Despite the proliferation of the Digital Age, books never get old. There’s something about holding a hefty novel and flipping through physical pages that feels right. So it’s no surprise that translating books to T-Shirts has been a popular trend in 2010. Kafkacotton was born out of a renewed interest in books after the founder was reintroduced to Heller’s Catch-22. Likewise, Out Of Print Clothing made it’s way across the Internet after it modeled its T-Shirts after the covers of some of the most popular books.
Tee Libraree brings us even closer to the book experience. The images and phrases on the Tee Libraree T-Shirts comes from some of the most beloved books of our time. They feature both fiction and non-fiction themed T-Shirts. What’s even more awesome is the packaging for the Tee Libraree T-Shirts. The shirts come packaged in what looks like a classic, leather covered book. And even more interesting, Tee Libraree even tells you what method was used to create the graphic on the T-Shirt, either: camera, palette, stamp, mouse, or brush. The method used for each T-Shirt is signified by a tiny icon that is printed on the left sleeve.
Being a fan of T-Shirt and out-of-the box packaging, I’d love to get my hands on tee from the Tee Libraree. Maybe we’ll see this on Co-Tee TV one of these days? Maybe. I hope!
The do have a list of stores from around the globe that carry Tee Library, however, I couldn’t find any pricing or online purchase information on the Tee Libraree website. If you live in the New York area then check out Idiel Showroom, they carry official Tee Library products.
One of my favorite indie T-Shirt brands has just released two brand new designs and they have got me excited! Designer Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk recently unleashed Easier Said Than Done and Seven Days A Week, and they both have got me drooling. I am a huge fan of tees that use typography effectively and Ugmonk knows how to use type effectively.
Easier Said Than Done is very reminiscent of the Ugmonk classics, And Then I Woke Up and Lowercase. “Talk is cheap. In a world of 24/7 news and commentary, everyone seems to have an opinion about how to solve the world’s problems (or at least wants to point them out). In the end, though, there are few people who are willing to go beyond the talk and get things done. Don’t just say it. Do it.”
Both T-Shirts are printed on American Apparel tees and are available now from Ugmonk for $24.99. If you do decide to make an Ugmonk purchase then be sure to use the coupon code “COTY09″ at checkout for an extra 10% off your entire purchase!
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!
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.
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!
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!
