Some seem a little too reminiscent of the Arsenal Vector Collection at GoMedia.us for my liking, who personally I’d say do as much damage as they do good for the t-shirt industry. The reason being that even graphic elements can lose their visual currency over the long term, as they say “familiarity breeds contempt”, although I wouldn’t go that far, I’d always advise t-shirt designers to merely use these vector packs for inspiration and never paste vectors  straight from the DVD.

Still judging by their latest release and others of a similar ilk, strong character-based designs with a sideline of puns for good measure, pulling back from the abstracts, and focusing more on artistic / humour shirts which they do so well, I have a feeling in my bones that 7th Ink are on the verge of leaping into the big league …if they keep this up. So here are my top pick of t-shirts at Seventh Ink, and what’s more, some good reasons why:-

Tyrannosaurus Rockstar

This is a beaut, this is exactly the direction that Seventh.Ink should follow, and then some. Their very latest tee entitled Tyrannosaurus Rockstar is available on pre-order right now for guys and girls for a measly $15 in sizes S to XXL (add $1.67 for XXL). It’s funny, it’s concise, it’s original, its’ perfectly executed, a stunning piece of composition, this design does exactly what it says on the label. Love the colour combo, some very subtle shading on the teeth, a great use of a partial silhouette style and what’s more the vector elements of this tee have been kept to a minimum, just a little for the background to draw the viewer’s attention to the central character. I love the spittle detail too. Rest assured if 7th Ink keep going in this direction they will quickly raise their profile to a whole new level!

Liftoff Tee

This is 7th Ink’s best selling t-shirt for the girls, and no wonder, this cheeky chappie is as subtle as they come, designed to literally pull on the heart strings of a throng of female tee fans out there, who I am sure are still queuing up to this day to get a slice of über cuteness. Again, vector elements form the background, this time graphically gesturing at plumes of smoke, forming the stage for another powerfully conceived and memorable character.  The Liftoff Tee is available for girls in sizes S to XXL for $17.99 (add $2 for XXL) here.

Night Of The Living Bread Tee

Possibly my favourite at 7th Ink right now, another pun tee, but a great one. I have to admit the state that bread can get in if left neglected in the kitchen for a few days is horrifying. I worked in a vast bakery as a teenager one summer, let’s just say I can tell you a dozen reasons why it gets that way, but I don’t want to put you off your toast I love the decayed look to this design, a great composition yet again, far more freehand styling than others in the collection, love the detailed crusts, vacant expressions. Once again a very strong t-shirt that must be high up in 7th Ink’s all-time best-sellers. Get this modern day classic for guys and girls for $17.99 in all sizes (add $2 for XXL) here.

Sound The Forgiveness Tee

The thinking behind Sound The Forgiveness has a personal significance for Matthew, and you can tell, no puns, a subtle message, simple yet uplifting colour scheme of white ink on an aqua tee. In his interview at TMO he describes it as being  “about the ebb and flow in relationships, how you need to be able to stop, chill, and listen even when you have a voice inside your head screaming to get out.” It’s a simple design, but effective nonetheless, and may for the future open up a new area of exploration for the label, it maybe the odd one out in my top picks, but strong nevertheless. Get this tee for guys for $17.99 in all sizes (add $2 for XXL).

I may have come down hard on Seventh.Ink at the beginning of this review, but when I see a strong brand with some great designs under its belt being let down by a rather vague back catalogue I need to give them a nudge, it’s the only way to make sure they will stay focused on what makes their particular brand unique, saleable, and hopefully even more popular for the future. If you’d like to keep in contact with Seventh.Ink find them at Twitter, Flickr and Facebook. ere’s hoping we will see a lot more of Seventh.Ink on the t-shirt scene for the future!

I asked Dave all about it and he came up with a rather intriguing explanation which is as follows:-

“I just graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in May before starting up emulsion, I majored in illustration and I did my senior thesis on Moustaches.. I essentially did a whole load of ridiculous research and started coming out with certain images that pinpointed certain types of beards and then followed through by stereotyping the people that might sport one.. More specifically it turned into a conglomerate of what the beard’s kids would look like, What they would hunt (including their bones) and what would be the weapon of choice would be…”

I’m stunned, highly logical madness if you ask me. Still it’s helped Dave turn out his first powerful t-shirt design. He went on to say “It turned into a triptych. You can see the other two finished illustrations at my portfolio site - www.diangelis.net/anatomy.php.”

