Get some New Threads for the New Year
Ok, so I didn’t purposely wait for the holiday season so all you fools wouldn’t buy the same stuff that I did- I’ve just been wicked busy. Yes, wickahd busy. Anyway, I thought I would share with you some of favorite places online to get sweet new clothes. Didn’t get what you wanted for the holidays? Then go buy something sweet to wear. And guess what, they’re ALL having sales RIGHT NOW! So screw the economy get on it you consumer whores!
DesignByHumans – Going off the home designer T-shirt fad, DBH launched about a year and a half ago in ’07. There aesthetic is distinct and overall feel of the style they go for is darker and more “designy” than their predecessor Threadless. Additionally their large gamut of available printing techniques allows for some really interesting and high quality products. So far they have been able to consistently put out good shirts and have not followed the path of other user submitted content shirt sites which start to go stale after about a year or two. Oh, and they’re Fabric Edition Ts are bomb. I grabbed one of the limited edition blanks when they were available at their introduction and it is easily one of my favorite shirts. It’s really soft but without being too thin or stretchy.
They’re having a T sale at $10+ (usually Ts are $19+) until Jan 4.
FULLBLEED – This a unique one on the list, because this is all one guy. Rob Dobi. A man I truly admire and respect, I’ve been following him since he started with his Ts in 2004 as a side-project. The designs have a unique style utilizing silhouettes and simple yet meaningful illustrations. I’ve seen many try to copy his work on Threadless and elsewhere, but it just isn’t the same. His Ts are printed on American Apparel and affordable ($10, capping at $17 for Ts and $35 hoodies) making his stuff the best value of price to design on this list. He also has a fantastic site (that came out of another sideproject) YourSceneSucks.com and the original from 2002 that helped start it allHow-to dress Emo. He also has two super exclusive T designs available from his site for only $10 because they’re
Karmaloop – A collection of street/urban style threads from various brands complete with blossoming socialnetwork/media-ish sub-site. A good place to get some cool stuff you won’t find in most stores, especially if you’re in the ‘burbs. (You hear that hipster kids!? