Tee Hunter | Showcasing the world’s best tshirt brands & designers!

Top Tee! Threadless’ “Monkey Business” Tshirt

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by The Hunter.

The amazing designer Alex Solis aka alexmdc strikes again with another amazing Threadless winning design called “Monkey Business”! I have previously interviewed Alex and featured other awesome designs by him including “Battle of the Giants“.

"Monkey Business" by Alex Solis from Threadless

This design nets itself a Tee Hunter “Top Tee” plaudit!

You can grab a “Monkey Business” tshirt for $20 and the quike frankly, stunning hoodie version for $40 from Threadless right now in men’s and women’s sizes.

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Glow-In-The-Dark Alice In Wonderland Tshirt

Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by The Hunter.

Designkins has released an awesome Glow-In-The-Dark Alice In Wonderland tshirt featuring the awesome Cheshire Cat…and when the lights go out? His grin and eyes glow bright and proud thanks to the glow-in-the-dark inks used in the printing process!

Alice In Wonderland tshirt from Designkins!

This is a must for Alice fans and especially those who have seen Tim Burton’s awesome 2010 take on this classic story!

Tshirts are available for guys and girls for $20 and printed on the finest American Apparel tshirts!

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Top Tee! “I’m Rad to the Power of Sick” Tshirt from INK Clothing

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by The Hunter.

This has to be my favourite design of 2010 (so far!)! “I’m Rad to the Power of Sick” by the stunningly original Greg Abbot is super clean, fun and totally awesome.

"I'm Rad to the Power of Sick!" Tshirt

This design and a whole bunch more will be available via INK Clothing in their 4th line; due for release in the very near future! Nets itself an extremely well deserved “Top Tee!” plaudit!

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Tee Hunter Interviews Submit and Remix Curator Dan Mumford

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by The Hunter.

Submit and Remix is a new artist focused clothing brand aimed at giving exposure to exciting designers and illustrators from around the world. It has been created by the people involved with Atticus, Lowlife and Wornby Clothing, and has the well known artist Dan Mumford looking after it’s creative direction. “The aim is to create something that is a labour of love and fun, but is overall driven by a desire to help support young artists” says Dan.

Submit & Remix

The brand will release series in drops of four tees. Each series will see two artists selected to design a tee, and they will then “remix” the other artists design, giving us 4 unique designs. Over time, the brand will be introducing new themes and ideas into the series to further expand on the depth of project and buck the trends and status quo of the current fashion world.

The first series features tees designed by Keaton Henson (who recently designed a range for Topshop as well as Urban Outfitters) and US designer Horsebites from the Black Axe (who has worked with bands such as Fall Out Boy and The Sex Pistols, as well as brands such as Pyknic and Rockett). Future artists lined up to be involved will include the (quite frankly) awesome Greg Abbot, amazingly dark Godmachine, Chrissie Abbot and Dan Mumford himself.

Tee Hunter spoke to Dan about his new brand to find out a little more about the concept and the future of Submit and Remix!

Horsebites' Design

TH: Please tell us your background and how it led you to where you are now?
DM: I am a Illustrator working freelance amongst the music industry mainly, i went to University in Brighton and now live in London.

TH: What inspired the idea and formation of S&R?
DM: It was born from a love of all the different artists work that are found on bands tee-shirts or cds, and wanting to give them the recognition they dont always get.

Keaton's Design

TH: What did you hope to bring to the table that was fresh and new?
DM: More than anything S&R is about the artists and their work, that and the fact we are getting them to work with each other with the remix aspect, in a way its getting the artists to look at work in another way.

TH: How often will you be releasing remixes and can you give us an idea of some possible future artists you will be involving?
DM: We aim to release every couple of months with 4 tee’s, for the first few series at least. After that we may make it more tees per series or more frequent, at this point we are just working that out. Future artists are looking very exciting, but we would like to keep them under wraps for now!

Keaton's remix of Horsebites' design

TH: Can artists approach you to contribute or will it be invite only?
DM: Artists are more than welcome to send their portfolios over for us to have a look at, we are always looking for new artists.

TH: Will you be releasing your remixes in lines or will it be regular individual releases?
DM: Each series has 2 artists, with 4 tees in total at the moment, we dont plan to release anything individually at the moment!