So let’s take a look at the Deerd Tee, and the psychology of beards!

Deerd Tee

It’s beautifully drawn, but perhaps rather disturbing in some deep down subconscious kind of way. It reminds me of a mixture between the movies The Deer Hunter (if their kids’ continued on the tradition of shooting off at just about anything in the mountains) and Wicker Man (the cool 1970s original), obviously before the human sacrifice got under way. There are those connected with nature who can kill, there are those who aren’t who can still kill, if there weren’t then most omnivore humans on this planet would either have to go out there and slaughter for themselves or turn veggie.

It’s a fascinating tee, I wish I could say more about it, but psychologically it’s a conundrum, the joy of nature, the thrill of hunting, life and death in it’s most raw element. I couldn’t ever kill, I know that, but I’m a hypocrite, I still eat meat, so who am I to criticise, nobody can truly say what is the natural order of things these days, we’ve all screwed it up as it is.

It’s definitely a hypnotic t-shirt illustration, beautiful details in the beard, and the characters seem like they’ve been appropriated from a family Polaroid lost and then retrieved after decades of sitting in the loft. The ominous skull held aloft gives the design a slightly Shamanic feel, really rather a trippy affair altogether. You can get the 5 colour screen printed Deerd tee in sizes S to XL for $20 here.

Deerd Mono Tee

At $5 less you can get the Deerd Mono Tee, a variation on the Deerd Tee in just one colour. To be honest I think the image looks even more powerful as a monoprint, but that’s probably down to personal taste. Get this beautifully drawn bargain tee in all sizes here.

I can see a great future for Emulsion Apparel, Dave promises that plenty more illustrated tees are on the card, including a few zombie shirts (which are nearly always a winner on my part). Take a splash at Emulsion today.

For those not familiar with RetroCampaigns.com you can read our previous reviews here and here. This makes our third feature on RC, perhaps we should ask for a freebie or two, and see if we can’t hold a contest for you lucky people. We’ll see. In the meantime let’s check out Abe and Teddy, oh and the other one heh…

Abe Lincoln Tee

This snazzy little number is available as a ‘destroyed tee’ in heather for both men and women. It features an original image from Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 ‘Rail-Splitter’ presidential campaign. What I love about Retro Campaigns is the way they give you the full low-down on every t-shirt they produce, and more. If you scroll down this page you’ll see a potted history of Abe’s political career. He got the nickname Rail-Splitter because it was a well known fact at the time that splitting rails was one of his previous jobs. He’d also been a general store clerk, country lawyer, postmaster and surveyor, he was most certainly a man of the people who wasn’t afraid to muck in. I was about to say not afraid to get his hands dirty but that’s probably not an appropriate way to describe a good politician these days. They are far and few between, what’s more most of them out there have probably got their hands dirty, but for all the wrong reasons! Most famous for his objections and eventual dismantling of the cruel practice of slavery during the American Civil War. Buy and wear a tribute to the visionary that was Abe Lincoln for $29.95 in sizes small to XL here.

Teddy Roosevelt Tee

Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt is another historically highly progressive politician of his time. What’s more he has a rather unique claim to fame, the fact is the ‘teddy bear’ was named after him. He was the 5th cousin to America’s 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This particular tee is from his 1912 campaign, nicknamed the ‘Bull Moose Party’. He was the first man to invite an African American to the Whitehouse, the esteemed Booker T. Washington - an educator, orator, author and a dominant leader of the nation’s African-American community from the 1890s to his death. as a member of the Civil Service Commission and later as New York City Police Commissioner, to root out corruption, promote fairness and eradicate cronyism and patronage. Roosevelt believed each individual deserved a fair chance; with the playing field levelled, each man is responsible for his own success or failure. Get your Bull Moose tee for $29.95 in all sizes for men and women here.

Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Tee

Like I’ve mentioned I know very little about William Henry Harrison, you can read all about him at Retro Campaigns. However I think I get the gist of it, he picked on a few Native Americans, he sang songs about himself, he won a landslide vote and then died of pneumonia a month later. I suppose I’m not a fan for the main reason that there’s just too much self-grandiosing and entertainment value in politics these days. It’s a personality game, with the exception of unelected UK prime minister Gordon Brown who has absolutely no personality, nor soul most likely. I think the political arena is more about distraction technique than solving the country’s problems. Even those with the best intentions can’t manage such a mammoth task. Next time you vote, if your favourite candidate is an all-round showman, they probably haven’t a clue about politics. That’s the plain truth. Get this tee in all sizes for men and women at $29.95 here.

