Tee Junction - The T-shirt Blog. Coupon Codes, Sales, Offers

Exclusive Deals: Tank Theory

Ivy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:28:17 PDT

Woohoo, Tank Theory! You’ll be excited to read about this Exclusive Deal if you’re a sucker for arty t-shirts like me, because Tank Theory is all about the art and is home to some of the most original, creative tee designs I’ve seen in recent memory. Plus, Tank Theory’s Andrew was super cool and was nice enough to offer Tee Junction readers a juicy 20% off discount.

Tank Theory is home to three series of t-shirts, starting with the Artist Society T-Shirts. These designs are commissioned from a multitude of talented artists and designers, who seem to be given free reign over their work. I can think of no other reason for the astounding amount of variety and creativity found in this section, ranging from the watercolor hues of “1980” to the chuckle-inducing, simply iconic “Ben Fuu“. These are two of the more recent examples. I highly recommend checking out the rest, because there’s just so much to look through, and so much diversity it’s almost guaranteed you’ll find something you’ll like.

There’s also the T-Shirt of the Month, which is exactly what it sounds like. Every month, Tank Theory comes out with a limited edition tee. The design styles are as varied as those found in the Artist Society shirts. I’m particularly intrigued by the daring print in “Blood Calendar“, which wraps around the front and back of the tee.

Finally, we have the regular Standard T-Shirts, which houses all of the other designs produced by Tank Theory. This section is home to a large selection of women’s shirts, which are sadly mostly skewed towards subject matter like fashion and glamour. Scroll past that, though, and you’ll find all of Tank Theory’s other designs. I really enjoy the Central/South American style that shows up again in “God of Night“, and the frenetic chaos in “America on Blast Redux“.

If you like what you see, you can use our coupon to save 20% off forever!

Coupon: TEEJUNCTION for 20% off

Store: Tank Theory

Leave a Review: Here

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40% off at Paper Root

Ivy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:19:47 PDT

That’s right folks, 40% off with our friends at Paper Root for the rest of the week. They’re dropping a new line soon so why don’t you head on over and help them clear out some stock? You know you can’t say no to that wondrously epic sale banner.

Go for it!

Buy Them: $20 at Paper Root

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Threadless Knocks It Out of the Park

Ivy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:08:15 PDT

I don’t remember the last time Threadless had a weekly release this strong. I like practically every piece in Monday’s newest tees, and that’s saying something.

It’s been a while since Threadless came out with any belt printed tees, so I was surprised to see the quirky “Tipi Man“ in the lineup. It’s not something I would ever wear, but I can definitely appreciate the amount of attention put into its creation. The color scheme — dark and light green on lilac — is unusual, but works. The background design is chock-full of detail, yet subtle enough to not overpower the simple central illustration. The pattern also extends to the back of the shirt, for those of you who complain about that common all-over print problem over at DBH.

“X-MENAGERIE” is a great follow-up to the Comic Con hype. The illustration is full of color, power, and excitement, especially near the top where the fire glow reflects off all the characters. The crisp linework and watercolor textures are just gorgeous, and furthermore they printed exceptionally well. This design is also available on an American Apparel Flex Fleece hoodie, which excites me — I own a blank Flex Fleece hoodie and it’s pretty much the most comfortable sweatshirt, ever.

“Swan Song” by Ross Zietz is a very simple, straightforward design. I actually find it to be a bit too simplistic for my liking — it doesn’t fill the shirt all that well thanks to its slender composition — but that isn’t to say it doesn’t work. Plus, as depicted above, it’s the first Threadless design to be offered on a new type of wide-neck American Apparel tee for girls.

“Color Theorists” is cute and clever. It combines adorable animal cartoons with a little artist in-joke. I love the slightly abstract/vintage style and the creative use of spot color. The artist actually cites Shutterstock as inspiration for his design, where he spotted the “search by color” icon. Not quite sure how that led into animals with cameras, monocles, and pipes, but I know from experience how winding the creative process is!

“When Mermaids Cry” is the second shirt of the week to have a traditional media look. The concept, composition and color are all lovely, but I find that the way the mermaids’ faces are drawn is not quite up to snuff, particularly that of the mermaid on the bottom. Artistic nitpicking aside, this is a beautiful idea and is sure to be a hit with Threadless’ female patrons.

Your eyes are immediately drawn to the bright lime tee used in “Fragmented Beauty”, another surprisingly artistic tee from this week’s offerings. I’m not quite sure what is happening in this design, but I can’t say I particularly care; the surreal, abstract style is just incredible, especially with the way it’s printed huge on the shirt. On the downside, the print seems to be cut off on the girls sizes, which doesn’t do any favors for the design.

The special comic tees are still available at the package price of $70, though it’s clear that it’s running low on stock in almost all sizes. I didn’t have the time to do so last week when it first launched, so I just want to take the time to acknowledge the genius of “Every Night I Have the Same Dream, Issue 2, Vol 1″ (whew, what a mouthful!). Out of all the shirts in this series, this shirt makes the biggest nod to comics and comic art. From the high-contrast artwork to the dramatic angle, to the speech bubbles, to the panels on the back of the shirt, this design is just a tremendous tribute to a classic cultural mainstay. Its loud presentation definitely isn’t for everyone, but there’s no doubt that this is just a superbly designed tee.

Buy Them: $18-20 at Threadless.com

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Exclusive Deals: Alive & Well

Ivy — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:42:30 PDT

Today’s Deal is from a UK indie brand which recently popped up on my radar, and I wasted no time in asking the folks at Alive & Well to see if they would like to make a coupon for us. Alive & Well’s Connor amicably agreed, and so here we are!

Alive & Well is home to some really gorgeous, classic designs. If you’re as sick of the neon zombies and gore stuff as I am, you’ll find Alive & Well to be an awfully refreshing breath of fresh air. These designs keep it simple with one or two color prints. The combination of modern and vintage design elements makes for wearable, attractive shirts.

I love looking up at the sky and picking out constellations, so the “Constellations” tanks (in black and cranberry) really appealed to me. The concept and design are both simple, but it works well — the constellations make up an attractive pattern across the length of this tank. The only possible downside is that there is a large text logo on the back, if you aren’t a fan of that kind of thing.

On the t-shirt side of things, I got a chuckle of of “Horsehead” and “Wolfhead“. These designs combine animal heads with the bodies of vintage pinup women to surprisingly good effect. I like the black-on-grey print and the placement of the logos, as they help complete and punch up the designs.

Finally, I wanted to make sure I got in a mention for “Maps & Mythology“, a pretty little piece that makes excellent use of circles and textures. The logo placement works nicely too.

Another great thing about this brand? It’s has extremely affordable pricing, even for us folks across the sea. Everything is £14.99 and under at Alive & Well, which is about $23 in US dollars. The shipping is very reasonable too. Of course, you can always use our 10% off coupon to save even more… (Expires September 20!)

Coupon: TEEJUNCTION for 10% off (Exp. September 20)

Store: Alive & Well

Leave a Review: Here

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Comic Con Comes to T-Shirts!

Ivy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:00:45 PDT

Comic Con in San Diego kicks off today, and to celebrate the occasion both RIPT Apparel and Threadless have or are releasing special comic-related tees! Take a look below.

Daily tee site RIPT Apparel is celebrating with “Comic Con Week”, where they will sell tees which relate to Comic Con or geek culture. They kicked things off with “Super Manatee”, which will probably no longer be up for sale by the time I post this since I was busy this afternoon. Other participating artists down the line include SteveOramA, Timothy Bubel, and Anwar Rafiee. Definitely keep your eyes on this site if you like cheap shirts and nerdy things.

And before I forget, you can get $1 off any RIPT shirt until Comic Con ends (basically, a 10% discount). It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when a shirt is already priced at $10 without the coupon you can’t really complain much, can you? Use ILOVERIPT to bag the discount.

Threadless, on the other hand, released a four-part series of artist-designed, comic-style tees based on a storyline written by one of the artists. The whole thing is pretty damn impressive, especially once you get ahold of the way they redesigned their front page with a comic theme. Artists Jill Thompson, Art Baltazar, Cliff Chiang and Tony Moore whipped up four very distinct tees, which can be purchased individually or as a pack at a $10 off discount. It’s really interesting to see how different each of the shirts are in style, mood, and color — compare especially the striking horror-comic style of Tony Moore’s shirt to the cute, lighthearted cartoons of Art Baltazar.

