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Insensitive Urban Outfitters

May 2, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Urban Outfitters, no stranger to controversy, has done it again. Who can forget, when in 2003, they were selling a t-shirt that read “Everyone loves a Jewish girl”, with the text surrounded by dollar signs. In 2005, they were featuring a design that read “New Mexico, cleaner than regular Mexico.” Such missteps aren’t confined to the past, either. Just last month Urban Outfitters took criticism for a St. Patrick’s Day shirt that read “Irish I was drunk.”

You’d think that after such a history of offending people, Urban Outfitters would learn to be a bit more careful in choosing their designs. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case, as evidenced by what might be their absolute worst misstep yet. They’ve recently issued a t-shirt that features a design eerily reminiscent of Nazi imagery. The t-shirt in question is yellow and features a six pointed star design over the left breast pocket. The star itself was designed by Danish firm Wood Wood. Upon hearing of the controversy, Wood Wood denied that there was any relation between their design and any historical imagery. But, due to the nature of the complaint, they have decided to stop manufacturing the star design.

One would hope that Urban Outfitters takes a lesson from this. But, if history is any guide, Urban Outfitters is almost sure to repeat this mistake.

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Interactive clothes by Zappar

May 1, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

UK’s fashion newcomer Zappar has only been around for just shy of a year, but is already breaking new ground in the world of interactive clothing. The technology is based on two pieces – the t-shirts themselves as well as a smartphone. When a smartphone equipped with the Zapparel app takes a picture of a Zapparel t-shirt, the image comes to life in various, unexpected ways. A picture of Minnie Mouse transforms into a puzzle. A picture of race car character Lightning McQueen roars away to the track. A picture of a boombox plays a selection of music.

With such innovative technology at work, it should come as no surprise that Zappar was co-founded by computer game industry veteran Kirk Ewing. These shirts are the latest in the broader technological trend of augmented reality. Most augmented reality, at least in the consumer market, is based around smartphones, which are a natural fit to the idea, given their integrated cameras and natural mobility. The key to making it work is having the smartphone identify the specific image in question, which in turn, via the app, triggers the appropriate response content to show the user.

Zapparel products have been on sale in the US since last fall, and they’re currently in the process of rolling out the product line in Europe, South America and South Africa.

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Threadless + Sesame Street

April 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The good folks at Threadless have done it again. This time, they’re paired up with Sesame Workshop – the nonprofit organization behind the legendary Sesame Street for their latest contest, to design a t-shirt featuring Sesame Street characters. The winning design will be sold through Threadless. The grand prize is $2000 cash. Second prize is a $250 Threadless gift certificate. Third through fifth prizes are autographed Sesame Street-themed books by series creators and participants.

The contest runs through May 3, and there are already a multitude of wonderful designs up for display on Threadless’ site. Some of them include a rather pensive-looking Oscar the Grouch, one featuring Bert and Ernie as the Men in Black, and one with a certain blue monster riding a bicycle with gigantic cookies for wheels. Given the show’s long history and the diversity of fans, there’s little to no repetition in the designs currently submitted. The variety of other cultural references included in these shirts is impressive. One shirt, called Abbey Street, takes some of the furry characters and places them on the Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album cover.

Yet another mash up takes the Sesame Street logo and combines it with the classic video game Street Fighter to create Sesame Street Fighter. Another Cookie Monster-themed shirt shows him as Pac Man. If there’s any theme to the designs already submitted it’s that there is no theme, and that there are seemingly no limits to what designers can do with these characters. If you’re feeling creative, you have until May 3 to submit a design.

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SEC misprint

April 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The SEC had a problem this past week, and we’re not talking about the Securities and Exchange Commission. A t-shirt honoring the collegiate Southeastern Conference was released with a somewhat embarrassing misprint. T-shirt maker Aggieland Outfitters offered a t-shirt for sale intended for Texas A&M fans. The shirt featured a geographic design. While the design purposefully omitted Texas rival Missouri, it curiously included North Carolina. The problem is that North Carolina is not part of that conference (though, historically, it was originally in talks to join).

There’s no mention of how many were sold, though only a few dozen of the shirts were reported to have been printed. The controversy stems from the fact that some people used the shirt as a way to imply that the Texans don’t know their geography. Aggieland Outfitters has since released an apology, stating that they alone were responsible for the design mistake and that they are not affiliated with the university. As Aggieland Outfitters is based in Texas and their primary trade is in A&M items, we can safely assume that this was an honest mistake.

The shirt has since been pulled from their website and store shelves. Given the uproar over a few dozen shirts, we can safely assume that Aggieland Outfitters will be a bit more careful with future designs.

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The icing on the cupcake

April 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Johnny Cupcakes is a one man army in the world of quirky t-shirts. A college dropout, determined to make it on his own, Johnny got his beginning selling t-shirts out of the back of his beat-up 1989 Toyota Camry, and in a few short years has moved up to operating four retail locations – one in his home of Hull, Massachusetts, another on Boston’s fames Newbury Street, one across the country in Los Angeles, and one on the other side of the Atlantic in London.

A big part of Johnny Cupcakes’ appeal, aside from the quality over quantity approach, is the imagery. One of the earliest images identified with Johnny Cupcakes is his skull and crossbones logo with a silhouetted cupcake in place of the skull. But, above all is the bakery imagery. Each of his retail locations, which he refers to as bakeries, is complete with coolers and display cases to complete the effect.

Taking this one step further, Johnny Cupcakes has released some t-shirts in limited-edition packaging resembling a can of cupcake frosting. These limited-edition offerings can be found in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. As if that wasn’t over-the-top enough, each can looks like it has overflowed  a bit, and that frosting is smeared on the side. Not enough, you say? Well, each can is scented, too, to complete the effect.