Horsebites' remix of Keaton's design

TH: Which is your favourite of the current tshirts and why?
DM: It has to be Keatons remix tee (pictured above), all that bright pink blows my mind, and the print came out spectacular, so thats probably my favourite at the moment!

TH: What are your hopes for this new brand in 2010?
DM: For it to continue doing well and get a lot more amazing tee’s out there.

Head over to www.submitandremix.com for more info and to buy these tshirts! Each is priced at £24.99 each.

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Top Tee! The Audition “Stunt Man” Merch Tshirt

Posted on 12. Feb, 2010 by The Hunter.

Jamers has to be one of the most iconic and talented modern music merch designers out there right now! His style is bold, bright and extremely aestheticly pleasing. One of his latest creations is “Stunt Man” for the rock/punk band The Audition. Check out their new track ‘You Ruined This’ here - really great song! This tshirt grabs itself a Tee Hunter ‘Top Tee’ award for beaing highly wearable and a lot of fun!

The Audition - "Stunt Man" Tshirt

You can grab this tshirt as part of a pre-order package with the bands brand new album right here

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Made With Awesome “Adopt A Pinata” Tshirt & Valentines Sale!

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by The Hunter.

Roni & Evan are having a Valentines inspired sale over at www.madewithawesome.com where you can get the awesome tshirt below and numerous other classics, including this teehunter.com favourite we featured previously.

Made With Awesome!

The “Sweetheart Sale” runs until Feb 12th (8pm EST). Tees $16 - Posters $10 - Hoodies - $40 - Totes $5.

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Journey inspired “Don’t Stop Believing” Tshirt

Posted on 02. Feb, 2010 by The Hunter.

Regal Clothing just released a load of new tshirt based awesomeness! Including this slick blue Journey inspired tshirt “Don’t Stop Believing“. You love the song, now share the love!

"Don't Stop Believing" - Journey inspired tshirt

Available from Regal Clothing priced £17.50 - IHEARTREGAL gets you 10% off at checkout!

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SUTSU’s *Limited Edition* Tetris Inspired “X Reef” Tshirt

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

SUTSU “X Reef” tshirt! 50 Tshirt limited edition run of this beautiful, bold and blocky (Tetris inspired?!) shirt. 100% organic cotton and equally awesome!

SUTSU - "X Reef" Tshirt (Limited Edition!)

If you pre-order now at £20 you will recieve the shirt on 5th Feb 2010.

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Tee Hunter Interviews Brandon Grbach, Creative Director of Dead Bury Dead Clothing!

Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Whilst Tee Hunter has covered this brand before, I would love to formally introduce Dead Bury Dead (DBD), an awesome state-side clothing brand with fresh, clean designs that are bold yet never over the top. These awesome designs can be attributed to Brandon Grbach, the DBD creative director! His company has a wonderful staffing set up that consists of either close friends or family where everyone brings an awesome talent to the table. I predict really big things for this brand in the next year or so and after reading this interview I conducted with Brandon recently - so will you!

Dead Bury Dead Clothing

Tee Hunter: Brandon, please explain your background and how it lead you to Dead Bury Dead?
Brandon: Well, I never imagined I’d be the creative director for Dead Bury Dead. I was finishing up my senior year of college and I realized that my entire life after I graduate would be pretty predictable. So I dropped out one class shy of my Bachelors degree and decided to start my own business and live my life. So here I am almost five years later and I’m having the time of my life.

Tee Hunter: How many people are behind the brand and what are your roles?
Brandon: As of right now there are five main people behind Dead Bury Dead (pictured below). I am the Creative Director its my job to oversee everything that we produce. I personally create and design everything. My wife, Carolyn is our finance manager. My brother, Austin handles direct sales and all of our wholesale accounts. Daniel is our production manager and screenprinter. His brother, Joseph heads up our interactive department which takes care of our website and internet presence.

The Dead Bury Dead Family!

Tee Hunter: What inspired you to start a clothing brand?
Brandon: I was working at a skate shop and we sold a lot of the big name brands in skate and streetwear. The more I sold their merchandise the more I felt it didn’t have any heart. It seemed like they put very little consideration into the art and the garment itself. I thought we could do better.

