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kottke.org posts about tshirts

How to make a t-shirt

posted by Jason Kottke   Dec 03, 2013

From the cotton in the fields to the manufacturing machines to the container ships, NPR's Planet Money looks at the often complex world behind the making of a simple t-shirt.

We flew drones over Mississippi. We got mugged in Chittagong, Bangladesh. We met people whom we'll never forget — the actual people who make our clothing. At every location we had radio reporters and videographers.

Monsters of Grok

posted by Jason Kottke   Sep 01, 2011

Monsters of Grok offers "fake band t-shirts for history's greatest minds". The Tesla/Edison send-up of AC/DC is nearly genius, but I like the Machiavelli/Metallica one better for some reason.

Monsters Of Grok

These remind me of IFC's Cinemetal shirts. (via many different vectors)

MJ tshirts are the new Obama tshirt

posted by Jason Kottke   Sep 01, 2009

A collection of Michael Jackson tribute shirts worn to the recent Spike Lee-hosted birthday party for Jackson.

Fashion for the seasonally depressed

posted by Jason Kottke   Sep 02, 2008

Two t-shirts for those afflicted with seasonal affective disorder: s.a.d. t-shirt 01 and s.a.d. t-shirt 02. Both shirts feature inks that reveal hidden elements when worn in the sun or warm weather. (Psst, Hypercolor shirts are back and, yes, I'm a bit OMGWMCC about it. What, it's not possible to buy your childhood back?) (Psst, oh my God, where's my credit card?)

Update: For whatever reason, the site featuring those tshirts has been taken down. today and tomorrow grabbed some of the pics though.

Show your PPPPRIDE and buy yourself a

posted by Jason Kottke   Feb 06, 2008

Show your PPPPRIDE and buy yourself a FFFFOUND! TTTT-SHIRT. [Ok, knock that off. -ed]

Hell Yeah The Plane Takes Off shirts

posted by Jason Kottke   Jan 31, 2008

As requested in the airplane on a conveyor belt thread, a t-shirt commemorating this great event:

Plane Takes Off Shirt

Now available at CafePress in men's plain white ($18), women's plain white ($18), fitted white ($20), and organic cotton white ($21).

New Vocab Word: Defictionalization (in the tlönion sense)

posted by Adam Lisagor   Dec 04, 2007

Over at Making Light, Avram Grumer has kicked off a fascinating discussion from yesterday's Brawndo post here at kottke.org.

Avram notes that the introduction of a product to the real world based on one from the fictional world is nothing new, citing Holiday Inn hotel and Bubba Gump restaurant chains as examples. While he's coined the term "tlönian" for this phenomenon, based on the Borges story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," a commenter suggests "defictionalization," a Google search of which currently places the Making Light discussion as the #2 result, so I'm thinking it has staying power.

Other notable examples of defictionalization: the Red Swingline stapler from "Office Space" (1999) (another Mike Judge movie!), the Buzz Rickson's MA-1, made in black only after William Gibson wrote it that way in "Pattern Recognition," and of course, Spinal Tap.

A Tap-related Polymer Records t-shirt is available at Last Exit To Nowhere, where fine defictionalized goods are sold. I'd wear it just to channel Paul Schaffer's Artie Fufkin as frequently as possible.

And to the snackfood and energy bar manufacturers out there: who among you has the temerity to sell me some Soylent Green?

Linzie Hunter's illustrations of spam subject lines.

posted by Jason Kottke   Nov 08, 2007

Linzie Hunter's illustrations of spam subject lines. I wish she did prints of these. See also: Spamshirt.

A tshirt featuring a subway map representation

posted by Jason Kottke   Oct 28, 2007

A tshirt featuring a subway map representation of the human gastrointestinal system. (thx, sami)

Update: Oh, and I plumb forgot the Threadless Metropolitan Cardiac Authority tshirt. (thx, sam)

Order your Dumbledore pride tshirts, now available

posted by Jason Kottke   Oct 22, 2007

Order your Dumbledore pride tshirts, now available in rainbow "I always knew" and "Wizards Are Gay" varieties.

Some Infinite Jest fashion notes: an Enfield

posted by Jason Kottke   Sep 06, 2007

Some Infinite Jest fashion notes: an Enfield Tennis Academy tshirt from Neighborhoodies and...

Was the designer of Infinite Jest's book cover influenced by the color palette of the Nikes that Andre Agassi wore in 1991? Compelling visual evidence is available at lonelysandwich.

A brief history of the tshirt, specifically

posted by Jason Kottke   May 11, 2007

A brief history of the tshirt, specifically the ironic tee. "Whether you choose to admit it or not, chances are a critical reserve of self-esteem rests somewhere near the middle of your T-shirt drawer. For within this darkened, hidden quarter lies dormant a secret weapon so witty, so elusively allusive, or just so damn hip it finds itself swathing your chest on only the most important occasions."

