I had come across this article ages ago (since I’m a city dweller ages ago happens to translate to ‘a month’ ago) which discussed how Obama had won the graphic t-shirt race.  I was slightly confused as to whether or not fashion had anything to do with politics; moreover, the presidential race.  Here is a short quip from what I read:

“…another thing that Obama has going for him is that the graphic t-shirts depicting him are still rather exclusive diverse and some are hard to find. New York clothing stores have not yet embraced these graphic t shirts and therefore, leave intact the feeling of wearing something original when one finds an unusual political message t shirt that support that candidate. What Obama has achieved is an online marketing campaign that runs itself through its young supporters and graphic tee designers, something that McCain may have to pay for dearly later down the road.” – Al Keser

Aside from being well written, it’s extremely on point.  Clothing has become an integral part of the grassroots support for Barack Obama and it seems a little too late for the other candidates to catch up to him.  This notion of t shirts, Obama, and support were merely reinforced in my mind by an article I found in yesterday’s edition of “The Cut”, an editorial fashion blog by Amy Odell who works for New York Magazine.  The Obama campaign seems to have picked up on the fact that people are making t-shirts by the boatload on his behalf without him ever having to raise a finger.  The smart marketing team (which is sounding a lot like a group of twenty year olds with bright futures) decided to launch an official Obama clothing campaign.  Here are the details from The Cut:

“Barack Obama’s campaign has arranged for twenty fashion designers to create clothing and tote bags to sell on the campaign’s Website next month.”

Well look at that, not only is Coach letting the public design their canvas tote bags, but so is the Obama Campaign.  Is anyone noticing a trend in user generated content?  I am.  It’s nice to see that Obama, or at least the people that works under him are smart enough to keep abreast of the trends like web 2.0 and user-generated content.  I suppose that this makes it clear who has a better understand of major internet issues such as net-neutrality.  The use of home made graphic t shirts in order to raise support for a candidate might seem silly to you; but many would be surprised to find out how much of what they own, do, think, and act are influenced by what others are wearing and doing.

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The principal idea and pinnacle of the web 2.0 movement is the ideology of content generated by the masses instead of the few.  This line of thought has translated itself not only from how content is generated on the web, but how advertising, fashion, and all aspects of our lives are shifting towards this ‘user generated’ world.  Marketing firms have taken a liking to letting normal people create advertisements in thousand dollar contests instead of paying ten-thousand dollars for a design firm to create something that the public might not enjoy.  Newspaper companies have expanded their op-ed sections to let more and more common people post their own news in major publications.  Even fashion companies such as Coach in the previous blog entry seem to prefer user-generated clothing designs instead of those done by a professional high-end designer.  Though with all of the positives of web 2.0 and content by the people, it comes with three major draw backs:

1.    Lots of “crap”
The main problem you run into with user generated content is a lot of people have amazing ideas, but they don’t possess the technical skills to illustrate them properly.  Art, being the field that it is, relies on having both ‘good’ art and ‘bad’ art.  The good and the bad being determined by a select, prestigious, and educated few.  Though I am very much against established rules set by people I’ll never meet, I’m not too fond of wading through junk for a pearl.

2.    Popular Demand

Another problem with user generated content is popular demand.  Sometimes what everyone thinks is a great thing, isn’t.  Only one person might know the real outcome of an event but popular demand would supersede this and possibly bring destruction, cataclysm, and all sorts of nasty things down upon themselves and those around them.

3.    “Herd” Mentality
Human beings tend to clump around each other and the larger a group of people becomes, the more their common sense and IQ diminishes.  Good ideas lose ground to bad ideas that sound better, safer, and more comfortable, in the case of clothing we can take a look at graphic tees and t shirts at places like Blank Generates, Threadless Tees, and Design by Humans.  It’s great that their marketing strategy of letting their viewers make their shirts is working, but it diminishes the credibility of not only graphic t shirts, but the entire fashion world.

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Now you might be saying to yourself: Canvas Tote Bags in High Fashion?  Ludicrous.  Well I will have to respectfully disagree, with evidence of course.  Coach fashion has recently launched a competition entitled “Design a Coach Tote”.  Below is an excerpt from the contest details:

“We’re looking for a truly inspired and unique design to feature on our next Coach tote.  Start from    scratch or include any of our iconic elements.  You can win a Coach shopping spree, party, or see your design as a limited edition item in select Coach stores”

There are two things going on here with Coach’s competition that you fashionistas, designers, and trendsetters should take note of.  The first is that Coach is following the web 2.0 inspired, community content idea.  This idea revolves around the notion that people will naturally come together and create great things; this goes against most luxury branding ideology which essentially says that only a few and privileged can dictate what to wear, how to think, and how to act.  Coach is also making using of the canvas tote bags popularity in mainstream society. The keyword in the previous sentence being ‘mainstream’; this is one of the first and most recent examples of luxury brands thrusting themselves into the mainstream design world with ‘low’ fashion in order to bolster sales.  The trade off of course, is the loss of respect for a high quality brand name and it is very much a double edged sword.  With canvas tote bags now being sponsored by companies such as Coach, what’s next?  Gucci recycled backpacks?  Dolce graphic t shirts?  Feel free to send in your thoughts, questions, opinions, and answers.

