Labyrinth Clothing is one of the early supporters of this blog, having been one of the first to actually send me a tee to review on the blog. At the time, I never did video reviews (started doing videos in January 2009), instead, I featured Labyrinth in my Indie Tee Spotlight feature. It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since that interview was posted on the blog.
It seemed that for a while Labyrinth was destined to go the route of many indie T-Shirt brands, that is, the way of the dodo bird. With no product releases in almost year I had thought that the then 19 year old Labyrinth founder, Nader Boraie, had moved on to other things. Fortunately, this is not the case. Labyrinth recently released a set of new tees, including Bear and Furry Little Monster. Both shirts are available now from Labyrinth for $15 or you can score both for $25 when you pick up the Fuzzy Bundle Pack. Labyrinth even has a brand new Logo tee available for just $5. Sweet!
If you’re a regular reader of this blog then by now you must be familiar with Alex Dakoulas and his brand, Dance Party Massacre. I’ve featured DPM in the past for both Indie Tee Spotlight #9 and Co-Tee TV Episode #11. Basically, I love Dance Party Massacre! And so I was happy to hear that DPM had recently released 3 new tees and 2 new colorways of DPM classics.
Both Fear Nothing and Fresh 2 Death both represent the DPM look that we know and love. The other new tee, All Work and No Play (white) is a bit of a departure from the typical DPM style and I like it! What better way to get up close and personal with mere strangers then having them read tiny text on your t-shirt. The new Dance Party Massacre gear is available now for purchase and range in price from $21.95 to $27.95. And in case you’re looking to accesorize, they’ve got some new bandanas and a fancy Steel Necklace for sale.
Posted on July 27, 2009 by Coty, under T-Shirts. 3 Comments. 508 views
Tags: Dance Party Massacre, Death, Eyeball, Eyes, Fear, Grill, Knife, Murder, Vampire
I absolutely love the newest tee from Robit Studios! It’s called Most Of You Are Average and it features a simple bell shaped curve. Now, if any of you have taken a course in statistics then you are probably very familiar with this “normal” curve. This very simply shape is actually very powerful and can tell us a lot about any given population.
Now, as a blogger, I hope that I don’t fall right smack down in the middle of the “T-Shirt blogging population.” I hope to fall at least two or three standard deviations to the right of the mean and towards awesomeness! In the world of blogging, those that stay at the peak of that bell shaped curve are easily forgotten. The goal is to be at the tail end of the curve (hopefully the positive end). Here are a few things that set this T-Shirt blog apart from the crowd:
1. Videos! Lots and lots of videos. Be sure to check out the latest episode of Co-Tee TV every Thursday and Coty Loves Threadless every Monday!
2. Attack of the Coupon Codes! Get the best deals from some of your favorite online tee shops right here.
3. Indie Tee Spotlight highlights the best brands and interviews the people that run those brands!
4. Honest, original reviews and rich content! Each post is built with thought. No copy and pasting of press releases here!
5. Embracing social media! Find me on Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo! Download episodes of Co-Tee TV from the iTunes Music Store.
Win MOST OF YOU ARE AVERAGE from Robit Studios!
What are some things that you do for your job, hobby or life in general that keeps you away from that peak of mediocrity? Tell me why you are NOT average!
You have 3 chances to win. Answer the above and do one of the three things below and get one entry, do two of the below and you get two entries and if you do all three then you get the maximum 3 entries and 3 chances to win!
1. Leave your answer in the comments section here in the blog.
2. Become a fan of Co-Tee TV on Facebook and leave your answer on my fan page for another chance to win.
3. Retweet the following message for a 3rd entry:
RT @cotygonzales win a free shirt from @robit_studios by telling us why you’re NOT average! http://su.pr/2DvSZy 3 chances to win!
Be creative, be original and tell me why you are NOT average and I will choose one person to win this tee from Robit Studios! Contest ends on Saturday, July 11 at 11:59pm Hawaii Time.
