The T-Shirt Blog

UPDATE: T-Shirt Hell tricked us all, and the company is NOT going out of business.

It’s a sad, sad time in the world of t-shirts. One of the longest running and highest profile t-shirt sites is closing shop on Tuesday, February 8, and it’s not the bad economy or the unusually cold winter that’s to blame.  Sunshine Megatron, founder of T-Shirt Hell, is simply tired of being misunderstood.

I started this company in June of 2001, nearly 8 years ago, with the intention of producing the best satirical, the most controversial, the funniest t-shirts on the internet. Generally speaking, I feel I’ve accomplished that and am satisfied with what we’ve put out…

Unfortunately, as a concern for the safety of my employees, we don’t push the envelope as much anymore…and I can’t say I feel good about having caved in…

Anyway, rather than cater to the masses, I’m just going to stop making shirts. It’s not enjoyable anymore and I have enough money to move on to something more rewarding.

A part of me says this can’t be true - maybe it’s a publicity stunt, or that the tidal wave of positive e-mails urging T-Shirt Hell to stay open will change his mind.  Deep down inside I know that all things come to end and maybe it’s time.  Say what you will about the inherent negativity found in their offensive t-shirts, but nobody else has been able to match their wit, design, and prolificness inside the genre.

Here’s to you, T-Shirt Hell, you definitely showed us how it’s done:

On a scale of 1 to 10, how badly will you miss T-Shirt Hell? 1 - I cuddle with bunnies. That means you probably WON'T miss it. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - I *will* survive. This means you would have been gravely stricken by T-Shirt Hell's closing. View Results  Loading ...

One of the favorite images on my computer is this outdated campaign t-shirt, referencing the 1988 presidential election. I grabbed it from an eBay auction years ago, and now I wish I had grabbed the shirt. It’s something I like to call a political anachronism, taking a shirt with long lost political meaning, and re-purposing it for it’s inherent irony and quaint nostalgia.

One t-shirt site that seems to share my affinity for the past is Retro Campaigns.  You won’t find any Obama or Palin there just yet, but can you really go wrong with someone like J.F.K.?  Heck, they might even let you wear it to the polls.

While a lot of my posts review indie t-shirt labels and shirts you can buy online, sometimes the best and most outrageous tees are those you can’t buy at all:

[via Google Images and Coolest Gadgets]