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It was more than likely because Polo Tees had become such a staple in our world that urban culture lashed back. They did this by combining their graffiti and stencil influenced T shirts with the haughty upper-class polo tees. The result was clothing companies suddenly overflowing with new clothing lines that offered these graphic polo t shirts. Urban culture had spawned an entirely new fashion movement which ranged from famous graffiti tags on polo tees all the way to grunge mixed with famous Latin quotes. The reach of urban culture stretches further than polos, we find their influence in our jeans, shoes, hats, and even our socks.

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Get Funky - Put some funk into your graphic t-shirt. This works really well by mixing up old cartoons with a bit of symbolic items like some big boom boxes of the 1980s. Making your graphic t-shirt (and maybe yourself) all funky, people will remember you and your graphic t-shirt.

Be ironic? Make up nonsense. People will look up in the face and stare at your weird graphic t-shirt remarks.

Be Unconventional- Make sure that no one understands what your t-shirt is about. It bring about attention, trust me.

Plain & Simple - Splotches of paint have never been so meaningful.

Ridicule Yourself - You can design a graphic t-shirt with a message that is meant to ridicule yourself. Yes, ridiculing yourself has to be one of the easiest ways to get some attention. By imprinting a message on the graphic t-shirt that is meant to embarrass yourself, you get to seek some fun and engaging interactions.

3D Graphic - Use 3D graphics on your graphic t-shirts. You know the kind of graphic that need 3-D glasses to see in order to understand the message! People will be dying to know what your graphic t-shirt is all about.

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2. New weaving technology gives you more options. Very fine cotton is being used these days to make the t-shirt on your back. As a designer, you have the possibility to get creative with the fabrics you use to accomplish a certain kind of effect.

3. The return of retro irony and themes from the computer world. “All your bases are belong to us.” These days, you can use any popular theme from the geek world as a graphic t-shirt design. Thanks to the Internet, a design that used to be understood by only a small community now is well-known enough that a graphic t-shirt can be marketed well enough to be worth the trouble.

4. Emergence of super-soft and distressed finishes lets you age shirts. Now vintage t-shirts can look really vintage. Not only can you design the graphics that appear on the t-shirts, but you can also decide on how the fabric will be treated. Will it look like it has been worn for 3 years, or brand new?

5. New cuts and sewing techniques let you use the fabric as part of the design. Cuts are becoming more edgy as years go by. People are willing to wear basically anything, as long as they convinced that it’s cool. Now what is happening is that this philosophy is spreading to the realm of t-shirts, which was not the case before when these things were relegated to high-end fashion.

6. Websites that allow you to submit designs make it easier to get noticed. It’s never been easier to become a graphic t-shirt designer now with web sites where you can easily submit designs and get instant understanding of what people have to say about your design. You could even test your designs before investing in a project to sell them by using one of these type of sites.

7. New necklines give you something new to work with. Did someone say v-necks in 100 different styles? With or without v-neck – you must decide. A v-neck can complement a design, by cutting into it, or sitting next to it. Today there is a great variety of v-neck types to choose among.

8. People can now where your designs to go out in clubs. This allows you to design shirts that meant for this type of crowd. It opens up a whole new audience looking for edgy, original designs that are sexy and flashy at the same time, but with class.

9. Easy access to graphic design software opens up designing to everyone. It is easier than ever to become a designer. Just get a computer and an Internet connection.

10. An increasing number of people want to display messages on their clothing. It did not always used to be like this, so this is a chance for graphic t-shirt designers to take control of this large market.

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Coming up with the design of a graphic t-shirt:

You have to ask yourself what you want to say with your graphic t-shirt. Are you using words, images, or both to convey this message on the t-shirt? And what effects if any do you need to apply to these to add to the message. A graphic t-shirt can be funny, offensive, or both at the same time. There are ironic tees and some that just don’t mean anything. In any case, find the graphic t-shirt design that you wish to achieve and then move on to the making of the design.

How to make the design for a graphic tee:

If you are using today’s technologies, then to make your graphic t-shirt design, you should definitely use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. You can design your own patterns and text or borrow free imagery from the Internet. Say you wanted a skull and bones, you could probably find free images that you could style any way you wish on your t-shirt. When doing this at home, it is a good idea to keep your design as simple as possible so that you can easily cut it out. The graphic t-shirt design should fit a regular-size piece of paper: 11″ x 8″ 1/2.

Placing your design on your t-shirt:

After printing out what will become your graphic t-shirt on to iron-on printer paper (which by the way, comes in 2 kinds - one for white t-shirts and one for colored t-shirts - you can find it at your local office supply store.) you cut out the design with an exacto knife, or scissors, if you prefer. This is probably the hardest part of making your own graphic t-shirt. But after this, it’s smooth sailing. Follow whatever instructions were provided with your iron-on print paper, an iron your design on to your future graphic t-shirt.

Time to wear your graphic t-shirt:

Let the t-shirt cool down a little, and then it’s time to put it on.

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RAG is putting an end to these high prices with its $20-priced graphic t-shirts available in a variety of colors for each model. At RAG, we have always been about low prices and great variety.

Here are a two of our graphic t-shirt models that are sure to turn heads:

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RAG New York has six models to choose from:

New York Babydoll Shirt

NYC Babydoll Shirt

New York City Babydoll Shirt

Brooklyn Babydoll Shirt

NYC Leopard Babydoll Shirt

I Heart NY Babydoll Shirt

Brooklyn Babydoll Shirt

More photos here.

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