Tee Hunter: What do you think you DBD brings to the table that isn’t already available?
Brandon: I think Dead Bury Dead brings back the old school business model that a family runs a business together and produces a unique good. We don’t hire out anyone to design our products; we don’t hire anyone to print them, therefore you’re getting our product that we made personally. I think it’s something that has been lost and been overlooked in this industry.

"Kill Your Idols" Tshirt

Tee Hunter: How do you get inspired to design your clothing?
Brandon: I really just pull from what’s going on in my life and what I want to say at that moment. Music, skateboarding, film, and my family all play a huge role in how I process things and in turn it’s evident in our designs.

Tee Hunter: What are your designer’s tools of the trade?
Brandon: I pretty much use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for 99% of everything we do.

Tee Hunter: What have your found to be the best way of reaching and interacting with your customers?
Brandon: I love going to shows and meeting people at our merch table. It’s nice to meet our customers face to face and have them see our products and feel the fabric and ask questions on what the ideas are behind the designs.

"China White" Hoodie

Tee Hunter: Please tell me your coolest moment with DBD and also your lowest and bleakest moment - and what you learned from them?
Brandon: My coolest moment with Dead Bury Dead is when we had our first big release party. I was so nervous because we had it during Halloween weekend and it was so cold. We had a great venue, a DJ and tons of food and drinks and two bands performing that night. So needless to say there had been tons of time and money spent on this release. But, it turned out to be one of the coldest nights and I started to fear that no one would come because of the terrible weather. It was about 20 minutes until we opened and there were only a handful of people in line. But when the time came to open the doors, the line was long and the place was packed out and we sold almost every tee for the release. It was so gratifying to know that kids were willing to come out and stand in the cold and support my brand. It was amazing.

"'87" Tshirt

Tee Hunter: Can you tell me your favorite DBD t-shirt and why?
Brandon: I really love our 87 t-shirt (pictured above). It was our first big hit and has become somewhat of an iconic design. It seems that the 87 is what everyone associates us with, because its certainty our best selling tee still.

Tee Hunter: What are your plans for the future of the brand?
Brandon: In March, we are launching our new “Never Die Easy” campaign. It will feature four new tees and a film to coincide with the launch. There is already a ton of buzz around the launch, so I can promise that 2010 will be epic.

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Blink 182 Release Charity Tshirt! (100% Profits To Haiti Earthquake)

Posted on 15. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Blink 182 are reaching out to help Haitians in the wake of Tuesday’s devastating 7.0 scale earthquake. The band has released an exclusive Haiti Charity T-shirt, with 100% proceeds from sales going to the Red Cross. It is a classic, fun and cartoony piece of Blink 182 merchandise and it is going to a good cause so go and grab one!

Blink 182 Charity Tshirt

Each shirt is $15 and is only available on the band’s official online store.

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Top Tee! “Fungus Man!” by Andrew Groves for Threadless Select!

Posted on 10. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Congratulations to Andrew Groves for his awesome design “Fungus Man”! It’s the chosen winner of Society6 and the Select Series first ever collaborative competition. Society6 is a place for artists to promote each others’ work and collaborate with brands to create and sell collectible art. This picks up a Tee Hunter !Top Tee plaudit for it’s crisp design and great use of space and colour. Beautiful.

"Fungus Man!" from Threadless

"Fungus Man!" Tshirt from Threadless

You can grab this shirt for guys and girls over at Threadless in their “Select” section for $25.

(Thank you for anyone who buys anything through Threadless and uses my Street Team link. Means i can get a little cottony rewards for blogging now and again!)

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Introducing A Truly DIY Clothing Start-Up: Pirate Bath!

Posted on 10. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Tee Hunter loves to support tshirt designers and brands of ALL sizes! I was quite taken with this recent submission from 18 year old Jodi Sagorin who has been making shirts for herself for as long as she can remember, but recently “there has been a high demand for the ones I wear so I started Pirate Bath Clothing. I have simple designs that are really fun and make a statement. I have a website up: www.piratebath.com Also, I hand paint all my shirts in my garage at the moment!” Jodi raised funding through Kickstarter to help create more of her tshirts which you can order here!

Pirate Bath Tshirts!

What is a “Pirate Bath”??

