Quick sales at Itself and Fair and Bare!

While we're still riding high on the Threadless sale this week, there are a couple others you might want to look into as well. It's going to mostly depend on what you want out of your money. If you want to jolt some life into what seems to be a hurtin' company, we recommend hitting up Itself, where you can get 25% off your orders until April 2nd (code TLSFSPRING25). We're a little worried about Itself, as it has had some incredibly slow growth... their current new print was about 4 months in the making. With all the promise the site originally showed (and the wealth of quality design and designers languishing in their submissions), we can only hope they start bringing in sales enough to get back on track. A sale is a great time to do that, especially considering their pretty high-profile constituency... or just stock up on their custom blanks.

Of course, if you want to help a blooming company proliferate, you should head over to Fair & Bare, a site out of the UK who are advocates for "designer ethical threads" and who are having a 28% off sale until Sunday only (in honor of the owner's 28th birthday on March 28th). The code, unsurprisingly, is "HAPPYBDAY" and applies to everything in the store (their charity tee will only discount £2, but I cannot for the life of me tell which one is specifically charity). We recommend Chris Risse's Why Witches Don't Go On Vacations, a solid humor tee steeped in old folklore, and one that shows the dangers of leaving your candy home abandoned when fat German kids are on the loose (and one that features our favorite black-on-red color combo). If that's not your speed, though, the sites other selections are few but diverse and mostly quality... with the sale going on, there's no better time to get acquainted with what could be a name to watch.

Contest Watch: Week of March 19

Another week come and gone. Another set of awesome designs that are relying on YOU, YES YOU to save them from the depths of unprintyworld. That is, indeed, the official term. Here goes:
We start off at Design By Humans (where you can save 10% until April 2 with code 3JHUYD) with one of my favorite sort of shirts: the one I can't explain my attraction to. To be sure, mikelis' Under the Water 01 is very simple: a pile of smoothly rendered fish and some geometry. It's an odd thing to want on a shirt, but it just... kinda works? It's got good size, filling the chest without being ludicrously big... a design like this could be too much too big, because the "why" factor would be unavoidable. As it is, though, it just sits nicely, and I rather like the transparencies and shapes surrounding the pleasingly streamlined fish. It doesn't have to make sense. Which is good, because it doesn't.

Making infinitely more sense, somehow, is theinfinityloop's current ShirtFight entry, The Walrus and the High Wheeler. It's probably my favorite thing I've seen in ShirtFight's young life, but also one of my recent favorites in the cartoony humor file. It's something I'm liking about ShirtFight's competitions... they're, in some ways, taking everything woot should be with their weekly contest, but succeeding by shaping their brand, instead of letting their brand be shaped externally. Thusfar it's been refreshing to see people pushing themselves to create something on a deadline, and actually caring about doing something special. For that, I'll happily take what I call "emptees zombie syndrome," which seems to inhabit a good number of entries. But about the entry. The palette is smart and subtle, and the subject makes me smile forever and ever. 4realz. The walrus morphs into an old-timey gentleman easily, and the highwheeler is one of my favorite devices, for its complete obsolete nature and total ridiculousness. It's a great humor piece in that it is its own joke... it's not a belly laugh, but it's still funny and also wearable... it took me a little bit to get used to the landscape shape, but I've quite come around to it. And I don't know if you've noticed, but that crab? Totally has a monocle. It's like the designer walked around in my mind. Creepy. But awesome. Vote this one quick-like: SF's contests end tonight, Midnight Central.
Taking a totally different humor approach is OlliRudi's Anarchy! I see huge classic cartoon overtones (especially characters like Alice the Goon) in the art, giving it a classic nostalgia even for people who didn't grow up in the so called "golden age" of cartoons... everyone's seen this sort of thing at some point. I think that the style works brilliantly... it tones down the blatant violence with the familiar cartooning, but is also just foreign enough to our times to add a shade of darkness to the proceedings. The colors are perfect, also. But the crux of the design is that sign, both its existence in the first place as well as the contradictory action taking place... and the reactions to it are priceless. The deviously pleased attacker is nicely done, but I love the simply shocked victim. You can tell he'd never expect to be stabbed in a "No Stabbing" zone. Makes one wonder if there are some zones where stabbing is perfectly kosher. Black absurdist humor... probably one of my favorite sorts.