Most Of You Are Average is available now from Robit Studios for just $18 but be sure to use the coupon code “GLORIOUS” at checkout to save an additional 10% off your entire order (valid until the end of August)!
Are you interested in giving your product away on cotygonzales.com? If so, contact me and lets have organize a promotional contest giveaway!
Our buddy William Matte, Jr. from Prestigious Clothing is having a 4th of July sale from now until Monday! You can save an additional 20% off on your entire order by using the coupon code “happy4th” at checkout from now until Monday. New tees are regularly priced at $22 and older tees are as low as $14.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog then you know that we are big fans of Prestigious Clothing. Check out this interview that I did with William a few months back and see the episode of Co-Tee TV were I review a tee from Prestigious Clothing.
i/denti/tee is a brand based out of New York that I stumbled upon while working on the Tee-Junction Teedirectory and I was instantly intrigued by their very unique product. If you enjoy T-Shirts and are a music lover (like myself) then you owe it to yourself to check out i/denti/tee. They pay special attention to the details, from packaging (each shirt comes in a vintage vinyl sleeve) to the tags (each i/denti/tee t-shirt has a “copyright” patch sewn onto the back, to showcase its authenticity). And just in case you’re wondering, every lyric they print is licensed for use.
The i/denti/tee brand was founded by Carl Johnson, Michael Guido, Dave Quirke, and Evan Vogel out of their passion for music. I had the awesome opportunity to chat with i/denti/tee brand director Hugo Murray who was intimately involved in the development and launch of the brand.
Coty: I’ve covered a lot of niche T-Shirt brands, but, I have to admit that i/denti/tee is one of the most well executed. How did the idea for i/denti/tee come about?
Hugo: The idea came from our love for music that has turned innocent comments into full-on debates around all things music. Dave Quirke, one of the founding partners, was debating music with a friend of his over a few pints of Guinness in a Dublin bar. Who is the greatest music artist of all time? Stones or the Beatles? What is the greatest album of all time? Zeppelin IV or OK Computer? What is the greatest song of all time? 99 Problems or Hotel California? After another 4 or 5 pints, they debated “the best lyrics of all time”. Months later in New York, Dave was reminded of this debate as he overheard two young guys in a bar debating who is the best urban artist of all time… Biggie or Tupac? Although Dave doesn’t even listen to Hip-Hop, he realized that all music lovers debate music. So many music tees feature band logo’s or artist photos – but it’s the lyrics that are at the heart of music.
Coty: While many indie tee brands have adopted American Apparel as the shirt blank of choice, i/denti/tee uses EDUN LIVE blanks. What was the deciding factor when choosing the EDUN LIVE blanks over other brands?
Hugo: We admire the work that Edun Live do. Each one is ‘grow-to-sew’ African – from the cotton they source, through the spinning and knitting stages, all the way to the final logo print on the inside of every music tee – the benefit of each goes back to the people working on the product in sub-Saharan Africa. So when Dave Quirke came up with the idea for i/denti/tee – he immediately asked his good friend Bono and wife, Ali Hewson, if they wanted to be involved and they jumped at the chance to get on board as a strategic partner and supplier.
Coty: Explain a little why all of the lyrics seen on the i/denti/tee shirts begin with the letter “I”. Will future i/denti/tee shirts continue this with this trend?
Hugo: The reason why all our lyrics begin with the letter ‘i’ is that these are the most expressive kind – so it makes a statement about the wearer… “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”, “I wanna dance with somebody”, “I love rock n roll” etc. Self-expression is at the heart of our brand, so we will always print lyrics that begin with ‘i’.
Above: Franke Rodriguez (i/denti/tee brand director) being honored at the PIFF Awards last Thursday. i/denti/tee was honored with the ”Pay it Fashion Forward” award from Fashion Delivers for being a cause-driven t-shirt company.
Coty: i/denti/tee shirts are all packaged in a vintage vinyl style sleeve. With the ever growing popularity and proliferation of digital music, do you still purchase and listen to vinyl records?