The process of washing just the arm pit area and the private area with a wash cloth or handful of water. People will ask you to define a pirate bath, the easy definition is “pits and privates”

You can grab these super simple and totally awesome shirts for only $12 from www.piratebath.com

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Elvis Tribute! Goodie Two Sleeves 30% Off Discount Coupon!

Posted on 09. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Goodie Two Sleeves are celebrating The King’s 75th birthday in style with a 30% off weekend sale!

Long Live The King! 30% Dicsount!

Tee Hunter recommends the awesome “Monsters Need Love Too” girls tshirt!

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Every Time I Die Guitarist Jordan Buckley Designs Signature Series Tshirt

Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Draw Ltd! has just released their newest t-shirt design! It was brought to the world by the guitarist for hardcore band Every Time I Die, Jordan Buckley. “Buckley has done illustrations for multiple bands, clothing companies and individuals and we’ve been lucky enough to get a few from him!” say Draw Ltd!

Draw Ltd Signature Series

Jordan Buckley "Pumpkin" '09 Tshirt

They call this t-shirt Jordan Buckley Pumpkin ‘09, and they’re extremely limited so get them while you can (sizes for girls and guys!).

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Tee Hunter Favourite - DCMA “Embraced” Tshirt - Now On Sale!

Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

One of Tee Hunter’s favourite DCMA shirts, ever. Now reduced to only from $25.99 to $19.99 in all sizes! If you don’t own one of these stunners then now is the time to rectify this situation!

DCMA "Embraced" Tshirt

Grab it direct from DCMA here!

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Tee Hunter Interviews “Most Improved Brand 2009″ Seventh.Ink

Posted on 07. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

Tee Hunter recently spoke with Matthew Johnson of Seventh.Ink for two reasons! First: he is one of the nicest guys making tshirts right now! Second: Matthew has used the latter half of 2009 to make Seventh.Ink the most improved independent tshirt brand of the year! It was cool before and headed up by a passionate dude, but now the shirts coming out of this brand are totally sick! Tee Hunter wanted to find out just what happened!

Seventh.Ink

TH: Your brand has come a long way in 2009! What led to such a profound increase in design quality not only aesthetically but creatively too?
MJ: Thanks, I appreciate that comment! 2009 was a great year for the Seventh.Ink brand because I took it a step or two further with more involved designs. This led to a strong response from a lot of people, and it only fueled the fire and pushed me further along.

The shirt that really helped my brand break through was the Night of the Living Bread design, which came out at the end of September. I really loved the idea, and I put it up as a pre-sale on my site. Within a week the pre-sale had already sold out and I had to reorder! I realized then that a strong combination of wit and tasty illustration was what really made this shirt stand out from the rest of my catalog. I then took that combination and applied it to my Tyrannosaurus Rockstar and Last One Standing designs, which have done really well.

Night Of The Living Bread

TH: What inspired the latest run of tshirt designs?
MJ: The Night of the Living Bread design was something I actually thought of just after Halloween in 2008, so it was tough to wait the entire year for Halloween to come around again. After that shirt was so successful, I starting thinking outside the box a bit more and came up with Tyrannosaurus Rockstar as a fun play on words. I’ve always loved dinosaurs (who doesn’t?), so I had spent a bit of time trying to come up with a nifty design to pay tribute to our fossilized friends. It seemed that music and dinosaurs should mix, and the design “evolved” from that. Get it?

The Last One Standing actually came about from a dream I had one night about snowman having an epic snowball fight atop a mountain. I woke up the next day, left the computer off for about 4 hours, and put my dream into the illustration that eventually became the final design. The best thing about The Last One Standing is all of the fan photos that I’ve been getting in the Seventh.Ink Flickr group. It’s fun to see how people are enjoying the design, that’s what it’s all about for me.

Last Man Standing

TH: Have you begun to use different techniques and tools to create your designs?
MJ: I’ve been playing with digital inking lately, but I still find that I prefer penciling and inking my designs by hand. I’m toying with the idea of printing with different types of inks (metallic, perhaps), so that could be an addition to my design/technique arsenal.

TH: What are your greatest sources of inspiration - other designers? Artists or something else?
MJ: I’m inspired by just about everything out there. I spend a great deal of time following a variety of clothing and illustration artists, but I can’t say that they alone influence my designs. I’m constantly jotting down mental notes of ideas that I think would make great shirt designs. I have more ideas than time, so right now I’m focusing on choosing the very best to push to print. The biggest question I’m constantly asking myself is would other people wear this design? It’s a bit tricky sometimes to guess which types of designs will sell, so I really have to get feedback from friends and family before printing anything. Otherwise, I could end up with a closet full of the same shirts, similar to Nickelodeon’s Doug! In this respect, you could say that my friends and family provide some inspiration as well.

Tyrannosaurus Rockstar

TH: Where do you see your brand going in 2010 - do you have any specific goals/hopes or plans?
MJ: I’m very happy with the success that my brand had in 2009, and I’m hoping that 2010 will be even more successful. With this week’s launch of the Seventh.Ink Blog, I feel that I’m already starting the year off on the right foot. The blog will be a great way for fans of the brand to read up on news and upcoming products, as well as contests and sales. Beyond that, I’m hoping that by the end of 2010 I will have successfully launched Version 3 of the Seventh.Ink website, launched at least two solid lines of great designs, and will also have more than just t-shirts in my catalog. I have quite a few ideas in the works, so I’m really looking forward to a lot of great possibilities with the Seventh.Ink brand.

Here’s to another great year, cheers!

Big thank you to Matthew for his time and be sure to check out the continued awesomeness of Seventh.Ink

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Get Loud & Lairy W/ “Insatiable” Tshirt from Lowdtown!

Posted on 05. Jan, 2010 by The Hunter.

This tshirt is sick, it is rare to see a giant print working this well but Ray over at Lowdtown has nailed it and this tshirt is literally screaming to be worn!

"Insatiable" Tshirt from Lowdtown!

You can grab this for $18 from Lowdtown in sizes for dudes and chicks. Let the good times roll.

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“Pull My Fin(ger)” & “OK!” from One Man Brand: Holebrain!

Posted on 30. Dec, 2009 by The Hunter.

Check out Holebrain! Awesome UK brand based near Bristol in the S/W which is vaguely near Tee Hunter! The brand is bright and bold and above all else - fun! It is designer/screen -printer Will’s baby and he has some great looking shirts in his line! The ones pictured below are “Pull My Fin(ger)” & “OK!” - Will does every ounce of the work himself so you are getting a truly great product that has been hand printed and lovingly designed.

"Pull My Fin(ger)" & "OK!" from Holebrain

These tshirts are for girls and guys and are currently on sale at only £9.35 and you can get 2x for £17 at the moment too! Go here and spend spend spend!

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Top Tee! Ghetto Love Tshirt from Dead Bury Dead

Posted on 26. Dec, 2009 by The Hunter.

Dead Bury Dead is a great new emergind brand that I wanted to give a mention on here! The tshirt pictured is Ghetto Love from their current line and I absolutely love it! It is super simple, great colour tshirt with swooping, stylised typography. Winner! Grabs a Tee Hunter Top Tee award for being sublime.

Ghetto Love Tshirt from Dead Bury Dead

The best news is in 2010 they will be shipping internationally so that the world can get hot and sexy by wearing their threads. Better still…Look out for an interview with brand owner Brandon appearing on teehunter.com very soon!

You can grab this tshirt from here priced at $21.99

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Top Tee! Havok Clothing’s “Scream” Tshirt

Posted on 13. Dec, 2009 by The Hunter.

Designed by the awesome Godmachine this tshirt has it all - great colours, excellent detail and looks rad on a black shirt. Get’s a Top Tee award from Tee Hunter!

"Scream" Tshirt from Havok Clothing

You can also grab it in white and silver as well but to be honest, something is lost in the translation with these colour options and the black version is where the magic is!

"Scream" Tshirt from Havok Clothing

Available from Havok Clothing for $24

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Nick Automatic “Pencil Crew” Tshirt

Posted on 08. Dec, 2009 by The Hunter.

This awesome “Pencil Crew” tshirt is from the personal clothing line of Nicolo Nimor, one of the most talented up and coming tshirt designers out there! His line is already 3 tshirt strong and their graphics are bold and eye catching!

Nick Automatic "Pencil Crew" Tshirt

The tshirt is available for $18 and you can grab it here!

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Unicorn-tastic competition! Win 12 T-Shirts Of Your Choice At Unicorns Rock!

Posted on 26. Nov, 2009 by The Hunter.

