The T-Shirt Blog

I got the idea for this t-shirt a couple of years ago when I saw a random person wearing a Rhode Island University sweatshirt. I consider this design to be one of my best creations, even though my sales records indicate that there are only about eight Chode Island t-shirts in existence today (that includes one in Massachusetts, one in Connecticut, and one supposedly somewhere in Brasil).

I sell all of my designs through Cafepress, which offers a great all around selling experience, from design to marketing to support. Cafepress is the industry leader, even though there are now other on-demand printing services that I’d like to try at some point. Some question the quality of on-demand printers like Cafepress, but I can definitely vouch for the quality of the organic cotton tee. The fabric is super soft and comfortable with a slim vintage-like feel and pleasant cream/ivory color, and it is better fitting and just as nice as any other t-shirt I own.

Endorsements include: “It’s tight,” from a coworker, and “Chode Island! OMG, Chode Island!” from a random girl at the train station. So feel free to leave some feedback, whether you like/dislike the shirt, don’t get it, or have anything to say about on demand t-shirt printing or t-shirt selling in general.

P.S. Since we are on a personal note I can also tell you about what I’ve been keeping busy with during the summer. I took a web design class at MassArt, and spent a good part of July working on a class project which entailed making a website for a fictional restaurant, which I’ve uploaded for you to see. Maybe I’ll get to use it as part of my portfolio, along with this blog and other sites I’ve worked on. I also received an advertising certification from Google, so who knows what I’ll be working on next!

P.P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to my rss feed so you can be updated whenever I make a new post. It is especially easy in Firefox since all you have to do is go to my feed and click subscribe.

If you are already a fan of the Guitar Hero franchise/gaming cult here’s your chance to take your fretwork to the next level: 

Step 1. Order the amazing Jimi Hendrix Guitar Hero shirt from NerdyShirts.com

fromStep 2. Get the Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80’s from BestBuy for only $39.99 and get a free $15 gift card.

Step 3. Finally, buy the XFPS Mini Guitar Controller and rock out with a controller made from real wood!

Step 4. Watch this training video on YouTube.

(Via Technabob and Fatwallet)

I imagine that the majority of people who look at this site are more interested in esoteric emo-ware rather than a $80 sports jersey with someone else’s name on the back. Nevermind the polyester fabric or the garish Herbalife logo (I actually think jersey sponsorship could be a good thing for MLS teams), but LA Galaxy has already sold 300,000 jerseys in one week despite having the second worst record in the league. Something tells me that a good percentage of those jerseys were of the David Beckham variety.

Ok, I get it, Transformers is kind of a big deal. The movie grossed $24.7 million on it’s first day, and NerdyShirts released not four but five new Transformers t-shirts this week. To top it off one of my coworkers actually showed up to work wearing a Transformers voice changer helmet.

You see, I hadn’t set foot in the good ol’ US and A until late in 1991, and as such have not seen a single Transformers episode. I had seen Plenty of M.A.S.K., Conan the Adventurer, and TMNT, and lots Transformer toy commercials in between. Maybe, just maybe I’ll go watch the movie and see what I’ve been missing. Should I?

Usually when you see a t-shirt company with more that a hundred different designs, you figure that the quantity is there to make up for a lack of quality. Not so at Old Guys Rule - the t-shirts, polos, sweatshirts and caps are clearly put together by a team of aging designers and illustrators with a creativity honed by the California sun, and years upon years of design experience. So grab a gift certificate for your dad, and that awesome Spare Tire Ale t-shirt for yourself.

I’ve written about Threadless on several previous occasions, and I’ve already been criticized for writing about them too much. I have to admit, they are pretty easy to blog about considering their fresh monthly releases and reasonable prices. Also, judging by the Street Team points I’ve accumulated so far Threadless has exactly the kind of unique and creatively designed tees people want to see, and buy.

I do have one pretty serious beef with Threadless. Most of the guy’s tees are printed on a Fruit of the Loom 50/50 blend, not 100% cotton like most of their other products (maybe that’s the reason why Girl’s tees cost $2 more?). Although some people don’t have a problem with this, I find the material rather coarse and the polyester blend wears warm over a full day. That’s why I am devoting this post to designs fully available on 100% cotton products.

Threadless Select tees are designs submitted by professional artists and designers, and unlike the regular competition winners they are printed on !00% cotton American Apparel t-shirts for both guys’ and girls’ sizes. The downside is that they cost $10 more than the competition winners, but if you are wannabe geek like me you’ll definitely want to roll the dice on this Revenge of the Nerds styled tee before the limited stock runs out. Accept no imitations!