 

Johnny Cupcakes

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Hobbit T-shirt available

April 19, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy broke new grounds and set the gold standard for fantasy films. Now, nearly a decade after the original trilogy, fans will once again get a chance to visit the Shire and wander Middle Earth in the upcoming prequel films based on Tolkien’s original The Hobbit. Set before the events of the Rings Trilogy, the movie follows the adventures of archetypal Hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

Warner Brothers is highly aware of fans’ rabid hunger for a new Tolkien movie, and are splitting the Hobbit into two parts, with the first movie debuting in December of this year. Fans, of course, can’t wait to get their hands on anything related to the movie, and as such, Warner Brothers have just issued the first official t-shirt for the movie. Available through their website, the t-shirt has all the speculation-inducing quality of a good movie trailer, and features titular character Bilbo standing at the open door of his home, Bag End, looking out at the bright, unknown world beckoning to him.

If the image is familiar, it’s for good reason. The t-shirt design was taken directly from the teaser poster for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The shirt is available on Warner Brother’s site right now for $24.95 in adult sizes and $17.95 in youth sizes. Nothing has been announced yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Hobbit-themed shirts rolled out before the movie debuts this holiday season.

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Acceptance t-shirt accepted

April 18, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Even with the long history of constitutionally-supported free speech in the US, we still routinely encounter examples that ruffle feathers and cause controversy. Such was the recent example of Maverick Couch, an openly gay high school student in Ohio, who wore a t-shirt to school declaring that “Jesus Is Not a Homophobe”. Given that this was a school environment, this case could have gone one of two ways – objection to the religious element of the message, or to the homophobe comment.

In this case, school officials objected on grounds of the latter of the two and forbid Couch to wear the shirt. Couch countered with a lawsuit, and school officials have offered a compromise, allowing him to wear the shirt to school on April 20, the National Day of Silence, a day designed to raise awareness of bullying of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender in schools.

Bullying is of course on everyone’s minds these days, as the long-standing practice is finally receiving attention for the problem that it is. In this case, all Couch wanted to do was express his identity in the face of those who those who would bully him into silence. The result may be a bit disappointing, limiting Couch’s opportunity to wear the shirt to a single day. However, as history shows, the right to free expression starts with one instance, and grows from there.

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Avengers shirts available

April 16, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

 

Superhero movies have been getting a lot of screen time in recent years, and for good reason. They’re loud, visually stunning takes on well-known and established story lines, but amped up as far as they can go. The people over at Marvel known this all too well, and figured that the best way to add more firepower to their most recent summer blockbuster offering was to team up a number of their classic heroes into one movie. Hence, the hotly-anticipated upcoming movie, the Avengers, featuring Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, and Captain America.

WeLoveFine.com sponsored a contest to design Avengers-themed t-shirts, and the winning entries have been announced. Including honorable mentions, there were ten winners. Three of them are literal takes on the catch phrase “Avengers, Assemble!” The first place winner was one of them, and features an almost faded, stylized design that visually integrates the whole team in a design that suggests that together, they are a single, unstoppable weapon.

Another take on this idea shows the Avengers as a box of toy parts, awaiting assembly. The third one shows the whole team stacked with the Hulk as the base. Other winners include a design showing the team as they would look in an 80-bit video game, and several that take a more abstract look at the team, while maintaining them as instantly-recognizable characters. Shirts based on all these designs are available for sale.

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Smells Like Love

April 13, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Historically, people have tried everything to find a compatible mate. From hooking up at the office Christmas party, to internet dating, to letting one’s friends play matchmaker, just about everything has been done in the name of love. Although you’d think all strategies had been exhausted by now, you would be wrong. What’s more, one of the newest and definitely wackiest ways of locating a mate actually has the most scientific merit.

Enter the sweaty t-shirt party. The brainchild of 25 year old rapper and web developer Judith Prays, the concept is that people will attend a party and bring a recently-worn t-shirt. The t-shirts are placed in numbered, reseal able bags. Folks of the opposite sex open and smell the contents, and select potential dates based on their gut reaction to the smell. The idea behind this is that people will naturally pair up based on pheromone responses.

The idea is quickly gaining traction. The first sweaty t-shirt party took place in New York and has already spread to Los Angeles. Although scientists note that these parties lack the control factors of a bona fide scientific experiment, attendees are reporting the start of lasting relationships. There’s no report yet on how many party attendees did a load of laundry after the event.

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Shareable Shirts

April 12, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

In today’s world of t-shirts, everyone’s trying to outdo everyone else. This competitive creative drive often yields something new and entirely innovative for the consumer to wear and enjoy. Most of the time, the end result is an innovative new design: an optical illusion, a visual pun, or maybe a new artistic interpretation of an older idea. Occasionally, this creativity results in a change to the t-shirt medium itself. One classic example of this is Generra’s Hypercolor t-shirts, that changed color based on temperature. On April 1, Spreadshirt announced another new way to alter and add to the t-shirt paradigm – the multi-person shirt.

Yes – this is exactly what it sounds like – a t-shirt made to fit anywhere from two to five people. Although, to be fair, once the garment goes beyond two arm holes, can it really be called a “T” shirt? Let’s let history make the call on that one. These shirts are perfect for couples, smaller sports teams, or groups of people looking to express solidarity. Alternately, these multi-person shirts are perfect for those who can’t afford a fine garment on their own, and would like to pool their money with friends and buy something fashionable that they can all wear at once.

If it sounds wacky and far-fetched, count yourself among the un-gullible. This indeed was nothing more than an April Fool’s joke on the part of Spreadshirt. Then again, given how far people stretch boundaries in this medium, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone actually tries this for real.

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