Threadless is selling tshirts with a pie

posted by Jason Kottke   May 08, 2007

Threadless is selling tshirts with a pie chart of pies on it.

Japanese retailer Uniqlo has opened a store

posted by Jason Kottke   May 07, 2007

Japanese retailer Uniqlo has opened a store in Tokyo that is essentially a giant vending machine for tshirts.

Greg Veen wears his "George Bush Doesn't

posted by Jason Kottke   Apr 16, 2007

Greg Veen wears his "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" tshirt in a photo with Bill Clinton. Awesome.

Real men Wii standing up

posted by Jason Kottke   Dec 21, 2006

Browsing the various Nintendo Wii forums around the web, I've noticed more and more people pratically bragging that they play the Wii sitting down, flicking their wrists instead of the beautiful and healthful full-body motion that nature intended. These couch potatoes shall not be suffered. For the Wii purist, I made this prototype for a tshirt:

Wii Shirt

A ladies version is also in the works, even though the pun doesn't work as well.

Video of a man putting on 155 tshirts

posted by Jason Kottke   Oct 03, 2006

Video of a man putting on 155 tshirts over a four-hour period; at the end, the conglomerate top weights 100 pounds. (via josh)

Urban Counterfeiters is collecting evidence that Urban

posted by Jason Kottke   Aug 08, 2006

Urban Counterfeiters is collecting evidence that Urban Outfitters is ripping off fashion designs (tshirts mostly) from smaller fashion designers.

This tshirt with infographics on it is

posted by Jason Kottke   Jul 19, 2006

This tshirt with infographics on it is too nerdy even for me. That and I've been getting a ton of crap from everyone I know about how many Threadless tshirts I own.

"Web 2.OH, YEAAHH!!" tshirts...drink the Kool-Aid!

posted by Jason Kottke   May 26, 2006

"Web 2.OH, YEAAHH!!" tshirts...drink the Kool-Aid!

HOW DARE YOU INSTANT MESSAGE A SUPERMODEL shirts

posted by Jason Kottke   May 11, 2006

Some dreams deserve to be immortalized on tshirts:

HOW DARE YOU INSTANT MESSAGE A SUPERMODEL

HOW DARE YOU INSTANT MESSAGE A SUPERMODEL

He can feel the anger in my voice, so he immediately tries to calm me down. "I'm trying to explain the differences between MySQL and Perl to my friend," he answers as if that were the most logical thing to ever come out of his mouth.

"You're friends with Gisele Bundchen?" I ask.

"Well, yeah," he says. "I met her on a WordPress message board a few months ago."

My whole world does a sort of belly flop, and I start to get a little dizzy because what I used to think was right-side-up is now turned on its head. "That's not okay," I say to him.

"What do you mean it's not okay?" he asks. "We're talking about databases, for crying out loud."

Apologies to Mike for beating him to the punch.

ps. Sorry, you can't actually order the shirts. I've offered Heather the design if she wants to do so at some point.

One of the main characters in the

posted by Jason Kottke   Apr 25, 2006

One of the main characters in the film The Night of the White Pants, played by Nick Stahl, wears a Threadless tshirt (this one, which I happen to have as well) for most of the movie.

Online tshirt commerce is so easy now;

posted by Jason Kottke   Jan 19, 2006

Online tshirt commerce is so easy now; individuals can even offer a new tshirt design every single day. My favorite shirt of the day is this scarlet/Scarlett fiddle-dee-dee one from yesterday.

For those of you who are Napoleon

posted by Jason Kottke   Oct 28, 2005

For those of you who are Napoleon Dynamited out, how about a "Pedro Lacks Political Experience" tshirt?

Fans of Six Feet Under will want

posted by Jason Kottke   Sep 07, 2005

Fans of Six Feet Under will want to get their hands (and arms) on a Narm! tshirt. Narm. Narm!

Some poorly selling t-shirts. "#2 Grandpa".

posted by Jason Kottke   Aug 22, 2005

Some poorly selling t-shirts. "#2 Grandpa".

Limited edition tshirts are all hip and such right now

posted by Jason Kottke   Jul 21, 2005

Limited edition tshirts are all hip and such right now.

75 creative workers were asked to choose a

posted by Jason Kottke   Jul 19, 2005

75 creative workers were asked to choose a color for each day of the week and this 7-pack of tshirts is the result.

"Dear hipsters, No matter how much you

posted by Jason Kottke   Jun 28, 2005

"Dear hipsters, No matter how much you loved Napoleon Dynamite, Vote For Pedro shirts aren't cool anymore.". The Google Ads on this entry feature Vote for Pedro shirts. Hee.

How do you make money on the web? Sell t-shirts.

posted by Jason Kottke   May 04, 2005

How do you make money on the web? Sell t-shirts..