As usual there are plenty more presidential tees on offer in all eras at www.RetroCampaigns.com.

I only came across T-Post the other day, my partner Christina stumbled upon an article about the label at Annie Spandex, (one of our favourite indie fashion blogs out there), and I have to admit the concept is startlingly impressive. What’s more their challenging magazine topics and editorial finesse are backed up by a fantastic selection of top of the line illustrations and designs. Rest assured when it comes to style T-Post don’t take their eye off the ball for a minute. This is one of those rare occasions where I’m tempted to pry an interview out of this brand, at least one person running the show has to have a rather, how can I put this, ‘left field’ mind to conjure up this supremely logical yet surreal idea for a t-shirt company.

The natural extension to the idea of themed tees and themed collections is here, T-Post is a logical progression on the thinking behind all the themed contests and competitions available at so many t-shirt sites and communities these days. They have some great artists under their wing including Patrik Soderstam, Andy Rementer, John Nordqvist, Steven Burke and the absolutely crazy Jeremyville. I can assure you I know ‘big’ when I see it, sometimes I wish I was rich (amongst other reasons) just so I could invest in companies like this. On paper their business plan may seem insane, I’m sure they’ve had their run of doubting Thomas bank managers in their time, but I for one can see T-Post taking off in a big big way.

Let’s browse this veritable library of challenging art shirts, a feast for both the eyes and the mind!

Unlike your usual t-shirt store, if you want T-Post’s tees you’ll need to sign up for a subscription, for €19 (plus €7 shipping) you’ll receive a t-shirt/magazine every 6 weeks until you cancel. Unfortunately there’s no way to order back issues of now, but perhaps if I can wangle a few freebies from them I’ll hold a quickie contest and offer a giveaway prize, no promises though! Anyway as promised, my top picks (so far) at T-Post.

Who Is Big Brother Anyway? Tee

This is issue 24 of T-Post’s t-shirt mag, dealing with the Big Brother phenomenon, not the TV series but the rise of surveillance culture and oppressive government in just about every democratic society in the world. The fact is, and if I may be forgiven for being blunt, it’s as if Stalin and Hitler have won the day after all. No matter your opinions on the 9/11 tragedy, conspiracy or not, the truth is that the USA and Europe have used this terrible event as an excuse to spy on everyone, no matter who they are, often without cause. Freedom has been sold up the river, in the UK we are the most watched people in the world, with on average one CCTV camera to every 14 inhabitants. Online surveillance is also completely out of control, with everyone from governmental authorities to major corporations, even hackers, spying on citizens of the world 24/7. Come the revolution, should it ever come, it will most definitely be televised. Designed by Patrik Soderstam this supreme piece of political t-shirt design has to be up there with my all-time faves in this particular niche.

Super Drugs Tee

Unfortunately Swedish artist Ragnar Persson doesn’t have a website at the moment, but he’s definitely making waves in his part of the world, and I can see why. This t-shirt marks the rise of the pharmaceutical industry over the last century. The new ‘keepers of consciousness’, the new delivery system for emotional welfare, the new hierarchy of social standards and belief is a chemically induced stupor championed by the most successful drug dealers since time immemorial. If you want to be more knowledgeable, have more intelligence, understand life that little more, you learn, right? Wrong, in the next few years everything from what you think to how what you do to who you think you are will be proscribed by prescription. It makes you wonder if governments actually waste billions even trillions collectively fighting the failed ‘war on drugs’ simply because they can’t collect the tax and save face. No matter, their boffins, the lab-coated masters of the universe are about to cure all with a whole wave of new Super Drugs. Cognitive enhancement is the new watchword. Take a look at a few sci-fi films for more of an idea of where we are heading, THX 1138 deals with a society under the control of chemically balanced emotions and thoughts. Gattaca goes one step further and introduces the idea of genetics along the same lines. It ain’t fiction any more folks!