Hugo: We certainly blow a lot of money buying music on iTunes, but a few of our team still buy vinyl too. Whether people still buy vinyl or not these days – the sight of a 12″ record sleeve brings up feelings of nostalgia in any music lover – that’s why we package our tees in them.
Coty: And finally, I’ve got to ask you, what are your 5 favorite songs of all time? How about your de facto favorite album?
Hugo: My personal top 5 songs?!?! Wow, I could spend hours on that one… (1) “15 Step” by Radiohead (2) “Over the hills and far away” by Led Zepplin (3) “Holy roller Novocaine” by The Kings of Leon (4) “Lady don’t tek no” by Latyrx (5) “Close to me” by The Cure. Favorite de facto album: Vampire Weekend (self titled) – life is always better listening to those guys – it should be prescribed listening for people with depression.
Coty: Just in case you guys are wondering about my favorite album of all time, I’d have to say it’s The Beach Boys’ 1967 release, Pet Sounds. I can listen to that album endlessly on any given day.
i/denti/tee will be giving away 500 downloads from the iTunes Music Store and all you need to do to enter the drawing is either follow them on Twitter, be their fan on Facebook or register on the i/denti/tee website. They will be announcing the winner of the 500 iTunes downloads on July 3 so be sure to get in on that. They will be having more giveaways in July, including: concert tickets, tees autographed by the artist, etc. so be sure to be on the lookout for that! Finally, thanks to Hugo for taking the time to chat with me! Now everyone: go listen to some awesome music!
It was my pleasure to interview Dale Edwin Murray for this weeks Indie Tee Spotlight. He has definitely made a name for himself in the crazy world of T-Shirt design and has been very successful in submitting designs and winning at some of the top T-Shirt contest sites around, like, Threadless, A Better Tomorrow and Shirt.Woot. Dale shares a little bit about how he got his start, what you can do to improve your chances of submitting a winning design and why he doesn’t wear his own shirts!
Coty: How did you get started in the T-Shirt design business?
Dale: I help start an online t-shirt store about 5 years ago. I was initially involved in content management and marketing and somehow ended up designing all of their own brand tees. I went freelance about 3 years ago and have been doing t-shirt design ever since.
Coty: What was your first experience in submitting to a T-Shirt design contest? What did you learn from that initial experience?
Dale: My first experience of a t-shirt contest was subbing something to threadless. It was a long time ago and looking back on it the design was pretty awful. It scored pretty badly and got hardly any love from the crowd over there. I learned a number of things from that experience – firstly that t-shirt design is not as easy as it might first appear. There is definitely an art to it and just because you are a good designer doesn’t necessarily mean that you can do commercially appealing tees. It also became apparent just how much competition there is out there. Subbing to threadless was definitely a useful way to get unbiased feedback on those initial designs. It told me that I needed to go back to the drawing board and come up with something better and better each time.
Coty: You’ve submitted to and won at Threadless with the designs Squeeze Me and Music Business Remastered. With Threadless receiving over 2000 submissions a week, how difficult is it to get noticed and printed at Threadless? What tips do you have for those trying to get printed by Threadless?
Dale: There is a lot of competition at threadless. There are a plenty of very talented designers over there and they get a ton of submissions. So yeah it’s tough to get printed. I thought it was never going to happen! And I’m finding it just as tough to get printed for a third time! I guess the advice I would give would be to take your time with getting your design just right before you submit it. Try and get something perfect and resist the urge to get it subbed quickly. I think it is also important to try and get involved in the community over there, to participate in the blogs and critique/score/comment on other people’s designs. Try and get yourself known and as silly as it sounds, get a good, easily recognisable avatar.
Coty: Which of your designs is your favorite to date? Why?
Dale: I guess it would have to be Music Business Remastered. It is my highest scored design on threadless and went down pretty well there in terms of sales as well. I guess that’s what I’m always striving for, a design that looks great but also sells well. Funnily enough on my way to the gym the afternoon I actually saw a guy wearing the hoodie version – that made my work-out much easier!
Coty: Aside from submitting to contest sites I am sure that you do freelance work outside of T-Shirt design. What, if any, type of graphic design work do you do outside of designing awesome T-Shirt designs?
Dale: I’m lucky enough to have enough t-shirt design work to not have to diversify at the moment. I say luckily because I really love doing tee design. But in the future I would also love to move into other areas – editorial illustrations, album and book covers – that kind of stuff would be cool. But at the moment I am all about tees!
Coty: Digit Duel is the “sequel” to your first Threadless design, Squeeze Me. I’ve got to ask, what’s the story behind these squeeze characters? How’d you come up with the concept of colorful beans on oversized hands? And secondly, are those the hands of Dale Edwin Murray!
Dale: I have absolutely no idea how that idea popped into my mind! I was just doodling these little bean characters and wanted a way of making them look really small in relation to something else. I thought it would be cool if they were interacting with something rendered in a photo-realistic kind of way – a mixture of fantasy and reality if you like. So it sprang from there I guess. So I took a photo of my own hand squeezing a grape to get the perfect pose. Yep, those are my hands – complete with freckles!
Coty: With a growing collection of Dale Edwin Murray designed tees circling the Internet, I wonder, does Dale wear his own tees?
Dale: I have to admit that I don’t wear graphic tees at all – my own or anyone else’s. I only wear plain tees. I used to wear a ton and still have them all in my wardrobe but I don’t feel right wearing them anymore. That’s what happens when you hit 30!!!!
Thanks to Dale Edwin Murray for taking the time out from creating wonderful tees to chat with me! Be sure to stay up-to-date with Dale’s latest designs by visiting his online portfolio.
This week I am excited to present my interview with graphic designer and Ugmonk founder, Jeff Sheldon. We’ve been going back and forth the last few weeks and so I am quite excited to finally have this particular Indie Tee Spotlight on the site. Jeff was also kind enough to provide a coupon code for the readers of this site and so if you fancy any of the tees that you see here you can purchase them at Ugmonk and save 10% off your entire order by using the coupon code “COTY09″ at checkout. Be sure to also follow Jeff on Twitter, he is twitter.com/ugmonk.
Coty: Ugmonk is such a unique name, how did you come up with it and what does it mean?
Jeff: Actually came about pretty randomly. I came up with a bunch of different names, many had to do with design or apparel, but then kept coming back to “Ugmonk” (random, but had a nice ring to it). It was weird enough to stand out, while still being short and memorable. I like the idea that before I started Ugmonk, the word itself was ambiguous and had no preconceived meanings associated with it. This allows me to define what “Ugmonk” is and represents.
Coty: Your typography inspired tees have been very popular. Have you always been interested in typography or was this just something you started doing as part of Ugmonk?
Jeff: I grew up doing all types of traditional art (painting, sketching, sculpting) and it wasn’t until a few years ago when I started college that I transitioned into graphic design. After studying design, I realized that typography was such the key element for almost all design. I soon developed a passion for type and began experimenting with using type as a design element for shirts rather than using it just to write out a slogan or brand name. The more I played with the letter forms, the more I realized the potential to base a clothing line around type. Mixing typography and t-shirts has been done before, but my goal was to find new ways to merge the two and bring something fresh to the apparel world.
Coty: What prompted you to start your own clothing brand? Was the startup process difficult for you?
Jeff: I had been doing quite a bit of t-shirt design for contests (DBH, Scribtee, Uneetee) and had some success. I then became more interested in the “art” of t-shirt design and the t-shirt industry as a whole. I always thought I would be fun to start my own line and maintain control over every aspect of a brand rather than working for clients, so that’s when I decided to start Ugmonk.
There is definitely a lot more to starting a brand than most people think. It takes tons of time and energy, but I enjoy it and it has been a fun challenge.
Coty: Ugmonk was recently picked up by Urban Outfitters. How did this come about?
Jeff: Networking. Honestly I can’t say enough about developing relationships with other people in the industry. You never know what it will lead to 
Coty: The question begs to be asked, what is your favorite font and why? Have you ever designed your own font?
Jeff: Oh, the classic “favorite font” question . I don’t know if I have one favorite, but a few of my favorites at the moment are Gotham, Lubalin Graph, Clarendon, and FF DIN.
I’ve haven’t designed a full font yet, but I’ve drawn custom type for logos and other projects (the Ugmonk logo was created completely from scratch).
Coty: Have you had any experience in clothing design prior to Ugmonk? If yes, what kind of experience?
Jeff: The only other clothing design I had done before Ugmonk were the other t-shirt designs that I did for contests and freelance jobs.
Coty: Are you a big fan of indie brands yourself? If so, what are some of the indie brands that you enjoying wearing?
Jeff: Honestly, before I started Ugmonk I didn’t have the same apprecition for indie brands as I do now. I always enjoy discovering new brands and other startups like me.
Johnny Cupcakes is a big inspiration and I enjoy following his brand and the amazing things he has done with it. I also appreciate his work ethic and his emphasis brand consistency.
Coty: You have experienced a lot of early success but I am sure that there is much more room for growth. What are some of the goals that you have set for Ugmonk?
Jeff: It is humbling that Ugmonk has had so much success so soon. Ugmonk is less than a year old, and there is still tons of room for growth and development. I am constantly learning every day and am always trying to think up news way to improve and innovate. I’ve got some exciting things in the works for the coming months so be sure to stay tuned for new designs and updates.
Thanks again to Jeff Sheldon for taking the time to chat with me! Be sure to check out Ugmonk and save 10% off your entire purchase by using the coupon code “COTY09″ at checkout, enjoy!
In this weeks Indie Tee Spotlight I chat with Aubrey Erickson from the newest T-Shirt contest site to hit the net, Full Metal T-Shirt. Aubrey talks a bit about how Full Metal T-Shirt works, why Direct-To-Garment printing is amazing and how Full Metal T-Shirt has been able to separate itself from the crowd.
Coty: Explain to us a little bit about what Full Metal T-Shirt is all about and how it works.
Aubrey: FMT is, at heart, a place for awesome shirt designs. There’s three main categories that we focus on: The Guild, The Masters, and The League.
The Guild is the core of our site; it’s members are made up of the winners of our weekly, un-themed, ongoing contest. These designs are submitted for voting by our members, and are voted on by our members. We then choose the ones with the best combination of total votes, “I’d Wear It” votes, the best comments, and the love of everyone at FMT. We pay our winning artists $100 cash, $100 credit, a free copy of their shirt, and a $5 residual for each shirt and art print sold on FMT for an entire year! This focus on long-term, aggressive residual income means that as we grow, our artists grow with us.
The Masters series are the designs that we want to host, no matter what! These artists are incredible, and usually are already established in the industry. The designs we choose for The Masters represent the level of quality design, diversity of style and subject, and overall direction that we want our company to grow towards. I owe the emptees community a huge “Thank you!” for introducing me to so many wonderful artists before we launched.
The League is a group of amazingly cool companies that we partner with, to bring awareness to their brands through really cool shirt designs. We respect these folks for how they’ve contributed to their industries, and would like to support what they do. Right now, we have a stellar design in the works from Denny Unger of WorldWorks Games (who designed our site). We’re hoping it’ll blow the doors off of what people expect from a cutting edge design contest. Expect that one to launch in a couple weeks! We’re hoping to grow the League’s presence over the next few months, and add new names to the roster.
In addition to our weekly contest, we also host a monthly, themed Design Showdown. April’s theme was Steampunk, and this month it’s all about the Robots! The prizes are the same right now, but as we get League members involved, the prizes should start to grow, too!
I keep saying “we”… FMT is actually three guys. I’m the face and the printer, Logan Bryce is the idea man and my best friend, and Daniel Santellan is the moral support and sounding board. Super fun guys to work with! We also have a weekly D&D game that we’ve been playing for the past few years with a good group of friends. Good times.
Coty: Full Metal T-Shirt takes advantage of Direct-To-Garment (DTG) printing. What are some of the advantages of DTG over traditional T-Shirt screenprinting methods? What was the deciding factor for you when selecting DTG over tradition screenprinting methods?
Aubrey: DTG printing is a new technology (about five years or so), and really only came into its own last year. We jumped on the chance to offer something that no one else can do, to set us apart from the crowd. I’d have to say that the advantages of DTG over screenprinting *were* the deciding factors in choosing DTG!
We can print full-color CMYK, with no color limitations. All the colors of the rainbow in one design? No problem! True gradient fades are also possible, making halftones a strictly aesthetic choice. More freedom for the artist means more exploration into realms that have yet to even be dreamed of in the t-shirt world. We’ve been talking to artists about some very special projects that break boundaries into new areas. It’s all so exciting when there’s a technological breakthrough that enables us to reach out and express ourselves in a way that hasn’t been possible yet.
Our printer is also capable of some rather large prints. We prefer to stick around 16×20, but we made a custom shirt board that allows us to print up to 17×45, for some really epic prints! I love to experiment with what our machine can do, and we can now print over collars, seams, and edges of the shirt. The effect is very clean in comparison to most screenprinting, too.
Coty: Why did you decided to start a T-Shirt design contest site? What do you think differentiates Full Metal T-Shirt from the rest of the design contest sites out there?
Aubrey: When the three of us sat down to brainstorm what we wanted from FMT, we started to realize that none of us had the artistic ability to come up with ground-breaking designs, week after week. I found emptees, and a whole new world of artists was revealed to me. Of course we had heard of Threadless, and quickly became aware of Design by Humans, which itself was new at the time. We realized that each of the major players seemed to have a specific type of shirt style that their community gravitated towards. What we saw was a whole new area that was completely untouched, and we jumped on the opportunity to expand the market!
We want to be a company that innovates, and I think we’re doing pretty well so far. There’s two areas that I feel we’re really unique. One, of course, is the printing capabilities we have. The other is our prize structure. One area of our printing that I haven’t touched on yet is our art prints. We have an astounding wide-format printer with giclée quality, archival inks. Pair that with high quality photo paper, and our art prints look just as impressive as the shirts. We also offer very large size prints, up to 24×36. Not too many sites are offering prints at all, much less at this size and quality.
Most importantly, we want to reward our artists as much as possible; giving back to the community that helps you grow is essential for long-term sustainability and everyone’s financial well-being. Most sites give what seems like a large amount up front, but nothing later, or very, very little. The site could sell thousands of shirts, and the artist will never see another dime. We pay less up front, yes, but if a shirt sells a thousand copies… that artist would make more than any other contest site out there. And every single one of our winning artists has that opportunity. I hope it really encourages artists to promote themselves; the more confidence they have in their work, the more they’ll earn.
Coty: How did you come up with the name Full Metal T-Shirt?
Aubrey: ”Modern Armor” was the original theme for our site, but the site was taken. After many name revisions (including T-Shirt Zombie; boy I’m glad we passed on that one), we kept coming back to the concept of “modern armor for modern people”, which became our slogan. The name Full Metal T-Shirt was forged from that concept, and the desire to incorporate a very unique look and feel led us to where we are.
Coty: Full Metal T-Shirt became fully operational just a few months ago. What have some of the challenges been, for you, as a website and business owner?
