Archive for May, 2008
International retailer Urban Outfitters have a history of problems with provocative T-shirts. Their latest storm involves T-shirt portraying a Palestinian boy with a keffiya around his neck, clutching an AK-47, plus the Palestinian territories and flag. The hem has victimized written across it. There were quite a few (thousand) complaints. So many, in fact, that the company began to send out an autoresponse email to anybody contacting them. It said, ‘Please understand that we do not buy items to provoke controversy or to intentionally offend. We have pulled this item in all of our locations and will no longer be selling it online either.’
Previously Urban Outfitters had to withdraw a T-shirt with the slogan, ‘Everyone loves a Jewish Girl’ under which was a montage of dollar signs and shopping bags. The Anti-Defamation League complained that this was an unfair stereotype of a ‘Jewish American Princess’ with money being the most important aspect of a Jewish girl’s life.
Closer to home, David Penfound is suing a fashion designer after one of his most popular designs, licensed to The Mountain, who produce $20 T-shirts, was plagiarised on T-shirts retailing at $1,400!
Penfound, who hails from Hampshire, claims that ‘Summoning The Storm’ in a slightly altered form, was appearing on what are called ‘cotton creations’ from designer Martin Margiela. Margiela’s representatives say the design is not David’s painting but a collage of nostalgic images compiled in-house. Penfound insists that all they have done is photoshop the Indian out of the image and replaced it with a block of rock. ‘This is […] blatant - they haven’t really changed the image that much,’ he said.
Summoning the Storm courtesy of David Penfound
May 30th, 2008
T-shirt logos from China
China has been forced to go through a lot of changes in recent months: first the New Year winter storms which disrupted the most important Chinese festival and prevented workers all over the country getting together with their families; then the bad press over Tibet; problems with the Olympic torch; a terrible train crash and finally a truly disastrous earthquake. And interestingly, many urban Chinese have, for the first time adopted, or perhaps adapted, a Western behaviour to show their solidarity with their beleaguered country.
The first ‘I Love China’ T-shirts turned up in shops around the time that the Olympic Torch became a media issue. Now people across the country are investing in shirts to show their love for China. It’s a massive departure for a nation that used to dress only in Mao uniforms, and the new T-shirts - known as wenhuashan - allow the wearer to demonstrate their own personality and ideas. Most have a fairly traditional appearance: being white, with red patterns. Some have a heart and a map of China, or China and the Beijing Olympic logo, or a heart with the Chinese National Flag.
But what makes these T-shirts special and unusual to Chinese eyes is that one line features all the Chinese surnames with a red heart, to show that all the people in China support the country. There are actually only a hundred surnames, so they do just about fit on a T-shirt and the wearer can choose the shirt that has his or her family name highlighted – an element of individuality that seems to be both novel and highly appealing to the Chinese nation.
May 27th, 2008
So when you’re at the gym, what tells you when you’re really stretching your performance, going for the burn, pushing the envelope? Well, according to Jon Gilman, who’s a personal trainer, it’s a T-shirt that measures how much you sweat.
His Perspirometer is a T-shirt with a triangle printed on the front, with the point downwards. The widest part of the triangle measures a ‘light workout’, the next level down is a ‘good workout’ and the bottom, narrowest part of the triangle leading to the point is a ‘great workout’. Just below the point is ‘shower time’! The T-shirt is a bit of fun, but shouldn’t be used as a genuine measure of fitness for several reasons:
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Sweat is partly genetic – you might be a person who just doesn’t generate large volumes of fluid: that doesn’t mean you’re not pushing your body to the limits
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Sweat is also a learned response – fitter people who hydrate regularly, sweat more than unfit people or those who are fit and don’t drink as much fluid: in other words, your body learns to manage on the fluid you give it
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Women sweat differently to men – both different amounts and in a different pattern, so this T-shirt doesn’t measure women’s fitness in any way.