While "Anarchy" is classic Threadless fare, Admiralabelster's Origins of Color is more of a new-school of Threadless design. It makes use of strong art and Threadless' more advanced techniques. This one revels in the glory of UV inks, which means the inks only appear in sunlight. I'm serious when I say you should check the sub out to really appreciate the details and change. I think a lot of subs overuse the specialty inks... adding processes just to get a gimmick vote. This one is simply lovely both ways, so any gimmick is well justified... I love the details and the two styles in one: the elements all seem to fit together in their own style, but the illustration itself feels pencil drawn and shaded, adding another level. When the UV comes in, it gives a similar one-two punch, with the spill of vectors going where they please, while watercolory wisps settle into more specific accent roles. If I could change one thing, I do sort of wish the dragon had some color to it. Don't get me wrong, I get the concept... the dragon is delivering color to the world (those dragons do way cooler things in the Eastern world than the Western... this side of the world just gets burned and eaten). Still, I can picture it with a skillful palette and can't help but wonder. Nothing that would keep me from a potential purchase of course... just curiousity.

Finally back to DBH, where Hogboy has brought his amazing and clinically underprinted piece "Taipei Rocks" around for a print shot. This review comes with a disclaimer, though... right now, DBH has no orange blank. As far as I'm concerned, this shirt should NOT be printed unless it can inhabit an orange blank, or some other blank that gives off the same amazing contrast. If I were DBH, I'd even custom dye some white tees for the sake of this design. It's that good. But NO DOING THE WHITE COLOR SCHEMATIC! Ok. That's out of the way. Why so adamant? I am in love with the contrasts here... the orange back-and-foreground elements play unexpectedly tastefully with the blues in the rest of the world. There's great detail here, but it's colored detail... it's not even a shred as impactful as just linework. The characters stand out more in color, and they are great characters which SHOULD be seen, especially the massive focal robot-thingie (which absolutely requires a rockin' red guitar, not a line-art one). But the sense of wonder is what won me over to start with. The designer says the piece is inspired by a trip he took to Taipei. If that's so, then Taipei has skyrocketed up my list of places I need to go. It has to indeed rock to inspire this. I don't expect huge guitarbots. But I wouldn't be disappointed by them.

That's it for this week's installment. While we're waiting for DBH to work on those orange blanks (seriously guys, don't make hogboy have to resort to shirt.woot or something just to print this correctly) be sure to stay tuned here. There will hopefully be loads more awesome to come. We'd never let you down, right?

The $5 Select Blog

You Heard Correctly! Threadless is putting their Spring Sale into high gear with $5 selects! This is huge news, and probably the first time they've done this with Selects. If you've ever wanted some blissfully amazing Threadless shirts, now would be the time to browse:

And of course, don't forget about those $10 Selects I mentioned before!

Sales! Updates! And Contests Ending!

Before we go anywhere, I'd like to inform y'all that Threadless' Spring Cleaning Sale is, unsurprisingly, continuing until March 30th. It doesn't seem like much else has been added to the cheap ranks, but when we posted last week, we didn't realize the wealth of SELECTS on sale for only $10. We highly recommend checking through the $10 tees for this reason: there is almost no such thing as a select that isn't worth $10, especially considering their normal $25 price point.

Anyway, to business... I'm posting this a little late because as of RIGHT NOW, our Contest Watch Contest is closed for entries. Done. Finis. Threadless came in with a one-two punch of awesome former CW selections, bringing our total up to 24. The lucky prints? First off, we have Choose Your Own Adventure, by EdgarRMcHerly. It's a smart shirt, one that takes nostalgia while re-writing it, and one which uses the shirt in an interactive way. I think it'll be a strong seller, much as I was certain it would print. But this particular piece deserves a little extra lauding. Edgar's print marks the very first time a shirt.woot-born t-shirt designer has been printed at Threadless. Having cut my tee-critiquing teeth over at woot, it does my heart good to see some of the talented designers who so often go unappreciated at their contest start to come into their own at places where their talent might be further appreciated. There may be other wooters who might be AS deserving of being first to print at the most prestigious of tee-design contests, but I can think of no one MORE deserving than Edgar.

