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Friday, August 7, 2009

Schoolyard Brawls (also sales)

When it comes right down to it, $10 is always a good price for a good tee. To the cheap it might sound like a birthright, but for the rest of us, it makes sense why some outlets require a $15-20 price point to stay afloat. Nevertheless, in the real world, getting the same product for less is always better, so it's good news to see that Shirtfight is offering a $10 "Back-to-School" sale this week (until August 14).

We don't talk a lot about Shirtfight lately because, quite honestly, I feel a pretty dramatic disconnect between what they usually print and what I usually like, but sales are a time when we all can get together and say "yes, I love this!" For me, the piece that Shirtfight has been tempting me with that I juuust can't justify at regular price is Carry On, by Mathiole. I love the realism of the businessman's body surrounded by the flat chunks of solid color in the electricity and word balloon and such. Not to mention, holy gold foil is there a lot of gold foil here. Yet, and I think this is what really started attracting me to this, it's bright and shiny without being especially tacky, as foil is wont to do. The bold gold accents act more like just any old ink, adding a lot of flavor and contrast, but doing so in a way that respects the illustration. Past that, there's something about a non-chalantly headless illustration that is visually arresting, and while the phrasing of the speech bubble itself could be a lot smoother ("Carry the Good Music On" is a mantra I agree with, but one I wish was said a bit differently), I really enjoy the way the comment is tied into the boombox itself. The electricity, likely representing the sound and, ergo, the music, comes from both the speakers and the man's head, tying the two together, and where the gold foil drives home the fact that the boombox is blasting "the good music," the harmony of those sound bolts, as well as the other gold embellishments which not only flow from the radio but snake around the man, implies that he is one with that music... that it is inside him, as good music can inhabit us all. And if that's too deep for you, HEADLESS DUDE WITH GOLD BOOMBOX! What more needs saying?

2 comments:

R. said...

I have their aqua geisha shirt and orange subliminal shirt and love both. People have fun trying to find all of the faces in Sassatattoo's design.

My main disappointment with Shirt Fight has been the same as yours - they don't print the designed that I love and rate highly. I'm still pining for the maroon Sassatattoo skull with the rose in his mouth (and I'm not exactly a "skull shirt" kinda girl).

Unknown said...

Heheh thanks for the comments guys! Don't worry, we *might* just have something coming that will help with the "why didn't the shirt I love get printed?" syndrome :) stay tuned...muwahahahaaaa