Photo used without permission

Check out these two Japanese Star Wars fan sites to see more pictures.

• Japanese Garrison
• STARWARS FAN

The tees that Uniqlo released are not great but they are officially licensed if that’s your thing. They do have a pretty cool vintage vibe though. Again, the site is in Japanese and you need to scroll down a little to see the 6 Star Wars tees on offer.

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Stormtroopers invade Harajuku

Harry the Monster T-Shirt

The title makes it sound like Harry is the name of a really big t-shirt but that’s not what we’re talking about here at all. What we are talking about is the collection of Sesame Street t-shirts being sold by American Apparel. They actually launched this series quite a while back and I meant to post about it but things slip through the T-Shirt Review net sometimes.

Anyway, as you can see, the one featuring Harry the Monster is a pretty neat shirt. The thing that annoys me though is that  I don’t remember Harry the Monster. They should have just used the Cookie Monster. Nobody can forget the Cookie Monster. (Cookie Monster shirt available too.)

This particular tee is $25 but the prices vary almost as much as the options. Several Sesame Street themed t-shirts are available in all sizes including babies’s and children’s sizes.

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Harry the Monster T-Shirt

Orion T-Shirt by Matthew Curry at LABz

First I will start with the Orion t-shirt by Matthew Curry as this was one of the t-shirts that I missed when it was for sale. As you can see there is a lot going on in this design and the placement is non-standard. The design is low and shifted to one side but it doesn’t create an awkward balance in the tee. The print goes over the bottom seam and across the side seam so of course there are a few flaws but because of the nature of the design you don’t notice and even if you did it could be seen as being a feature.

Artsprojekt and LABz branding on the tee

As I said before I am not a big fan of branding on the outside of t-shirts but if it’s done well or of the logo is cool then it can work. As you can see, this tee scores well on both counts. The logo is printed using high density ink too which is great for people who like that sort of frill. For me though, I’m glad it is on the back of the t-shirt because I would be driven crazy with the constant desire to touch it. The tee was printed on an ash grey American Apparel.

Some flock print on this tee by Mildred

Next up is Group Shot by Mildred which I already mentioned in the blog. I don’t have much to add to the previous Group Shot article except that Mrs. Retro thought it was cute. I totally didn’t expect that because I think it’s a bit creepy and she finds a lot of things creepy that I don’t.

The logo is printed using a soft thick flock ink

In this tee there was no external Artsprojekt branding and the logo on the back is a rabbit and Mildred’s signature.

Both of these t-shirts are really well done and even though LABz is experimental these tees are professionally done. I am really looking forward to the next three t-shirts. I hope they really push the envelope on them. You can check out the LABz webpage and even sign up for a newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the tees. And be sure to check back here for the next LABz review. With a bit of luck we will have more coupons to make the tees even more affordable. Full price is just $17.95 though so no coupon no tears! There should be a new t-shirt very soon too.

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Review: LABz T-Shirts – Part 1

I don’t watch Jimmy Kimmel. There’s no particular reason that I don’t watch him. I just don’t. I have seen a few clips on youtube though and some of the sketches were funny. The whole Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman thing was quite good. Well, it did deteriorate but it started out well. I just saw this video and I’m not sure if it was funny or if it was interesting just because there were a lot of stars in it but anyway, I’m pretty sure that there will be a ton of HMC t-shirts coming out soon because of it and not surprisingly the first one I found was from Zazzle. Actually I was just about to upload my own version when I found it and as it was better than mine I decided to post about it.

Handsome Men's Club T-Shirt at Zazzle

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Handsome Men’s Club T-Shirt

Sorry, Jake! Not the most flattering screen capture

Some of you might know that I follow Jake and Amir and as I was watching their latest video today I noticed that Jake was wearing a Chop Shop t-shirt. What’s the problem you make ask? Well, Jake works for College Humor who run Busted Tees. Talk about Busted.

You can get this sweet t-shirt from the Chop Shop Store for only $20.

weRobot T-Shirt from the Chop Shop Store

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Traitor at Busted Tees

Why am I telling you all this? Well, I just want to emphasize that writing this particular review was work. Usually when people contact me to review a shirt they provide me with plenty of information but not this time. One guy just contacted me and said he wanted to send me a shirt and I gave him the address and a shirt arrived. There was quick note scribbled on to a scrap of paper that gave me some bare details. No information about the store or shirt or anything. I had to contact him to get some details…like the url of his store. Nice guy but definitely needs to learn some marketing skills.

Anyway, on to the t-shirt. The tee that was sent over is called Rosa Parks Station. It’s from a line of photography based t-shirts called Grey Matter that was started in 2006. I have nothing against putting photographic images on a tee but this particular t-shirt does nothing for me. I know who Rosa Parks is, even though I am neither black nor American but I don’t know the significance of Rosa Parks Station. Is it a tourist t-shirt? Why would I want a photo of this on my tee? I don’t know the answers to these questions. As you can see below the image looks like it might have been a good photo but I’m not sure it was meant for a t-shirt.

Rosa Parks Station T-Shirt from DVClothing

The tee is a black cotton Alstyle and looks like it will last a while. On the back of the t-shirt you will also find a quite uninspired logo. Another negative point. If you are going to put the logo on the outside of the t-shirt you should at least have a good logo or be very creative.

Large unattractive logo on the back

DVClothing (Dirty Vato Clothing) started in 2007 as a way to “creatively articulate the culture of L.A”. that Erwin Recinos (owner) sees. “From pop culture references, latino heritage, car culture and a true L.A. lifestyle that is ever changing.” After three years the line is still quite small and made up of a variety of logo t-shirts most of them going for just $10. Of all the tees on sale only the Dirty Dodge t-shirt seems to be “designed” although I do like the His Gun t-shirt. Just don’t try and get on an airplane while wearing it.

DVClothing is hosted on Big Cartel. You can check it out here: DVClothing.

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Review: DVClothing

You have to submit your designs to the Linux T-Shirt Design Contest by April 11th. OK, so not much detail but click the link and all will be revealed.

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Linux Store and T-Shirt Design Contest

I came across this video the other day in the Daily Beast. I thought for sure someone would make a tee but I was expecting it to be some hardworking Zazzle entrepreneur rather than the boys at College Humor. Anyway, I believe that instead of people giving you links to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up video you will be diverted to this video. You know, for lulz. When I saw this tee on Busted Tees I had to show Mrs. Retro where it came from and my baby heard it and was totally into it. She was doing the one year old boogie, arms a swinging, the occasional clap and the totally off-tune, off-time sing-along.

Trololo T-Shirt from Busted Tees on pre-order for $15.99

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Edward Hill is the new Rick Astley

Long Live McQueen Tee Shirt

Let’s break this down a little though. How much of this t-shirt price is actually going to charity. It says 30% of proceeds on tonic.com although when I asked hintmag.com they didn’t reply. We’ll take it that tonic.com know what they are talking about. That could be 30% of the profit or 30% of the sale price. Let’s say they are generous and base it on the sale price, that means that for every shirt sold they will donate $19.50 to charity. It’s a one color print on white American Apparel t-shirts so lets say they print 1000 of them that could cost as little as $5 per shirt but again lets say it costs $10 per shirt. So that leaves them with $35.50 profit. If my calculations are correct that means they are making more profit from these t-shirts than they give to charity. That doesn’t seem right does it.

I know there are a  few other factors here. They have to pay the designers I guess. But that means the designers are profiting from this charity tee. I know that they don’t have to give any money to charity and you could see them as being very generous but you have to admit that many people will buy this tee because of the charity side of it. So basically their sales are piggybacking their charity efforts. The charity is driving their sales. If they were really generous they would give all profits to the charity not just 30%.

This is what I think in this case. If you want the t-shirt, buy it. If you want the t-shirt and want to contribute to this charity, buy it. If you just want to contribute to this charity, do it directly it will be much more appreciated. Although you won’t have the t-shirt to demonstrate what a charitable person you are.

The proceeds go to the Terrence Higgins Trust, the largest HIV/AIDS organization in the UK. You can buy the t-shirt online at hintmag.com.

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Alexander McQueen Tee for Charity

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$9 Mystery Tees at Design by Humans