My high praise for Choose Your Own Adventure makes a bit of a hard follow-up, but thankfully update two is unique enough to be no rival: jimmytan's Self Serve/Surf. Its mixed media approach seperates itself from the other shirt easily. I love it as a side placement (I truly don't recall if this was how it was intended originally, but I love it), and while the former makes me happier, this is probably going to be the quicker buy. In all honesty, for all the hype last week with all the high-scorers printing, these two shirts make me feel that THIS week is the one to watch. Again, if one of these captures your interest, you may want to snag it fast... sales can even make non-sale shirts deplete with a quickness.

Now, onto the serious stuff. These being updates 23 and 24 respectively, the contest watch contest is officially over, as noted above (which is pretty rough, since these two shirts were the most popular guesses). I've got all the names and guesses, both from my blog and my email, written down and ready to snip out. Upon finding out about the 25th update, I'll make my drawing (drawings, if necessary) and announce a winner in the write-up for update 25. What could be simpler? Good luck to everyone who has entered... we'll see you for the finale!

Weekend of Big Changes: Teextile

Also updating starting tomorrow is newcomer Teextile. Formerly one shirt a day, one day only, their wares will now be available all week. It's still a little unsure still how they will do it: right now, it looks like they will have them all available all week for $15, with each having a specific "featured" day for $12. It is also possible, however, that the shirts may go on sale on their featured day, and then sell for the next week after. Either way is good news for you: extra time to buy is always welcome. Keep your eyes peeled at Teextile for the specifics.

We also hear they will be bringing back selected shirts previously for sale, which will be pretty awesome if you've missed one. However, for the inaugural week of the new layout, we're backing "Is That You?" by Attila. The detail is solid, the idea cute, the colors moody, and the lighting really turns the whole thing on. It'll be on sale Tuesday, but if you want it sooner, try snagging it Monday to see which method the site has sided with. Either way, you'll definitely have the rest of the week if you do stall on grabbing it in time.

The Weekend of Big Changes: Cameesa

As many of you know, we're continually excited about Cameesa, the crowdfunded shirt contest that lets you, the shirt fan, put your money where your mouth is and help your favorite shirts get printed. So it is with great excitement that we tell you that they have now cut the price dramatically... a support, formerly a $20 investment, is now $10 plus the cost of shipping. To celebrate, Cameesa is even offering free shipping on everything, from their already printed tees to new supports, until March 27th. If you've been cautious about dropping $20 on a shirt that may still take a long time to get in your hands, now is the time to get in on it. And "get in" it seems people are doing... in only a day since the change, almost every design has bounced up a couple supports they didn't have prior. Here at SingulariTee, the hope is that we can finally get our hands on the hip birds in Monsieur-Pimpant's "Coq Music" (see above), or that Againstbound's "Color Bleeding" will finally start attracting the interest it deserves, but we recommend you go check through the supportable designs and find a few you love. As always, you can still support unlimited designs on the same ten-spot (with the first to print being the one you'll get), but with the slashed support cost and the free-shipping week, you may just want to do as I've done, and create as many single-shirt supports as possible to lock in that price. We're sure you'll find something you desire.

Contest Watch: Week of March 12

After the excitingly diverse week last week, we're back to business as usual here at Contest Watch. Not that that's ever a bad thing: the usual game is a solid one. Here's what we've liked seeing on the court this week.

Design By Humans is finally winding down its interminable Kings of Leon and Quiksilver contests, which means we'll soon be seeing more to talk about there. For now, I'm focusing on robbielee's Technophilia. It's a design well-suited to DBH's predilections for full-size prints... it fills the shirt canvas wonderfully. What it also brings to the party are some thematic and humor threads the site doesn't see a lot of. Personally, I love the combination of styles, from the shadowy trees to the shiny half-toned robot to the simple smooth vectors of the clouds and sun. That simple bit really makes the shirt... it's a skillful contrast, but also an eye-catching splash of color in the otherwise dark and desolate scene. It'll be a definite buy for me if it prints.