Yes, Unicorns are awesome. In fact…they rock! The awesome folks at Unicorns Rock have teamed up with a bunch of legendary tshirt blogs to offer a really cool week long contest! Check out the details below!

Unicorn inspired awesomness!

1) The Easy Way! Buy a 10% Discounted T-shirt

Each of thefollowing tshirt blogs (us included!) will publish a coupon code on the date listed. Buy a t-shirt from Unicornsrock.com and enter the code during checkout. You will be entered into the contest – one entry per shirt purchased.

Our code is: “SUN”

• Published – Hideyourarms
• Published – Buy-Tees
• Wed. Nov. 25 – Tee Hunter
• Thu. Nov. 26 – Popculturetees
• Fri. Nov. 27 – Cottonable

2) The Fun and Free Way! Collect Clues and Tweet

Simply collect coupon codes and send out a few updates on Twitter. Below you will find Tee Hunter’s Twitter codes and links to enable you to do this!

Win 12 free t-shirts and get a coupon for http://unicornsrock.com. Learn how – http://bit.ly/8rP2wt @unicornstweet @teehunter

Actually screw copy and pasting!just click this link and you’ll be taken to Twitter and that text will automatically be inputted into the status update box for you. Tasty!

Each coupon is also a clue. On Friday Nov. 27th a question will be posted by all the sites. Use the coupon codes to help you guess the answer to the question.

• Visit each site and collect the coupon codes.
• Each site will provide you with what you need to post to Twitter.
• Do this with all the sites. You can backtrack if you didn’t hear about this contest until after some of the articles were published.
• On Friday Nov. 27th at 5pm all the participating parties will publish the question, along with an e-mail address.
• E-mail your answer(s) and Twitter link by Monday Nov. 30th at 5pm. We will check your Tweets so we know you didn’t cheat
• The winners will be announced Wednesday at 5pm.

Some Extra Details

• They are giving away 24 t-shirts – 12 for each method.
• Winners will be picked from a hat. Two ways to win – two hats.
• Contest ends Monday Nov. 30th at 5pm. Use a coupon code or get your answers and Twitter links in by then.
• If needed, more clues will be given so we are sure to have a winner.
• Coupon codes are good until Dec. 10th even if you don’t play.
• Winners will be announced on Wed. Dec. 2nd.
• They will contact you via e-mail if you win.

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howies’ Tshirt of the Month “Log Off”

Posted on 22. Nov, 2009 by The Hunter.

howies’ tshirt of the month is a real corker! Great colours, balance, theme and graphics. 100% awesome.

howies' "Log Off" Tshirt

Here is what the brand has to say:

Twitter is good. A bit like CB Radio
for the 21st century.

It keeps us all in touch with one another.

It’s also a great tool for finding out what Lily Allen had for breakfast.

But sometimes all those people ‘expressing themselves’ can get
a bit much.

Sometimes it’s better to log off and #godosomethinglessboringinstead.

Available in Breton Blue from howies in both men’s and women’s for £25 and £20.

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Dance Party Massacre Releases New Line

Posted on 15. Nov, 2009 by The Hunter.

Dance Party Massacre has just released its third line of clothing and features some rad tshirts and a couple of sexy hoodies for girls and guys, perfect timing as the temperature drops!

Dance Party Massacre Releases 3rd Line

Here is what Owner Alex had to say about the exciting new line:

“As Dance Party Massacre enters it’s third year, we go back to the beginning a bit for inspiration. The basis for the line was inspired by demons, and other horrible things killing the life of the party. It was about doing what makes you happy, and realizing that could mean fighting for your life—literally! The juxtaposition of horror and fun is what it’s been about from the start.

Those ideas are still present, but this season is also be about evil being in us, instead of after us. It’s not evil in the same way, but if it means causing a little trouble to have some fun, that’s fine with us. It’s also about fighting back, and making fun of those things that haunt us. These ideas will pop up as the year rolls out.”

Shots from the recent Photo Shoot

You can view the new line here the Live Fast & Die Young sweatshirt and Men’s Never Sleep tshirt are particular highlights.

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Tee Hunter Interviews SUTSU Brand Founder

Posted on 11. Nov, 2009 by The Hunter.

I would like to introduce the hottest up and coming surf/skate/snow brand to hit the market in years: SUTSU. The brand is environmentally conscious, uber ethical and boasts awesome graphic and logo tees that have already begun to carve out an individual visual niche for SUTSU. I was lucky enough to speak to the founder and owner Jon Wallhouse recently and the following in-depth and rather fascinating interview is the result. Enjoy!

SUTSU

TH: What is your background and how did it lead you to founding and designing for SUTSU?
JW: My working life has been fairly varied. I was a windsurf instructor & a kayak instructor for a couple of years both in Europe and the Caribbean. After that I ran a couple of bars in London as well as working for a Fashion House and being an in house music engineer (Not all at the same time obviously). After the last stint at running a bar I found myself at a turning point in my career. I had always been frustrated with the lack of good British boardwear brands and I thought it was about time I took the risk I had always talked about.

TH: Was there anything in particular that inspired you to start the surf brand?
JW: Ever since I was at school I wanted to set up a Surf Brand. I did my first screen print when I was 15. I even came up with the brand name Scarecrow Surfwear, don’t ask me why but aged 15 it sounded good… I sold a couple of T-shirts to my mates but then got involved in a rock band and Scarecrow was permanently shelved. Although growing up I was landlocked I always had an obsession with the sea and being on it or in it and so I guess my want to create a brand around that seemed a natural progression.

TH: How did you approach starting a surf / lifestyle brand and what did you want to do differently when compared to brands before you and your competitors? (Especially baring in mind this is a big industry with some major players already established)
JW: As with any business you need to find your USP (Unique Selling Point) and for me it became apparent that there was an opportunity to provide a design led boardwear brand that was environmentally & ethically conscious from the ground root up. Many of the larger brands are either producing Eco lines or having to work hard to go down this route but for a small brand it is much easier to implement.  The bigger US & Australian brands dominate the UK market so it is nice to get in amongst the mix. My friends & family have always said that if there is a hard road to take I would be first in line to have a go…

Rain Burst Tee

TH: Your company is Carbon Neutral and has some really strong eco ethics, do you feel this is something all companies have to do these days or is this an issue that is particularly important to you and why is that?
JW: Much of what we do to be environmentally conscious has been fairly easy to implement. Changing the power supplies to sustainable resources was just one phone call. Packaging for the product was fairly easy to source, (it’s now 100% biodegradable) and we are lucky enough to have a factory, that does 90% of our production, being actively concerned about their impact as well. They have Wind Turbines and renewable resources to help run the factory. Being conscious of the impact we are having on the earth is fundamentally important to our way of life. We are all directly accountable for the damage we are doing to the earth and I think it is the responsibility of all business’ to implement change. It’s not difficult to do, even small changes will help along the way.

TH: You are aiming to provide all of your garments as either organic cotton or bamboo by the end of this year what are the difficulties in achieving this?
JW: In respect of our T-shirts it has been a fairly painless process. As awareness in Organic alternatives is written about in the press so industry / factories produce. It is much easier now to source Organic Cotton than it was, say 3 years ago. Bamboo as a product is amazing; we use it as worktops, flooring not to mention clothes & soon to be skateboards as well. Currently the difficulty is getting Bamboo to the same style and weight of fit as Cotton. As a brand we are expanding the collection and so in respect of Hoodies and Hats we are back about a year from getting them to fully organic status but our T-shirts are now 100% Organic Cotton.

TH: How did you approach the marketing and promotion of your brand, did you think outside the box, advertise, go for buzz or sponsor individuals that reflected the lifestyle you are catering for?
JW: A bit of both really. We are lucky to have a very good PR agency (Worn-Out) who have done a great job with the press in the UK and that has been a progressive position in such that as the brand has grown so has the exposure increased. We have also been lucky enough to be approached by some great riders who we are happy to have on our team. Other than that it has come down to writing lots of emails to various sources from magazines to online blogs trying to the word out and hoping some will catch…

Logo Tee

TH: Can you tell us a little about your Projekts and what you hope to achieve with them - perhaps giving us some insight into your most recent one BMX recycle?
JW: Projekts was a Sunday afternoon idea… I was keen to rebuild a BMX but put an environmental twist on it(reminiscing over a lost youth) and the Re-Cycle idea just popped into my head. Really was one of those too good to be true moments… It kind of gave a reason to build the BMX and so the 1st BMX Re-Cycle was born. We needed a way to categorize the concepts so therefore the Projekts name was born. We currently have another BMX in the pipeline along with a wake skate and some Bamboo skateboards as well…

TH: What are your tools of the trade when it comes to designing?
JW: Pentax V-Ball 0.5 pen & A5 drawing book to pen the ideas. Then they get transferred over to the MAC where Adobe Illustrator and the Wacom Tablet take most of the punishment.