May 23rd, 2008
In Botswana the Francistown Voice newspaper has launched a ground-breaking campaign to destroy the silence and shame that surround the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa. The Voice is challenging its readers to undergo an HIV test, whether or not they think they are at risk of the disease, to show unity in the battle against HIV and AIDS. As a reward for undergoing the process of testing, everybody who comes forward for the test will be featured in the paper, allowing them to pass on their own views about HIV and AIDS and will be given the a special T-shirt as a token of appreciation from the newspaper and its partners. The T-shirts will bear a special (yet to be decided) message on the front and back, along with the red ribbon that is recognized worldwide as the HIV symbol.
The project follows the successful launch of Botswana’s HIV and AIDS policy in the workplace, which guides journalists when reporting on HIV and AIDS, and aims to avoid stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV&AIDS.
Meanwhile, in Adelaide, the most expensive T-shirt in Australia has been unveiled at $1000. The skull print T-shirt has been imported, of course, and originated with Canadian label Dom Rebel. It’s sprinkled 1080 handset Swarovski crystals. Sort of like a portable Damien Hirst skull then except that one cost £50 million … even so, it’s quite a jump from the cost of an average Australian T-shirt - between $25 and $80, but the boutique that has purchased the shirt for retail is confident that it will sell. Or, as one of the boutique owners put it, ‘Our males shop just as much as girls and we are becoming more like Melbourne guys.’
May 20th, 2008
This year there’s a rash of psychological quizzes appearing that claim to be able to tell a lot about people from the clothing they wear. In fact, this kind of questionnaire, called pop psychology, is totally unreliable for a number of reasons: not least being that it never gives more than four answers so you find yourself shoe-horned into a category of person that might not actually match you very well at all. I shall never forget sitting in an airport where my flight had been delayed and watching a group of elderly Catholic nuns fill in the quizzes in a woman’s magazine. One question was ‘what would you do if a man asked you out to dinner and you didn’t have time to go home from work and change’. They crossed out the (a), (b) and (c) answers and wrote in ‘Go to Mother Superior and confess I had been led astray’! Anyway, the point is, that about the only items of clothing that are at all reliable in terms of psychological assessment are shoes and T-shirts.
Why?
Because both are relatively cheap, not bounded by social convention (for example a grey suit is de rigeur for a wedding, but unacceptable for work in the Square Mile) and come in a wide enough range of sizes, styles and prices to allow the individual to make choices related to their personality (unlike, say, hats, which tend to come in at most four styles and six colours every season). So what, basically, does a T-shirt say about you?
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Pink and glittery = assuming you’re a woman, you are fun to be with, but probably not considered mature or responsible by your colleagues (however, a man in a pink T-shirt is seen as unreliable by women, but reliable by men – go figure!)
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With a slogan = you need to communicate, often having strong political or social views and think humour is important to social interactions
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Branded = you need reassurance about your choices in life.
T-shirt courtesy of psd
May 16th, 2008
Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy bassist, has taken his Clandestine Industries collection, mainstream. His teen fashion line is now going to be available at select Nordstrom stores, as well as at www.clandestineindustries.com. Basically, the hoodies, T-shirts and tank tops he designs are exactly the kind of thing his girlfriend Ashlee Simpson is seen wearing in paparazzi photographs. The skinny-jean wearing bassist says he’s always been keen on ‘creative stuff’ which is nice to know when you’re laying out £20 for a T-shirt.
If that sounds a little downmarket, how about Gap? Yes, at least across the pond in America, Gap is aiming to upscale its target audience, beginning with a limited-edition line of T-shirts designed by contemporary artists like Kenny Scharf, Barbara Kruger and Kiki Smith for just £14 to £40. A design by Chuck Close features the artist’s 2002 black-and-white rendering of composer Philip Glass, while others created new work for their T-shirts. Rirkrit Tiravanija’s design reads, The days of this society are numbered in plain orange lettering, which echoes the Katherine Hamnett school of T-shirt design. No Banksy though! If you want to get your hands on one, you need to buy American – they are on sale at Gap stores across the USA but not here.
Pete Wentz courtesy of AudreyLynne Shines
