spotlight, hasn’t it! If my memory serves me correctly, it’s been almost 9 months since our last Spotlight interview with Hugo Murray of i/denti/tee. In the latest Spotlight I feature the very intriguing Brian Crabtree of Kafkacotton, a new brand that Brian dreamed up after rereading (and re-loving) Joseph Heller’s classic, Catch-22. I had the great opportunity to do a little catching-up with Brian, and he graciously allowed me to ask him a few question about his startup brand and his unique take on marketing it across America.
Coty: I’m guessing that Franz Kafka had something to do with you starting your unique line of T-Shirts. What inspired you to start Kafkacotton?
Brian: I definitely took our name from the author Franz Kafka. He writes these nightmarish stories which remind me of stark blacks and whites, long shadows, ominous alleyways -- cool connotations for a t-shirt label.
I started Kafkacotton because I think reading is fundamentally flawed. We used to gather around somebody with a good story and listen socially as a group. With books, we read our stories alone so I don’t know what books you like and you don’t know what books I like. These are connections waiting to happen that just don’t. Kafkacotton makes those connections in a hip, fashionable way. Instead of putting that book back on the shelf, why not slap it on your chest and talk about it?
I also want to help give everyone the chance to read. We do that by donating 5% of our profits towards fight illiteracy. You really have to hustle to promote a t-shirt company and knowing it’s all for a good cause keeps me motivated.
Coty: You started a very unique campaign that someone named “Gregor”, a life-size cockroach costume and the 48 contiguous states. Tell us about that.
Brian: Gregor the roach! Yes, he’s 6-feet tall, illiterate, German, and on a 48-states-in-48-weeks road trip. He’s visiting one college campus a week to raise literacy awareness, give away tees, and shoot hilarious videos which we post to our blog. We started in Florida in early February and, five states later, we’re in South Carolina heading northwestish. We’re just getting started but Gregor has already been featured on CNN Radio, ABC News, and CBS News.
Why the cockroach? “Gregor” is the main character in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis where a guy wakes up one morning and finds he’s inexplicably been turned into a giant insect. I had read Seth Godin’s Purple Cow and realized the most important thing was to not be boring. That’s key. You need to get people’s attention first so you can share your message second. Even if your message is positive and charitable, you need to get your foot in door or no one will ever hear it.
Coty: What’s the typical response you get when people first spot Gregor in the cockroach costume? What has been the most interesting encounter that you’ve experienced during your cockroach tour?
Brian: There are three basic responses: 10% are ecstatic and run up to give him a hug, the middle 80% smile and laugh, and the other 10% steer clear, watch him out of the corner of their eyes, and pray to god he doesn’t try to talk to them. The last ones are the most fun.
The most interesting experience would definitely have to be while trying to hitchhike in small-town Alabama for a video related to our new “On the Road” t-shirt. All went well until the police showed up …
Coty: You use Etsy for your storefront. What made you decide to go that route? Why not have a custom store integrate with Kafkacotton.com?
Brian: Good question. For a t-shirt company just starting out, Etsy is a great platform. Here are the major pros and cons to think about:
Pros
Filled with people looking for new, interesting designs.
The $0.20 fee per item is reasonable.
Very easy to set up.
Cons
Less control over your image.
Customers need to register with Etsy to make a purchase (that’s a big one).
Some customers will forget to list their size in the “Message to Seller” box while checking out. This wastes everyone’s time.
Need to constantly relist items to remain at the top of Etsy’s search results.
Your Google juice gets spread out among several relisted items instead of concentrated on one, permanent item listing.
Can’t set up Adwords goals (which basically means you can’t use Adwords).
Can’t rotate and test sales copy.
I’m glad we started with Etsy but, in my opinion, we have outgrown the site and we will actually be moving to our own cart system and revamping Kafkacotton.com in the next month. I’m really excited about the possibilities! [Coty: This is good to hear, growth is good!]
Just to be clear, even if you’re on Etsy, I definitely reccomend setting up a slick, professional website as well. A blog is critical and you need your own domain for that. Also, certain sites and people will not pay attention to an email sent from “@gmail.com”.
Coty: Out of Print Clothing has a line that, conceptually, is quite similar to Kafkacotton. Both brands bring classic books to the T-Shirt. How would you say Kafkacotton differs from what Out of Print Clothing is doing?
Brian: There’s even a third literary-tee company called, Novel-T! We all started in the last six months which I think is pretty hilarious but also shows there’s a real need here.
Kafkacotton is the only label creating new, original graphic designs inspired by the classics. That’s where I want to be. My passion is being able to take a book that may be 150 years old like Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and create a design that resonates with people in a new way. In that particular book’s case, I worked with Reilly Stroope who did an absolutely phenomenal job.
I’m also all about community. When I want to start on a new book, the community votes and picks it. Before I print the shirt, I post two or three completely different designs and the community votes on their favorite. For instance, I’m working on two 1984 designs right now that will go on the chopping block next week. Sometimes my favorite design gets cut but community is all about trust and you can’t fake that.
I haven’t talked about this too much yet but I’ll also be accepting design submissions in the future. Stay tuned for that!
Coty: And finally, what kind of books do you enjoy reading and what is your de facto favorite book of all time?
Brian: I agree with Thoreau that we should, “read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” I mostly stick to classic literary fiction and love a good, memorable character. My absolute favorite book is Joseph Heller’s Catch-22:
“Justice?” The Colonel was astounded. “What is justice?”
“Justice, sir –”
“That’s not what justice is,” the colonel jeered, and began pounding the table again with his big fat hand. “That’s what Karl Marx is. I’ll tell you what justice is. Justice is a knee in the gut from the floor on the chin at night sneaky with a knife brought up down on the magazine of a battleship sandbagged underhanded in the dark without a word of warning.”
Thanks to Brian Crabtree, or should I say Gregor, for taking the time out from his busy road trip across America to chat! Now, you guys go and buy some tees from Kafkacotton!
Every day I come up with a new witty Threadless TypeTees Slogan in hopes of earning a place amongst the Threadless wordplay elite. At the end of every week I post a round up of that weeks slogans here on my blog. What can you do to help the cause? Vote! Just click on a slogan (preferably all of them) and then vote by click “I’d Wear It!” – it’s that simple! If you want to see and vote for all of my slogans then just click here or on that photo of me with the Rockband guitar. Vote for me and I will cook you an spinach omelet with mushrooms, ham and lots of cheese if ever we meet in real life.
OK kids, you should never kid when it comes to fire. BUT..the old tip of stop, drop and roll makes me want to do a boogie woogie like its 1963. Not sure why. LOL.
Oh, I really like this one! Because sometimes, colors can be indecisive. Take violet, for example – that color always seems as if it wants to be more blue then it does purple. And don’t even get me started with teal. Ugh, that teal.
It really is a shame that drawers aren’t multi-talented. Then again, they do an excellent job of keeping my pants and socks safe as well. And lets not forget those undergarments.
Because we all know what happens when Popeye eats a can spinach! I love to have spinach with my salads, though, the Spinach Effect seems to have no influence on me.
In this episode of Co-Tee TV I wear Don’t Bother Me I’m local by Found Item Clothing and review the Haiti Relief Tee by Gesu Cristo, a grassroots social justice movement. Gesu Cristo decided to help instead of watch and this year they partnered with Touch Orphanage in St. Marc, Haiti. Gesu Cristo also donates 100% of our their profits to the charities that they support.
DO YOU WEAR A MEDIUM? Do you want the Gesu Cristo Haiti Relief Tee? If so then simply leave a comment and I will choose one person to win the shirt!
Leave a comment in the comment section and I will randomly select one (1) winner to receive a Gesu Cristo Haiti Relief Tee.
For an extra entry, be my fan of Co-Tee TV on Facebook and post a comment on my wall telling me that you want the Gesu Cristo tee (1 winner will be randomly chosen from the pool of people that leave a comment here and on my Facebook fanpage, leave a comment in both places and get two entries). Good luck!
Contest ends on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 11:59 pm Hawaii time. The winner will be announced later that week!
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:
Haiti Relief Tee by Gesu Cristo.Pros: Your purchase of one of these Gesu Cristo shirts go towards a great cause. 100% of the profits go to charity to help with Haiti Relief Aid. Shirt comes with a custom hang tag and neck tag for that professional look and feel. The print is super soft. It’s a charity tee but you’d never notice from the design. The shirt design reminds me of a vintage 80’s look, with the neon pink and blu colors as well as the pixelated shapes – nice! Cons: Unfortunately because of the size, I was not able to try the shirt on. Some other things of note include the price, which is a little high, but remember that this is a charity tee and that money goes toward a good cause. Price: $28.97.
Don’t Bother Me I’m Local by Found Item Clothing.Pros: Be bright, be bold and stand out in the crowd with this shirt from Found Item Clothing. If you want eyeballs to be directed your way then this is THE shirt for you. As with all Found Item Clothing tees, this shirt comes packaged in a separate plastic bag from the mailer so you can rest assured that it will be safely delivered to you without any funky smells or stains. Cons: Like I said, this shirt is bright and bold – which might not appeal to everyone. You’ll either love this shirt or you’ll hate it! Price: $21.95.
I had the opportunity to chat with the Threadless 2009 Bestees award winner for Design of the Year. Emmy Cicierega’s It’s Toile About You earned her the coveted award and $20,000 cash. I had the fortunate opportunity to chat with Emmy about her win.
Coty: So in the video with Charlie Festa letting you know that you won the Design of the Year Award, you seemed truly surprised. What was going through your head when he said you had won the $20,000?
I was so surprised! I had such amazing competition and I already felt like it was a fluke I had made bestee of the month to begin with, so I was pretty sure winning this wasn’t in my future. I’m so glad I was wrong.
It didn’t feel real when Charlie told me, and it didn’t for a few days even. It certainly feels real now!
Coty: What was the inspiration behind It’s Toile About You?
I’ve always loved vintage repeating patterns. I use a lot of them in my artwork, and I always try to hand draw unique patterns myself instead of using premade ones, so I had been meaning to try my hand at Toile for a while now.
When a friend told me that Threadless had belt printing capabilities, I was so excited! All-over printing is something that not a lot of shirt printing companies can do, so I knew I had to give it a go with Toile.
Coty: It’s Toile About You is, to date, your only design submission at Threadless. And it earned you Bestee Design of the Year. Do you have plans to submit more pieces of art to Threadless?
This amazes and kind of bothers me! I didn’t expect to have such great success my first time around, but wow! It will be very hard to work up the gumption to submit again (so many high expectations!), but rest assured that I definitely will.
I don’t like submitting things that I don’t really really want, so I’m gonna have to sit down and really think about a design that I truly want. I am definitely not done with experimenting with belt printing, it is my favorite!
Coty: Threadless certainly has an amazing community of awesome artists and out-of-the-box thinkers. How did you first stumble upon Threadless?
I am friends with many artists, and we all hit up threadless for great artsy tees at some point or another. It’s just what the cool kids do! I didn’t really hear about threadless from anyone in particular, it is just a cultural staple among artists. And rightly so!
Coty: And I’m sure the question that most people are interested in: $20,000 is a huge chunk of money and you mention in the video that you would like to buy a new tablet and take some life drawing classes – anything else planned for the rest of the loot?
I am FINALLY going to go for driving lessons and get my license! This has been on my to-do list for ages, and now I am rather out of excuses!
I am going to put a lot of the money away as a nest egg and try my best to be as responsible as possible with it. Not the funnest answer, I know, but I’m gonna give myself a fun-budget too and make this the best summer of my life! This might include me buying new headphones, cowboy boots, many sundresses, sushi for friends, and of course donating to some of my favorite charities!
Thanks EMMY!
Post in the comments section and tell me what you like to do for fun (hint: it can be anything!) and I will randomly select one (1) winner to receive a $25 Threadless Gift Certificate that you can use to pick up It’s Toile About You or any other tee you choose!
For an extra entry, be my fan of Co-Tee TV on Facebook and post a comment on my wall telling me what what you do when do for fun. (1 winner will be randomly chosen from the pool of people that leave a comment here and on my Facebook fanpage, leave a comment in both places and get two entries). Good luck and congratulations Emmy!
Contest ends on Monday, March 15, 2010 at 11:59 pm Hawaii time. The winner will be announced later that week!
ABC’s LOST has, for me, probably been the most suspenseful, exciting, and entertaining television show of the last decade. Geeks will probably be talking about LOST for years after the show goes off the air, theorizing and speculating to their hearts content. I love the fact that a lot of answer are being told, but it’s bitter sweet considering that there are only 10 episodes left. By the way, I’m loving crazy Claire. Am I the only one?
Having said that, I present to you 101 LOST T-ShirtsFor The Ultimate LOST Fanatics. This list was requested by Freelance Artist and TeeFury Art Director, Jimiyo. I hope you enjoy it! And by the way, this was not the first LOST list, so be sure to check out the Troundup’s link at the bottom if you’re interested in seeing his list!
I’d love to hear which one of these are your favorites and whether or not you own any of these tees! And if you know of a LOST related shirt not on this list then please tell me about it. Leave a comment below in the comments section and let me know!
If you enjoyed this post then please, please, please, tell you’re friends about it! A simple Tweet or post on your Facebook page will help to get the word out, and a link back on your blog would be greatly appreciated!
If you stumbled on this blog via Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere then welcome! Please feel free to peruse the site and if you like what you see then I’d recommend adding Co-Tee TV as a friend on Facebook so that you can stay up-to-date on future posts!
Because there’s always enough bacon to go around. Unless you run out of pig. You can also find Make Bacon Not War in the brought back from the dead Downloads section (in the site menu above). You’ll also find a less nauseating, non-striped version of Make Bacon Not War in the Downloads section.
Who wants this as a T-Shirt? Leave your comment below.
