Fun-o-matics

My love/hate relationship with polyester: Supaflarez® to the rescue.

2009-09-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it. I'm rather partial to all things polyester; I have to say, though, polyester can have it's downside.

Obviously the guys who invented polyethylene terephthalate didn't live in a hot climate. If they had they'd have realized that polyester is not a breathable fabric. Seriously. Do you ever see desert nomads in National Geographic wearing polyester? They know better. Loose-fitting cotton. That's the way to go.

So I ask myself, since I grew up in Memphis and lived to Dallas for 6 years, how did I develop such a penchant for wearing double-knit, bell-bottomed trousers and butterfly-collared shirts? Air-conditioning. Ahhhh air conditioning. That wonderful invention that allows one to wear the most tightly-woven, insulatory fabric even at the height of the hellaciously hot summer.

Before moving to California, I always worked in office buildings where the mercury sat at a brisk 50 degrees. I could wear polyester with wreckless abandon, without fear of sweat stains. Then, one day, I moved to California and everything changed. You see, in California, air conditioning is not the norm and our office building (at my day job) sometimes feels like a greenhouse. As you can imagine, my penchant for vintage fabrics has lead to some, shall we say, unpleasantries. Suddenly I felt a little less "Sure®" of myself. I worried that I'd fail the sniff test when my own trapped sweat strained to escape it's prison of polyester. I could sense that a not-so-fresh feeling was just around the corner. That's when it hit me. It was time to switch to T-shirts.

Supaflarez®: the birth of the disco-flavored T-shirt

2009-08-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Actually, the Supaflarez line has been in development for awhile. A few years back we were living in Paris, which is a story for another blog, but basically I being the creative one had some free time on my hands and started doing some personal artwork. I've been a graphic designer and art director for many years, but never had time to pursue my own art outside of that. It also didn't hurt that I had fashion and designer friends in Paris that were really into T-shirts.

I started dipping my big toe into the art scene and doing some groovy, disco-themed mixed- media collages featuring silhouettes of dancing figures (this was pre Apple iPod, mind you). I thought to myself why not do some T-shirts and other items to sell at the art shows. This seemed only natural given my professional background. Incorporating the same themes as my collages, I got busy creating wearables using my computer and iron-ons and the disco-flavored T-shirt was born.

But the story doesn't end there. It wasn't until years later when I was back in the States that friends and family, especially my other half, encouraged me to do something with the designs. We realized if we were going to go to the next level with this thing, we needed to rethink our strategy and product. We already knew that iron-ons didn't hold up in the wash, so after doing some research we concluded that the way to give our customers the best quality was to invest in printing with water-based inks on 100% cotton shirts. This ink process basically involves redying the fabric to the color of the design. This technique allows the shirts to hold up in the wash time after time without flaking and cracking.

Having re-strategized and reformulated our product, we launched Fun-o-matics as a parent company first, and then in 2008 launched Supaflarez officially—and the disco-flavored T-shirt went prime time.

Welcome to the FOM Blog!

2009-07-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Check it out folks. Fun-o-matics has officially entered the blog-o-sphere! Come on in. Pull up a bean bag chair. Stay awhile.

What's Fun-o-matics you ask? Well, we're a San Francisco-based apparel company that designs and produces fun, light-hearted wearables for our customers.

Our debut line, Supaflarez®, is all about 70s catch phrases and graphic stylings. We print our shirts on 100% cotton American Apparel shirts that are fitted to accentuate hot bods (or not so hot bods.) We print with water-based inks, which are more consistent, and print a softer, more durable design that resists the cracking you get with traditional silk screen inks. These inks are also better for the environment. Better to spend your green on something green for the planet, is what we say.

Made in America. No cheap imports here. All our shirts are printed on fitted American Apparel blanks. We’re talkin’ 100% fine-lookin’ jersey, preshrunk, combed cotton for softness AND style. You gotta hate it when you go to the dryer and pull out a doll-sized shirt. That's never a good thing.

But enough about us. Browse our site. Shop a little. Get inspired. We hope you like our stuff.