TH: What inspires your designs?
JW: It can be anything really, but much of it comes from nature (not a hippy promise). I always find it difficult to start the process, it seems to be this internal battle and probably the 1st 3rd of the designs are deleted straight away. But in terms of inspiration it can be as simple as seeing something in a magazine or sometimes capturing something when I am out and about as the next question shows…

TH: Can you explain the design process of one of your tshirts to us in detail?
JW: The winter 09 collection is just in production so I will pick one of those designs. As with anything it starts with an idea, this specific design started from a comment made by one of our retailers who said he was in need of T-Shirts that had multiple colours on it. This conversation had happened just before I was due to go on holiday. We were boarding the plane and it was chucking down with rain. I was daydreaming out the plane window and saw the mix of fuel and water on the ground had made a rainbow effect with the drops of water, which gave inspiration to two designs the Rain Drops (pictured below) and Rain Burst designs. Then it was simply relating that into a contemporary design. I had the colours and the concept and it was simply a case of bashing it out in Illustrator. The most difficult part was creating a nice shaped rain drop… seems simple but I reckon I went through 20 different shapes before the final one was designed…

Rain Drops

TH: What is your personal favourite design, from your current collection?
JW: Probably Rain Drops… I am a sucker for symmetry and I love the simplicity of the design and the colour combinations…

TH: What are your favourite clothing brands and why?
JW: Fred Perry – Classic Styling, Iconic Logo, remained sought after for 80 years!
Insight – Great Designs, love the individualism of the brand
Hurley – Love the Logo and the board shorts
Analog – Something a bit different
DC Shoes – The Logo Tee – Priceless
Lyle & Scott – Same as Fred Perry really, great icon!
Sutsu – Have to say that don’t I ?

TH: Can you describe a regular/normal working day (if there is such a thing!) at the office for us?
JW: I get up round 530/6 am (been a crap sleeper for years) walk the dog for an hour or so, catch up with the girls, then head to the office and turn the computer on around 8. From then on, unless meetings are organised, I am a slave to the Wacom tablet / Mac and will be there till 6 most days.

TH: What are your main ambitions and where would you like to see SUTSU in 1 year?
JW: Looking forward to growing the brand & collection. Especially looking forward to releasing our Recycled Board Shorts. Along side this we are keen to grow the wholesale business nationally and internationally…

SUTSU Hoodie (They have a GREAT range of hoodies too)

TH: …and in 5 years?
JW: To have a well-loved Boardwear brand respected for the designs and work done with the environment… Oh and to be financially secure! I would like to be able to use it as a platform to look at ways to make sure the sports we love continue to be sustainable. Making skate parks from Bamboo might be a start…

TH: What have been the highest and lowest points for you so far since founding SUTSU?
JW: I think the high is still yet to come really, you always get a buzz from having your clothes well received but there is so much to do daily that I think the big high will be when I can concentrate solely on design and environmental work and let employee someone to run the day to day business. As for lows there have been a few but the biggest would be when a factory we were using closed it’s doors with our samples in and we were left high and dry with no collection and so we missed a season… but it had a silver lining as it made us look at the way we run the business and so we implemented some changes to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

TH: What has been the biggest challenge you have faced so far with the brand and how did you overcome it?
JW: The biggest challenge is getting the brand into the market place. There are a lot of brands fighting for position and for a small brand with no marketing budget to shout about it is difficult to get attention from retailers but for us it has been about dogged determination and not taking no for an answer. This is something that is still going on but we are seeing the fruit of our labours and retailers are seeing that we can mix it up with the big boys of the business and are impressed with our sale throughs…

Massive thanks go to Jon for his time and interesting and revealing answers! This will be a great interview for aspiring brand owners to read as Jon is living proof you can launch a new brand successfully, even into an established and ultra tough market like the surfing/skating one.

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