Aubrey: There’s always unexpected events in life, and doubly so when you own a business. We had been open for a few days when we were featured as the side deal on shirt.woot. During the mad rush influx of viewers, one of them noticed that a design we had was a rather blatant rip of an established artist. I immediately emailed the original artist, who contacted me at the same time. I pulled the design off of the site completely, within minutes. He was very understanding of our situation, and even joined our community! While we lost some money and a lot of time, we all feel that we made the right choice. At the core of everything, we respect artists far too much to ever compromise. After all, we wouldn’t be here without them.
Coty: Aubrey, how did you get interested in T-Shirt design? What is your design background like?
Aubrey: I started dabbling in humorous t-shirts right around the turn of the century. I had always owned a few here and there, but online venues really opened up my horizons. I think I had my addiction in check until I found Threadless. From there, it was a downward spiral of needing the latest designs. My friends all looked forward to seeing the new shirts over the weekend; it was pretty bad. 
Right after we decided that we wanted to start our own t-shirt company and were still looking for direction, I discovered emptees and DBH. The world of shirts that were more than just a pun in design form opened up, and I was lost in a sea of awesomeness.
I don’t really have a design background, other than taking drawing, sculpting, and architecture classes in high school and college. However, I’ve been blessed to be surrounded with some amazingly talented artists all my life. I even married one, who’s now an experienced tattoo artist.
Coty: Which of the Full Metal T-Shirt designs is your favorite so far?
Aubrey: My favorite, besides all of them, is Through the Glass. It’s such a showcase piece, because of the vibrant colors and clever concept. I get by far the most compliments and comments when I’m wearing that one. I also really like The Summoning, because I’m a huge Cthulhu geek. Logan’s favorite is Ace of Splash, because of the unique placement, and his fondness for cards. Daniel’s favorite is Eye in the Sky, because of the style and the use of colors.
Coty: The Full Metal T-Shirt website definitely stands out against the other contest site and has a very steam punk look and feel to it. What has the reaction been like to your site design and layout?
Aubrey: I’ve heard two types of reactions so far: Awesome! and Undecided. haha! The overwhelming majority of folks love the site, which was designed by the very talented Denny Unger. We wanted a steampunk feel to the site, but wanted to make sure to keep the shirts and their art as the main focus. Denny did a spectacular job of balancing the two, creating a site that is absolutely one-of-a-kind, while displaying the art prominently; almost like a neo-Victorian art gallery.
Almost everyone who’s used the site says it’s easy to navigate, too. We’ve got plans for expansion and interface tweaks, too, like making the submission process smoother. Some great feedback from our community, that’s for sure!
Overall, I’ve been blown away by how positive everyone has been so far!
Thanks again to Aubrey Erickson from Full Metal T-Shirt for taking the time to chat with me! Also thakns to the rest of the Full Metal T-Shirt gang, Logan and Daniel, for providing your input! Now everyone – go buy some Full Metal T-Shirts!
Posted on May 13, 2009 by Coty, under T-Shirts. 1 Comment. 610 views
Tags: Cthulhu, Daniel Santellan, Denny Unger, Direct To Garment, DTG, Dungeons & Dragons, Full Metal T-Shirt, Logan Bryce, Tattoo, WorldWorks Games
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.
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!
Posted on May 6, 2009 by Coty, under T-Shirts. 5 Comments. 1,728 views
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The oh so creative Glenn Jones has come up with an ingenious idea for his popular T-Shirt designs – laptop skins! And why not, people love originality and by slapping one of these skins on your laptop you will indeed achieve an originality. Just be ready for the constant ooogling by others (because people get jealous fast when they see awesome stuff) and the tirade of “Where’d yo get that” inquiries. The Glennz skins are available now for 13″ to 17″ laptops and sell for $17.95.
I also noticed, and thought that I would point this out, that a few of the skins sport some of Glenn Jones’ older Threadless designs – like one of my faves “What Would MacGyver do?” Interesting, huh!
Posted on May 2, 2009 by Coty, under T-Shirts, Technology. No Comments. 593 views
Tags: Apple, Computer, Glenn Jones, Glennz Tees, Intel, Laptop, Mac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, PowerBook