There’s actually quite a lot of hoodies now available at Threadless, but not everything that looks good on a t-shirt works well on a sweatshirt, like this emo cyclops on a bright blue hoodie. That’s why I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of this brand new skeleton-on-dragon action hoodie - the zippered cut and the two-tone graphic should make for a stylish look. Besides, it’s about time I have something white in my wardrobe besides a t-shirt.

Interested in more Threadless cotton offerings? Check out the rest of the Select tees, or head on over to stock chart to see which hoodies and long sleeve designs are available in your size.

I was somewhere around Lower Manhattan when I snapped up this photo with my Blackberry Pearl. I was also sporting my “coke-heads know it all” out-of-print t-shirt from The Ryde. It was only my second time wearing it, and it got quite a few positive comments from random people.

Can you believe people are actually blogging about burritos? I love a burrito because you can customize it to make it as healthful or as tasty as you’d like. If you like like burritos too, maybe you’d like this super-soft enzyme washed tee from TheRyde. Or maybe you should buy one for your favorite taqueria worker. Either way sizes run small, so buy a size up.

Cinco de Mayo was just around the corner, and it was a good chance to eat some Mexican food, drink some non-Mexican beer as well as vodka and gin tonics, and to wear my awesome Tequila shirt from TheRyde. It was also a chance to purposefully mispronounce the name of the holiday only to have my Chilean friend repeatedly correct my pronunciation. Did you know that Cinco de Mayo is not even a widely celebrated holiday in Mexico?

I know the World Cup was almost a year ago, but you don�t have to worry about this t-shirt going out of style for the rest of the decade. And if you want to splurge on the real thing, the authentic Italy replica jersey is on sale for about $20 less than what it normally retails for.

Since we are now on the topic of international soccer, Champion�s League quarterfinals are starting on Tuesday, with 3 teams from England and 2 from Italy still in the mix. For those who don�t know, Champion�s League is basically like the World Series of soccer. Out of the 8 teams left, 7 have been to the finals before, with AC Milan, Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich combining for 21 titles. Interestingly enough Chelsea is the one team who has never reached the finals, yet are the favorites to win this year�s trophy.

I haven’t been writing very often lately, for one reason or another, not the least of which is my tendency to not finish posts I’ve start . A lot of the time I’ll type a sentence or two, only to get stuck and not be able to express my somewhat vague ideas. Or my mind will race ahead to another part of the post, and I end up with a bunch of incomplete, disconnected sentences. I end up just going to sleep, and not ever coming back to my half-started post.

According to this Purdue University guide on overcoming writer’s block this is what I should do to alleviate the problem:

IF

You can’t stand to write down an idea until it is perfectly worded or if you don’t want to leave a poorly worded section on the page after you’ve written it…

THEN

ease up on your self-criticism

force yourself to write down something, however poorly worded that approximates your thought (you can revise this later) and go on with the next idea

That suggestion sounds good to me, and I can also try to write shorter posts, focusing one just one t-shirt, instead of reviewing an entire site.

I’d also like to take this chance to point you in the direction of someone who has the opposite problem - Jay @ FunkyDuds manages to dig up a funky new shirt just about every day and keeps things interesting with entertaining commentary. Tcritic is another awesome blogger who writes about t-shirts with a more expanded point of view, ranging in topic from the people who wear them to the quality of the fabric.

Finally, in case you are still bored I’ll leave with a link to one dapper blogger who documents his wardrobe decisions on a daily basis in What are you wearing today? Just to give you a hint - you won’t find any t-shirts there.

St. Patrick’s day is coming up, and World Soccer Shop has some great gift ideas listed right on the front page. In case you weren’t aware, soccer is one of the two main sports in Ireland, and if you want to celebrate the holiday in style what better to way to do it than with a vintage Ireland track jacket or a Celtric replica soccer jersey. Of course, if you just want the ol’ “Kiss Me I’m Irish” tee shirt, they have that too, along with other decent tees, and even some Guinness gear. I, for one, am going all out with this pair of green socks.

And here’s another thing. Ya know that cute girl in your english class that you’ve been trying to impress? This shirt should do the trick. It shows you’re smart and clever while making sure she knows you’ve got a sense of humor too. Place your order on a Monday, get the shirt on a Thursday, wear it to class on Friday and ask her out for Saturday. After that, welcome to Pantyville, population: you.

With descriptions like that and t-shirts like this, BustedTees should be on anyone’s short list of the best t-shirt shops online. Sure, Threadless is artistic, melodramatic, and above all democratic, but BustedTees are just funny, clever, and well designed, and you don’t have to collect all 200 of them. Their shirts are sort of middle of the road, not too artsy or esoteric, and not offensive like so many other t-shirt sites. Here’s some evidence of what I’m talking about, sweet, delicious evidence: