Jordan Atkinson

Jordan Atkinson makes me want to be an artist. His bold, musically influenced style is something to behold, and indeed many would agree with me judging by his impressive client list. If you can't shell out the required coin for a print why not opt for the useable - and affordable - alternative, a tshirt? These beauties are screenprinted on American Apparel Tshirts and pay homage to pop sensations from the past and present. Too freakin' awesome.

TEE TEST: Custom Industries

Custom Industries is an interesting label, choosing to stay away from popular trends but instead creating a line that is influenced by artwork from many traditional cultures. The brand's aesthetic "reflects the quest for adventure and discovery of the obscure." And as someone who has been around the world a few times visiting over 45 countries on the way, Custom Industries founder Matt Taylor should be the right person to do the job.

The range from CI includes jackets, hoodies thermals and tank tops for guys and girls, as well as your everyday tshirt. Each is decorated by art from many different countries including China, Indonesia, Egypt and India, to name just a few.

Matt flicked me one of his new Dragon shirts to check out, and I'm happy to say that it gets a big, cheesey DBT thumbs up. The shirt is well made and the grey colour has just the slightest hint of lavender to it - not enough to decrease your masculinity, but just enough to be different. Also the exposed stitching - which I'm not usually a fan of - is really good quality and definitely suits this style, adding to the rugged global traveler feel. The quality of the screenprinting is great, with two tones of red adding depth to the illustration of the bad-ass dragon. (Am I allowed to say bad ass about a dragon?) To pop a cherry on top the material is nice and soft and the fit of this shirt is particularly good.

So if you want to express your love of the orient, wear a mean looking dragon, or pretend to look well travelled to impress a certain someone, then Custom Industries is the place to fulfill your culturally-influenced attire needs.

RRP: $30 (USD)
BUY IT HERE

Want your shirt reviewed? Get free publicity and a link in our tshirt stores section. Email deathbytshirt@gmail.com

New Threadless

Contrary to my little rant last week, I actually think Threadless have released some pretty cool shirts this week. Top of the list for me though is a reprint, Star Men in Moon's Milk (top) by the irrepresibly creative Christopher Buchholz. Star Men is one of my favourite Threadless shirts of all time, and I didn't buy it first time round so I'm stoked it's been re-released.

New shirts include Hello Dave by Robert Gould, Where The Watermelons Grow by Brian Walline and New World Order by Tony Aguero.

Of course there are more to view on the website. Check em out here and use the coupon code rubberdanpants at the checkout to get $3 off.

Supermandolini

There's a couple of sweet shirts on offer from new a new online store called Supermandolini. The site itself is pretty good too, with detailed views of all their products (which also include prints, posters and accessories) and 360º movies of models wearing the shirts.

Ten Bills

Hey, remember when a Paddle Pop cost like 50 cents, gum was 20 cents and you could get 5 gummy bears for a two cent coin? These days a Mars Bar almost costs as much as lunch and you can only afford a Slurpee if you don't have a car. Thank goodness Ten Bills have a great range of tshirts from a variety of artists all available for only - you guessed it - ten bucks. They've got a new range that's just come out, and they're celebrating by giving you a further $10 of any order of $50 of more. With the money you save on clothes you might be able to lash out and grab a pack of nerds!

Threadless - predictable?

Here's the latest bunch of awesome tshirt designs dropped this week by Threadless, who continue to release and sell a massive amount of tshirts at a great price.

However, I have a small gripe - I think Threadless are becoming a bit of a one trick pony. Ok, a two trick pony. The cutesy puns and prettiness are becoming a bit predictable. By no means am I taking away anything from the amazing work of the artists, but the designs that win week after week all seem to be of a similar style and are very "Threadless."

Sure, some may argue that this is a good business plan - Threadless becomes known for their style, and obviously they are getting a lot of traffic and doing extremely well.

Threadless's competition may benefit from the apparent reluctance of Threadless to stray to often from their preferred style. Sites like Design By Humans and A Better Tomorrow, whether conciously or not, are releasing some bolder, sharper designs (admittedly some look similar to the stuff Threadless used to put out).

Don't get me wrong, I still love Threadless and think it's a great community and a great platform for emerging artists. Perhaps it's just becoming a great platform for a certain type of artist...

What do you think? Agree? Think I'm full of shit? Let us know in the comments.

Oh, don't forget you can get $3 of your purchase by clicking here and using the code rubberdanpants at the checkout :)

Green Tees

The environment - it's a big issue at the moment, and, well, let's be honest, if you aren't recycling, reducing, reusing or off-setting something it's about time you pulled your head in and your finger out before you wake up one warm winters day choking on a cloud of smoke with a pile of rubbish outside your window.

Anyway, today is Blog Action Day and this years theme is the environment. If you want to learn a bit more about the environment and how to save it I'd recommend looking at one of the other 15 squillion blogs that are participating, as I don't want to get too preachy, and I'm sure that others have much more wisdom to share.

My advice however is to not underestimate the difference you can make. One of the best ways to contribute to any cause is to raise awareness - if you can get 5 people to change their attitudes, actions or contribute in some way, you've done a great job, and hopefully they in turn will pass it on to 25 people and so on.

Here are some sweet shirts that I've found that look great, tell people you have an enviromental conscience, and can help trigger interest and spark conversation.


Ok, so this particular shirt is out of stock, but Tobi has a great range of eco-friendly labels so you can revel in consumerist conservation.


Ban t-shirts have a range of shirts with environment-themed designs including this anti GMO one, that comes printed on an organic shirt. Delicious.


The perennial classic and perhaps one of the best logos of all time (different versions available in different countries - this one comes from Canada and is made of organic cotton).