Appropriately enough, the Type Tee “Comic Book Collectors Have Issues” was also reprinted this week. And don’t forget all the other Threadless shirts in the “Comics” category.

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Photo Review: Simplified Clothing

Ivy — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:30:57 PDT

Not too long ago I decided to purchase my first shirt from Simplified Clothing. (Pssst! Use our code TD15 for a 15% off discount!) As I wrote in my Exclusive Deals post for them, I’m a big fan of their minimalist design style. It took me a while to decide which shirt I wanted, but eventually I settled on their classic logo tee, printed on a tri-blend tee. I love the way the black logo looks against the heather gray.

The Shirt

It was no surprise to me that this is just a nice shirt all around. The blank is an American Apparel tri-blend shirt, so I already knew it was going to be unbelievably soft and comfy. I suppose ink weight wouldn’t have mattered much with a minimalist design like the Simplified logo, but even then the print is nice and light. It practically feels like part of the shirt; after one wash, it felt like I had owned it for months.

Simplified also went the extra mile with a really well-designed printed neck tag, and a custom sewn tag on the hem of the shirt. I always love it when brands add these little touches, as they go a long way in making a tee look that much more professional. This is also a great example of strong branding that doesn’t use the subtlety-of-a-charging-bull approach. Plus, it matches with Simplified’s philosophy of, well, keeping it simple.

Shipping and Service

My package shipped promptly, within 48 hours of placing the order. It arrived not too long thereafter in this white mailing bag distinguished only by the tactful placement of the Simplified logo on the mailing label. Things got a lot more interesting once I tore it open, though…

The shirt was neatly folded into a clear bag, sealed with a logo sticker. It was packed with two more logo stickers, one of which had a sweet little thank you note written on the back. It’s always impressive when an indie brand takes the time to send personal notes to its customers, so this was a big plus in my book. The sticker is currently plastered on the side of my computer!

Closing Thoughts:

Quality shirts? Check. Solid, unique designs? Check. Good packaging, shipping, and service? Check. If you like what Simplified has to offer, don’t hesitate to order a tee or two from them!

(And don’t forget to use TD15 for 15% off, forever!)

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Summer 2010: Arkaik Clothing

Ivy — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:41:30 PDT

Arkaik Clothing just launched a killer new line, and I say that mostly because I’m a huge fan of ancient Egyptian motifs. This line is covered in ‘em!

This release seems to be divided into two types of tees: standard horror-type stuff with big jagged text logos, and more artistic stuff with subtler logos. I’m mainly interested in the latter, since haven’t we seen the former a thousand times already?

“The Land of the Lost” is a great tee which perfectly captures the mystique of ancient Egypt. The little details are what really make this shirt shine, from the cracks in the pyramid, to the eerie single eye, to the ankh symbol floating at the top. You can’t beat the coffee tri-blend blank, either. If you prefer something a little lighter so that you may better fend off the blistering summer sun (can you tell it’s absolutely gross here in New York?), Arkaik’s got you covered — there’s a white version as well, and it looks just as good in that colorway.

And then there’s “Ra-Kaik“, a gorgeous design which obviously takes a page from ancient Egyptian art. The bird god, rendered in the iconic side-view style of the Egyptians, blends wonderfully with modern-art geometric elements to form a super-classy design. The one-color print is perfect as well — the distribution of black creates a great sense of balance — and keeps the tee simple but artistic. (Also available in a white tank top!)

Finally, we have “Scarab“, which may be the strongest tee in this line. This design works similarly to “Ra-kaik” above, but throws in more elements and texturing. For what it loses in simplicity, though, it gains in sheer visual interest. The harmonious pattern of triangles crossing the scarab’s back is both aesthetically pleasing and a great container for the Arkaik logo in the center, which blends so effortlessly into the design you hardly recognize it as a logo. The halftone pattern is an excellent touch and works well with the heather gray tri-blend tee.

I’ve already ordered the Scarab tee, and the Arkaik folks can definitely count on me to get the other two items in this post at some time in the near future!

Buy: $22 at ArkaikClothing.com

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Sales at Snakes & Suits and DBH!

Ivy — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:24:09 PDT

Snakes & Suits is holding a 25% off summer sale, plus the first 50 orders over $50 will get a free limited edition shirt! If you don’t know about this brand, they have some pretty neat logo shirts and cut and sew items. They just put out some new tanks as well, in case you’re suffering horrific summer temperatures as I am!

I’m kind of late with this one, so I’m not sure how much longer it will last, but Design By Humans is having a great sale! Every shirt is $15 and under, with many of the older shirts priced at $7. Naturally, all the best designs are at the higher price points, but $15 for a DBH shirt is still pretty damn good.

Actually, scratch that, I just took a look at the catalog and there are actually a lot of really good $10 shirts, even though the vast majority of them are sold out in all but the largest sizes. If you wear L or XL you’ll be in for a treat.

A pair of really beautiful modern art style tees, and only $10! Both “A Photographic Memory” and “believe in inertia” are both superbly designed and very eye-catching. Both of these shirts are only available in the larger sizes at this point.

For that matter, there are a lot of good $12 shirts as well. It’s just the $7 selection that kind of suffers, but what else do you expect.

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Exclusive Deals: Regan Smith Clarke

Ivy — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:17:49 PDT

A lot of t-shirt companies like to shill “vintage” shirts, which usually have the same general look and subject matter. What caught my eye about Regan Smith Clarke — an indie brand named after its owner and designer — is that it takes the vintage style and does something new and aesthetically appealing with it. You can see influences from vintage ads and art deco in the big, cheerful letters, bold color schemes, and strong geometric lines. At the same time, it’s obvious that these pieces were crafted with the knowledge of a modern graphic designer.

A great example of this is RSC’s recent collab tee with fellow indie brand Cavata. Just about everything in this design is fantastic. The creme tee gives it that aged, “yellowed” look, harmonizing wonderfully with the bold teal and red in the design itself. The little vintage details, such as the font choice, the award symbol in the upper left, and even the 25 cent admission help seal the piece in a decade long ago. It reminds me of advertisements for old-timey beachside amusement parks and would look just as great on a poster as it does on a tee.

…Which is great, because when you order this tee, you’ll get a free numbered print (first 30 orders) of this design!

I love seeing neon signs aglow in the city. It’s interesting to see how each sign is designed to grab as much attention as possible, even when surrounded by a thousand others clamoring for the same thing. RSC captures this feeling in the “Bodega” tee, which easily looks like it could be situated on the side of a 60’s bar. There’s a great sense of motion here, thanks to the sweeping lines and brilliant colors; you can almost imagine the sign flashing and twinkling in its attempt to snag your gaze. Again, the red/blue color scheme works fantastically here.

You can save 10% on any of these shirts with RSCBOSTON, which is valid until the new year. Plus, all shirts ship for free!

Coupon: RSCBOSTON for 10% off, expires January 1, 2011

Store: Regan Smith Clarke

Leave a Review: Here

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Big Changes (and a cool tee) at TeeFury

Ivy — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:01:41 PDT

Daily t-shirt site Teefury is amping it up with a brand new redesign. Humongous changes have been made not only to the general look of the website, but to the functionality. I always felt that the older site didn’t look as professional as it should have, so this is a great improvement; it looks much cleaner and tighter than before. The community aspect of the site has also been given an upgrade with the addition of social networking buttons and an improved commenting and forum system. There’s also a better cart system; shoppers looking to buy multiple shirts for whatever reason will have it much easier, as Teefury will now allow you to buy up to three shirts of each size.

Finally, there’s new submission form and a revamped Gallery, which allows you to browse past designs and comment on them.

Of course, I haven’t forgotten the shirt of the day, a delightful mashup of Vincent Van Gogh and punk. Never thought you’d see that combination, huh? This is a fantastic illustration borrowing elements from Van Gogh’s highly recognizable painting style. The Starry Night-esque background is kind of distracting and makes the design unnecessarily cluttered, but otherwise this is a great shirt at a great price. (And certainly one of the better things to come out of Teefury in recent memory.)

Buy It: $9 at Teefury.com