In suburban areas you tend to find people waking up at 6am, jogging around the town, and sitting down for their morning latte without a care in the world. These early morning folk are socially conscious for whatever reason (normally the need to be a part of a fad) and will only drink fair trade coffee, eat organic food, and essentially shun anything that when eaten could have a negative impact on their body or moral conscience. Now it should be said that this is a good thing, at least for whatever reason people are actively saying ‘no’ to consumables that could have possibly been produced by unfair labor or with something not fit for human consumption. But these polo wearing, latte drinking, organic loving people are forgetting that the majority of their clothing remains products of child labor and are very, very far from anything organic.
Cotton, the most ubiquitous ingredient in just about every form of clothing: polo t shirts, graphic tees, cargo pants, plaid shorts, canvas bags, and even messenger bags all contain some amount of cotton. The majority of the cotton contained in these objects is synthetic, meaning that they are grown with artificial chemical substances unlike their organic brethren. These non-naturally occurring materials such as pesticides and plant stimulants are not only harmful to the environment, but degrade the quality of the shirt over all. The pesticides are washed off of the plant during the rain and seep into nearby water systems and contaminate surrounding areas killing off plant an animal life. But it’s not just the animals in danger! No, the farmers who have to use the pesticides are normally without the proper equipment and can suffer from lung cancer and other diseases and ailments from being exposed to the chemical substances for too long.
The Polo T shirt, something we’ve all come to enjoy as a symbol for American Prepiness, stability, and other positive symbols; however it is easy to not notice that not only do these shirts suffer from synthetic cotton, but they are more than likely not part of the fair trade movement. Fair trade can be simply defined as people in areas of the world being paid fair wages for their work to uplift their living and educational systems. Non-fair trade countries such as China are more than likely where your shirts come from; China being one of the top havens for child labor and violations of human rights laws. It’s easy to overlook where your clothing comes from because it’s not something that you have to ingest like food; however, for all of those socially conscious latte drinkers out there, you might want to consider just where that polo t shirt came from before wearing it in the morning.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Design by Humans
Today I'll be reviewing the new(ish) website called "Design by Humans". I'm normally not a fan of online stores, but with this company I'll make an exception. Here is a short description from their website about their business:
"Design by Hümans (DBH) is a place for people to submit, discover and buy amazing custom t-shirt designs created by artists from around the world. Based around an ongoing t-shirt design contest, all of the designs you see on Design By Hümans have been submitted by our community. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Design By Hümans officially launched in early July 2007."
What's really awesome about this website is that you can make your own t-shirt designs and submit them to the company, in turn other users vote on what shirts are allowed to join the collection. Subsequently, if you win you will also get a cash prize. I'll start uploading my own shirts soon enough.
"Design by Hümans (DBH) is a place for people to submit, discover and buy amazing custom t-shirt designs created by artists from around the world. Based around an ongoing t-shirt design contest, all of the designs you see on Design By Hümans have been submitted by our community. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Design By Hümans officially launched in early July 2007."
What's really awesome about this website is that you can make your own t-shirt designs and submit them to the company, in turn other users vote on what shirts are allowed to join the collection. Subsequently, if you win you will also get a cash prize. I'll start uploading my own shirts soon enough.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Do it yourself screen printing.
It's pretty obvious that the cheapest T-shirts are the one you make yourselves. If you don't want to go out and buy something, and still want to have something slightly fashionable when you walk outside of the house, then Do-It-Yourself Screen Printing is for you.
The above is a video from youtube on how to make your own shirts; however if you want a link where you can learn how to screen-print without having to constantly hit the rewind button, look below:
Do It Yourself Silk Screening Tutorial
The above is a video from youtube on how to make your own shirts; however if you want a link where you can learn how to screen-print without having to constantly hit the rewind button, look below:
Do It Yourself Silk Screening Tutorial
Cheap T Shirts: Vintage clothing is a lie.
Lets kick off this blog with an in depth article about Cheap T shirts and how they are no longer synonymous with the word 'vintage'. I found this article and all credit goes to the author:
Cheap T Shirts: Vintage Clothing is a Lie ~ by Fred McCoy
If you live in a major city, or even the suburbs of one, you know that ‘vintage’ clothing is what’s in style this season. This is completely understandable, after all with the soaring prices of polo t shirts, preppy plaid shorts, there was bound to be a fashion backlash which would revolve around cheap, affordable, and individualistic clothing. This is where the vintage revolution in our present society stems from. However, let’s start with the origins of vintage clothing and see how it evolved into where it lies in the world of fashion today.
Surprisingly, most grunge, punk, and emo subcultures in America have no idea where their style of clothing or even their attitude towards the mainstream world comes from. The ‘Punk’ movement existed during the 1970’s in the United Kingdom when there was a significantly growing class difference between the middle and upper classes. Many young people were out of work and to express their rage against the government, they adopted a mentality, personality, and fashion style to show their dissatisfaction with how the country was being run. Rudeness, destruction, torn and worthless cheap t shirts, military boots were their uniforms against the regime that held them underfoot. This clothing became staple of the punk rock movement which quickly spread across the world and became more and more mainstream as the years went on.
Today Punk is nothing more than another generic, mainstream culture where the majority of its members come from an upper-class family and has more than enough money to buy into the fashion and music scene. Forget cheap t shirts and broken guitars, these new ‘punks’ could afford all sorts of new clothing that came pre-torn, instead of wearing it out themselves. They could afford music lessons, instead of spending nights with a guitar coming up with an expression of their rage. Major brand names capitalize on this today by offering ‘vintage’ clothing; essentially partially destroyed clothing at seventy dollars and up. Even small, single shop boutiques in New York City that claim to have vintage clothing are doing the same. If you’re looking for a cheap t shirt, and you still want to stand out, you should check lesser known brand names that no one would be caught dead with: try tourist based clothing shops in major cities.
Cheap T Shirts: Vintage Clothing is a Lie ~ by Fred McCoy
If you live in a major city, or even the suburbs of one, you know that ‘vintage’ clothing is what’s in style this season. This is completely understandable, after all with the soaring prices of polo t shirts, preppy plaid shorts, there was bound to be a fashion backlash which would revolve around cheap, affordable, and individualistic clothing. This is where the vintage revolution in our present society stems from. However, let’s start with the origins of vintage clothing and see how it evolved into where it lies in the world of fashion today.
Surprisingly, most grunge, punk, and emo subcultures in America have no idea where their style of clothing or even their attitude towards the mainstream world comes from. The ‘Punk’ movement existed during the 1970’s in the United Kingdom when there was a significantly growing class difference between the middle and upper classes. Many young people were out of work and to express their rage against the government, they adopted a mentality, personality, and fashion style to show their dissatisfaction with how the country was being run. Rudeness, destruction, torn and worthless cheap t shirts, military boots were their uniforms against the regime that held them underfoot. This clothing became staple of the punk rock movement which quickly spread across the world and became more and more mainstream as the years went on.
Today Punk is nothing more than another generic, mainstream culture where the majority of its members come from an upper-class family and has more than enough money to buy into the fashion and music scene. Forget cheap t shirts and broken guitars, these new ‘punks’ could afford all sorts of new clothing that came pre-torn, instead of wearing it out themselves. They could afford music lessons, instead of spending nights with a guitar coming up with an expression of their rage. Major brand names capitalize on this today by offering ‘vintage’ clothing; essentially partially destroyed clothing at seventy dollars and up. Even small, single shop boutiques in New York City that claim to have vintage clothing are doing the same. If you’re looking for a cheap t shirt, and you still want to stand out, you should check lesser known brand names that no one would be caught dead with: try tourist based clothing shops in major cities.
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