Threadless is still in the middle of its spring sale, which as always you should check out. While you're there, you should give a vote and a comment to WanderingBert's Forgotten Valley of the Fire Dancers. I love the subtle, sketchy palette of the mountains and, once again, the size of the overall piece. Of course, the flame tones are wonderful also, as is the personality put into each little flame dude. I'm always impressed and not a little envious of artists who can replicate an item so that it has the same look without literally copying it. And it also continues a somewhat questionable trend of me falling in love with creme and white (see later) shirts on Threadless. This is the second sale in a row where my cart contents are incredibly heavily biased to those shades. I'm not 100% sure why, as I have always preferred darker dress, but that's simply where I'm shifting. I think this piece would make a great inevitable purchase option for the next sale, therefore. I mean, I'd buy it anyway. May as well keep the pattern going, eh Threadless?

Of note this week are a number of entries from what Threadless calls a "StyleSwap," where a number of alumni get together and attempt to create work in the style of another alumnus. One of my favorites is I Don't Know What To Do With My Life, based off the work of jean_warhol. Now I'm not gonna lie, part of what I love about this piece is that I have a good feel for who created it, and it makes this feel like a collaborative effort, because I can see their hand as well as warhol's style. It makes me want to see a full on collab between the two, because I'm sure it'd be just as amazing. I also love the thick lines, the character itself, and the colors... a good monotone illustration is always nice, but I especially love the shade of orange it's on. Yet another definite buy.

Also from the Style Swap, a brilliant little piece from someone imitating jstumpenhorst: Take Back the City. While the other impresses me due to the melding of styles, this one is great because it is really, to me, spot on with its impersonation. There are definite elements from his Threadless prints: the transparent climbers evoke his Goliath (and on both, I love, LOVE the transparent dudes), while the swirls come straight from Lost at Sea, one of the more epic recent prints from the site. Like robbielee's robot above, I love the mixing of styles: the transparent men, the almost painted monster, the intricately drawn swirls compared to the simple, imperfect buildings, and the splash of geometry swooping along across the piece, which contrasts with the much more organic parts of the image and adds just a bit of color. And as I said, again above, I'm totally and illogically shifting toward those white tees, which is a great fit for the watercolor look of the main creature. Amazing work, made doubly so knowing that it's created by someone who doesn't normally work this style.

Finally, after all that intricate, I wanted to praise something simple, and one of the best simple pieces I've seen this week was at shirt.woot. The derby was all about reinterpreting TV shows, and JadenKale brought out a piece inspired by the soon-to-be-late great show Pushing Daisies. Woot is notorious for simple and cute, but this is just both done right. The thick lines and simple forms convey the concept really elegantly. The colors mesh well and the shirt is used wisely. What I really like is the shading, done in subtle pontilism, which adds a unique texture to the proceedings while preserving the spareness of the simple piece. All that and a wearable whimsy even without the thematic "inspiration."

So that's-a my post. I hope you're in love with some of these, and will support accordingly. And for what may be the last time, I hope you all check out my Contest Watch Contest. I get the feeling it might not be long before update #24, and y'all know what that means: entries over. Get 'em in now so you don't miss out on the chance at a free shirt, and keep your eyes here for the final words.

22: Well That Was Quick!

Update #22 comes today, after a biggie yesterday at Threadless. It's courtesy of the wild and woolly world of Ink-Hound, which is a first for us. The weekly shirt-and-hat printshop has long been on our radar, and has even had a mention or two in our write-ups, but this is the first design I chose for a contest watch blurb, and likely the first shirt I'll purchase from them. I'm happy to have a chance to expose them further... they're starting to grab more attention, so who knows the awesome we'll see on there in future weeks.

It's also a first in that it is, without a doubt, the quickest turnaround we've ever had from write-up to shirt. Seriously, we just blogged this Thursday, and it's up for sale nownownownow. Surely you remember: Cronikas, by tobefonseca. We loved the reds. We loved the textures. We loved the owl, and we loved what looks to be a babushka doll wrapped in gauze. It's amazingly stylized, and has what I hesitate to call "old world charm," only because I am sure I am misusing the term. As I said above, I love it. But it's a bittersweet love. While I fully plan to snag one of these now for me, it hurts a little to know this will disappear in a week. Lost to the ages. Unavailable to my Contest Watch Contest Prize Sheet. Which, as some of you may know, is winding down pretty quick... update 22 means only 2 more left to get those entries in. So maybe this one will be available after all. But for now, I recommend snagging it while you have the chance. Not that you'd seriously pass up something so awesome. You read my blog, right? You know better!