Negotiating A War Tee

In issue 47 T-Post deal with the ongoing war between file-sharers and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), essentially, well at least up until now, you get what you pay for. In the industrial age there weren’t any quibbles regarding the merits or value of a product, monetary or otherwise. Yet now, here we are in, for the lack of a better description the information age, and a lot of it is free. That’s the bottom line, the human psyche has a great deal of trouble equating the non-corporeal world with monetary value. Ironically our money is just light floating around a billion servers, only ever self-evident when it appears on a screen or is on a rare occasion eschewed for cash from a local hole-in-the-wall. If every person in the world withdrew all their money in cash today we’d all realise that the governments, let alone the banks don’t have it. They never even printed it. A recent figure for the USA is around 3% of the economy exists as printed money, the rest is up in the air. I understand the argument that musicians and actors should be for what they do, but exactly how much? Should it be enough to cover the fines, say those slapped upon Ammie Thomas, a single mother, who was recently sued for sharing 24 songs. The jury found her guilty and sentenced her to pay $80,000 per song – that is, $1.92 million in total? That much? More? Visual artists can limit what they produce and rely on the rarity of their works. Actors can act upon the stage. Musicians can play gigs. There’s a whole history of paid performances out there. Beethoven didn’t receive a slice of the profits every time his work was played in a dingy backstreet music hall somewhere in the poorer quarters of Eastern Europe. He was commissioned by royalty to compose symphonies, he was paid to perform, but there was no RIAA back then, and so he couldn’t sue, even if he wanted to. I’m not sure what the future holds for the entertainment business, hopefully a more creative one where consumers begin to produce what they want to see and share it freely. If people want to contribute all the better. The only reason you should ever have to pay nearly $2 million for 24 songs is if you own the rights to them! A great tee by Siggi Eggertsson, nicely abstracted, something on the lines of a melting testcard? Check out the rest of Siggi’s work at www.vanillusaft.com.

The Cosmos And Our Inner Child Tee

One more before I roll, this issue 27, The Cosmos and Our Inner Child tee by Jeremyville, a crazy artist with his own interpretation on just about everything you could imagine. I love his way out there work, this time dealing with the crowded orbit of the Earth. Everything from sattelites to space stations to space debris, and now it seems weapons are floating around up there. Some are spying on us, some are spying on each other, others are ready to destroy enemy spies who dare to float over unwelcome. It’s a mess, I’m surprised that astronomers can see a thing up there, radio telescopes or no radio telescopes. Well as they say, or at least I do, know one can hear you dump in space.

Keep up to date on all the happenings at T-Post.se via Twitter, Facebook, watch their videos at T-Post TV and of course you can read their blog here.

What’s more Ian is single-handedly reviving the art of scratchboard! If you’re not familiar with this technique take a look at this video from another artist just to see the amount of work it takes to create a design, also known as ’scraperboard’ it involves a thin piece of white China plaster coated black with India ink. It’d be nice to see Ian at work on his scratchboard in a video, maybe next time?

Anyway the concept of his Polar Beer tee has a few references to Lost, one of course being the polar bear! Another might be a reference to all the ’stations’ on the island, in this case Ian features a so far hidden one, the Beer Station. About time really, the poor time travelling motley crew could do with a few brewskies. Other references are the octagon which is a symbol for Dharma, an evil corporation that features greatly the show’s plot, plus of course the sightings of polar bears on this tropical island and ‘hatches’ leading to bunkers where former Dharma employees researched temporal events (amongst other all out weirdness).

Check it out but hurry there’s just 15 hours left on this one…

Polar Beer Tee

If you’re a fan of beer, Lost, polar bears or all three then you’re in luck, but like I say the clock is ticking, I can tell by the flood of positive comments at Tee Fury today this will sell fast! Get yours now for a measly $9 in all sizes for men and women today! What’s more Ian also created a small run of 1.25″ pin badges of the ”Beer Station” logo that at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33750262) just in case you miss out on the tee!

If you’re female, love high fashion and high concept, if you want to look and feel like a star but without the strain of burning through your credit cards, then this is the label for you. They experiment with everything from inspiration to design to the cuts of their tees, pullovers and t-shirt dresses, and all of it successfully mind you. It’s all very well trying to out do the market but if you’re too far ahead or behind the fashion curve you can forget it. CottonMouth.nl always seem to be ‘bang on’ when it comes to the ever changing face of mainstream couture, it’s a tricky balance working to accessible budgets whilst squeezing out every little detail possible to create a ‘must have’ item. They do it every time.

Pin-ups, soul and sexuality are the inspiration for this limited collection. The shirts are designed in cooperation with artist Thijs Bierlaagh. Bierlaagh’s Sexual Healing tee mixes the latest graphic and fashion styles with a flashback to the 80’s accompanied by the lyrics of the late soul legend Marvin Gaye’s classic anthem for lovers ‘Sexual Healing‘.

I’ll give you a glimpse of their latest t-shirt and t-shirt dress just to get you in the mood:-

Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye Tee

This rather seductive t-shirt offers a bevy of tonal pinks, the lyrics to Marvin Gaye’s 1982 classic, and is framed by a rather leggy lithe lady with, shall we say, needs. She’s probably just stepped out of the gym, her friend with benefits has called and caught her on the hop, and she’s weighing up the satisfaction offered and a night with the bed to herself. Look I don’t know, it’s sexy okay? Whatever the story I’m positive that many women out there are already way ahead of me, we men, we are little more than hypnotised fools with sex on the brain waiting for the chance to jump aboard. If there’s one thing I do know, you’ll get a lot more of it if you’re a sexy soul singer. Still, for us mere mortals, those of us lucky enough to have a love of our respective lives, the Sexual  Healing tee is probably a sure-fire Xmas pressie to keep more than the fireplace warm There are only 20 of this limited edition tee available at € 34,50 in sizes small to XL here.

Makes it all Better T-Shirt Dress

For the strict t-shirt aficionado this might not precisely be a tee as such, but hey, forget convention, Cotton Mouth are way ahead of the game, and though they may be few and far between (at least in the indie t-shirt market) for now, it’s about time we saw more of these particularly sexily cut dresses. T-Shirts are probably one of the most adaptable and versatile garments in a designer’s artillery of fashion, and Cotton Mouth are most certainly firing on all guns with this cool piece of apparel. There are just 12 of these seamless, raw-edge T-Shirt dresses available as of today, yes a mere dozen, so if you fancy one I’d hurry! Continuing the bad girl candy theme, this item takes on more of a graffiti / urban style compared to others in the collection. Very sleek, very street. Only available in small and medium sizes here.

Spice up your tee life at CottonMouth.nl.

No matter if you’re a history buff, a spiritual sort, a lover of the obscure, or none of the above I’m sure you’ll find their latest tees very tantalising. I have to admit I am all of the above and so I supposed I am biased. As an artist much of the process of conjuring new and original images to inspire debate and reflection come from a knowledge of art history, ancient cultures, and a fascination with anthropological research and esoteric texts. It’s useful learning about Man’s past, on the most basic level it provides a greater relative context for our present society. It seems rather ironic to me that here we are at possibly the end of yet another empire, whilst most of the population show little interest or indeed understanding of the rise and fall of those  civilisations that have proceeded us. The human race lives by cycles of progression and regression, expansion and contraction, belief systems, fashions, governments, celebrities and icons all finally disappear into the past as new ones arise.

Much of this same thinking emanates from Ivory Skies’ collection, opening up a whole new and simultaneously ancient area of art and design, for a generation of t-shirt fans who know or or are intrigued to find out exactly where we stand in the history of mankind. Take a look at these top picks from the new Purple Haze series for a 101 in ancient mythological history:-

Zodiac Tee

As mentioned earlier, the Zodiac tee is by far my favourite item in the new Purple Haze collection. In fact I could easily imagine the late great Jimi Hendrix sporting just a design, its truly a beautiful print. Complex yet subtle, the intricacy of the horoscopic wheel draws the eye in ever closer, and as it happens it reminds me of a recent email conversation with a friend at Beautiful / Decay. We were discussing the merits of astrology, she being a fervent follower, whilst I something of a sceptic. Even if it was an accurate system for prophecy or at the very least philosophical device for understanding human nature, the fact is that the planets, the positions of stars, indeed the location of our whole galaxy have moved since its inception means even with the most accurate data regarding date and time of birth, for most it paints a rather broad brush for the study of archetypes. Carl Jung delved into archetypal facets of the human identity in great depth. It’s true that most idioms of the individual, personality traits, emotional make up and so forth can be categorised into twelve psychological ‘characters’, more modern psychoanalysis and even to an extent market research has revealed a vast swathe of sub-archetypes, individuality is a cherished commodity these days, far more so than when the world could achieve little more than subsistence and survival. Get this particularly esoteric tee for £22 in sizes S to XL here.

Sacred Beetle Tee

Another excellent design, I admit that beetles are not my most favourite of creatures on the earth, although they do all have their place in the great scheme of things, half swallowing a giant Stag Beetle in the middle of the night on an ill fated camping holiday might’ve jaded my opinion - even if they are some of the oldest living species on the earth. Yet even I can admire Ivory Skies’ particularly entemological study, in this case focusing of the ancient Egyptian love affair with the Scarab Beetle. The Sacred Beetle is associated with the Egyptian god, Khepri. It was believed that is was Khepri, a solar deity, who’s primary task was to ‘push the sun across the sky’. The sacred scarab beetle is a representative symbol for rebirth, both of Man and the universe around him. Each day the sun disappeared, always to rise again to be reborn the following day. Buy the Sacred Beetle tee for £22 in sizes S to XL.

See the rest of the Purple Haze collection of tees at IvorySkies.net today.

Upper Playground also runs nine retail stores, mostly in the U.S as well as one in the UK and one in Mexico, see all the locales here. Asides the stores, their site, their blog and gallery, they also offer two other t-shirt labels which are 12 Grain by Sam Flores and Fifty24SF. These t-shirt companies feature work from some of the legends of the design and graffiti world such as Mark Bode, Iz the Wiz, Cope 2, Dave Choe, Daze, Faile, Dalek and Sam Flores. There really are too many great tees to feature in one review, but I’ll do my best to give you a brief idea of the exuberance and energetic art tees of Upper Playground…

First off here are a couple of Jeremy Fish tees that really catch your eye the moment you see them:-

Buck You Tee

No real explanations needed for this t-shirt by Jeremy Fish but asides the refreshingly subversive concept, beneath the graffiti humour, there’s some superb illustrative detail in this and in fact all his tees. The Buck You tee is available via the Super Fishal label at Upper Playground for men (only S, XL, 2XL left!) at $24 and women (S to XL) at $26 - both in brown.

Ideas Tee

Another great tee by Jeremy Fish, the Ideas t-shirt tells it like it is. I can really relate to the image, being creative can be a struggle, sometimes to create you may have to destroy, be it old ways of thinking, presumptions about life and society in general, even art history itself must be reinvented to find the ‘new’. However Jeremy’s own explanation is far more bizarre. “Although his girlfriend was upset, the Skull had to remind her that he was already dead, that another bullet to the brain would not take anything away from the love he had for her.” Hmmm… Still a very cool design heh. Get this for men in small for $24 and women (S to XL) for $26, both in heather grey.

Kill At Will Tee

An absolutely amazing t-shirt by rightly self-proclaimed graphic satirist Kenyon Bajus, Kill At Will shows us exactly why Bajus is loved and loathed across the world with equal measure. In this iconic image Uncle Sam is passing you the gun, which opens up a whole kettle of politically turbulent fish. Does it mark the death of freedom, a call for revolution, the banning of hand guns, or just a general rebellious schtick, a familiar theme in much of Bajus’ work? Who knows, and in all honesty, who cares. The image is powerful enough to embrace all these perturbing questions, and many many more I am sure. Beautifully constructed imagery, I love art that shocks and this does it by the barrel load, this guy is doing what I want to do, create works that stop you in your tracks and make you think. Only available for women (I’m guessing the men’s have sold out?) and only large sizes in white are left here.

Grill Tee

For me this tee is a rarity in more than one way, firstly it’s a photographic design, something I’m not usually keen on as a t-shirt, what’s more it’s by photographer and director Estevan Oriol who must be one of very few photographers to work in the fashion medium in precisely this way. Grill is a superbly powerful design by a guy who has worked with such big names as D12, Cypress Hill, and Blink 182, but this time rather than a high budget video we can see his expert photography on a t-shirt. If this isn’t yet more proof that the humble tee is becoming as powerful as the canvas in the arts, I don’t know what is. A traditional shot of an old school hip hop grill (teeth), this superb tee is available for men at $26 in sizes S to 4XL in black.

Here’s a few more designs that caught my eye:-

D Clown Tee by Denis Kennedy

Real Tee by Patrick Martinez

Car Head by Sam Flores

Insect02 Tee by Insect

Like I say far too many to review here, skip, dance, runaround, jump for joy, the t-shirt playground is open for all at the Upper Playground store!

The guys reading this might be able to relate to a minor horror story of mine, in much the same way Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Dodgeball featured a woman obsessed with unicorns, I once entered the bed chamber of a similarly fanatic girl in my late teens and to this day the sight of 100s of stuffed, plastic, printed and giant sized unicorns is still burned on to the back of my retinas. I think that horse with a dodgy horn in Bladerunner, the one with a protuberance that swayed from side to side like a bizarre adult toy might have finally finished off any smidgeon of empathy I could have found for this mythical creature. Still, I’m a grumpy old bloke now, set in my ways, and yet even I managed to muster a chuckle or two at this new unicorn t-shirt brand.

They offer everything from zombie unicorn to gay unicorn t-shirts, there’s even a Batman unicorn tee on offer, although personally I’d have renamed it  ‘batnicorn’, but still you get the drift. Do check out Unicorns Rock at Twitter for plenty more info, hook up with them at Facebook and check out more of their pics at their Flickr. Every shirt is $19 plus free US shipping, they offer wholesale or for those who don’t want to make a mint if you buy 2 of their shirts you get a 3rd for $5 which can’t be bad. So - sit on the nearest toadstool, brush the fairy dust from your eyes, and open your mind to the world of the funny unicorn t-shirt. Yeah man…

Unicorn Grinder Tee

As stated at the Unicorns Rock site in these times of recession mythical creatures are the first to go, plus they’re a great source for vitamins R, G and B. I’m sure there are plenty of traders in the East who’d pay good money for the horn as well. If you ever wanted to know what the insides of a unicorn look like, here’s your chance. Yes their intestines and vital organs do come in all the colours of the rainbow! The Unicorn Grinder tee is available in sizes S to XL for men and women, colours light blue and light grey.

Punk Rock Unicorn Tee

See punk isn’t dead, it just moved over to fairy land or wherever the hell unicorns are from. This one seems to have modelled itself on Sid Vicious, at least it doesn’t have an awful druggy American girlfriend who can’t get out of bed without shooting up a dose of smack. Although I am sure that one is to come, smackhead unicorn, in fact I can see a whole world of ideas opening up for Unicorns Rock but I won’t spoil the fun. If you’re sitting there with a safety pin, bolt or bone through your nose this t-shirt should be just up your street. Then again, if you’re a real punk you won’t have any money, so you’d better make your own. If there are any rich punks out there apart from John Lydon (of The Sex Pistols who recently did a butter ad on TV in the UK - how sad is that?) then grab a Punk Rock Unicorn T-Shirt in light blue or light grey (not very punk colours I know) in sizes S to XL for men and women.

Puking Rainbow Tee

I’m just wondering what makes a unicorn puke? I suppose it’s too much of the old fairy nectar. I have to agree with Unicorns Rock that if you were going to up chuck at a party it would be far more impressive and less embarrassing if you could manage to spew all the colours of the rainbow. I have a simple solution if you do, simply use food colouring in each of your beers, although this won’t prevent a fair percentage of orange carrot chunks from bizarrely popping up in the mix (even if you never eat carrots). It’s a bit like peanuts in poo, one of the great mysteries of life. Get the Puking Rainbow tee in (you guessed it) light blue or light grey in all sizes for men and women.

Lucky Unicorn Zombies

Sure it’s a long shot, but there’s logic in UR’s madness. If you did happen to be at the end of the rainbow and heard the awful whining tee tee tah tah tee tee of a leprichaun you might be tempted to do him in, especially with so much gold to be had. Then again, how does zombification come into the equation? Don’t ask, I don’t know, I don’t care. What I do know is that puppy is cute, so look at that and forget about the whys and wherefores of who ate who’s brains. Get the Lucky Unicorn Zombies tee for men and women in all sizes, altogether now… in light blue and light grey.

You have to give it to them, UnicornsRock.com have certainly cornered the unicorn t-shirts market. There’s so many directions they can go with this it will be fun to see what comes next, great for a laugh, not recommended for little princesses who must have their way. Cool.

Save 35% off all Brand of the Free tees at www.brandofthefree.net using coupon code GOGREEN35 at the checkout.

The holidays are almost here and Brand of the Free extending our 35% discount on any of their standard American made / organic tees. As usual BOTF are showing their patriotism for the USA by making their own small contribution to the the US economy by offering their premium quality sweat shop free tees at a discount. Although the offer does not include OUTLET Tees or Special Edition and can not be combined with any other coupon.

Use coupon code GOGREEN35 at checkout.  Offer Expires: November 31, 2009.