Sale Away With Me

It's that time again: Threadless is all up in yo' grill with their spring sale. Awesomeness abounds, with regular shirts as low as $5. I'd have preferred to see this sale even a week later (or two, even better), but whenever it comes, it's always a good idea to pick up at least a couple... these are the weeks your favorite shirts sell out. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Not only is this prime time to pick up some favorites, but it might be a GREAT idea to pick up the new blood while it's cheap and in stock... nothing in this group scored under a 3.0 (with the exception of a single reprint, at a measly 2.9), with some of them in the stratosphere of best-scoring subs. Now here at SingulariTee, we are loath to insinuate that bigger scores equal better, but they certainly usually intimate popularity, so we can almost guarantee this week's stock will be decimated at warp speed. We are hoping for brisk sales especially for The Fantastic Voyage by igo2cairo, coincidentally update #21 from our Contest Watch... but hopefully not so good that it sells out before I can get one (maybe I should heed my own advice?) The print came out beautifully, maintaining everything I originally loved about it, from the vintage style to the colorful pop in the portholes, and the subtle background seems to nevertheless be quite visible from afar. It's always great to see a favorite come out so favorably, and here, we feel quite well served. Kudos, T-less!

Now, we hate to sound like a broken record like a broken record, but we really have to recommend entering our Contest Watch Contest soon-like. Remember, entries close as soon as we announce update 24. That's 3 shirts from now... with the right teefury/woot/DBH combo, that could happen tonight. OK, OK, it probably won't, but you get the point, right? I'd just hate to have you miss out on the chance for a FREE SHIRT. We're a giving site here, y'know.

Anonupdate

When SingulariTee likes your shirt, we support it. That's the main point of the blog: draw attention to the things I believe deserve that attention. So when you see a shirt featured in the Contest Watch portions of this blog, it's not because I'm tight with the designer, or that I'm confident I can add it as a "victory" some day. It is because I believe the shirt deserves to be made, and 9 times out of 10, because I want it on my chest. It's bittersweet, then, to make this particular update, since neither design fits the normal mold, but to the same degree, if it's out there, you should know, and hopefully support the designers.

Firstly, we have Dekonstruct's Thrift Monster. What I liked about this to start, and still like about it, is the subtle humor and even a sense of nostalgia. The old boxes make it feel more like the monster is playing with hand-me-downs, or old, once forgotten relics of his childhood... it especially reminds me of old Christmases, when we'd pull up the ornaments and decorations, packed with haphazard love into whatever large boxes we had at the time. The "thrift" theme is a bit lost out of context, but it is no less enjoyable for it. This one comes to us from Dekonstruct's MySoti page, which has an eclectic mix of his trademark cartoony humor, along with some slogan work of various levels. It's all print on demand, so every sale means a profit. So give him your damn money.

Both happier and sadder is the case of ISABOA, or Joe Carr, as makes more sense for this update. Joe's got a site, Antiquated Press, dedicated to, well, art in an older, "antiquated" style. It's something he does quite well, so it's little shock to me that it would be a style he favors. Part and parcel with the site, he's started releasing limited edition prints of some of his work. You can check out the current catalog, but Workshop is the one we're most excited about. It looks great printed, and is a favorite Contest Watch design around here, so I'm excited to have a chance to get one. I'm equally disappointed, though, that I don't have a chance to wear it, because it looked like it would be an excellent shirt. If you loved it before, maybe you want it on your wall? And if you're interested in any of the work he has available, use promo code OMGPALS for 15% off (courtesy of OMG Posters).

Neither of these are an "official" update here... posters aren't shirts, after all, and I really want these to be selected, recognized updates... whether winners at Threadless or selected at TeeFury. As such, neither will be counted toward our contest's update tally, pressing onward and upward toward 25. However, both will be included in the potential prize list, and both should be up for your consideration.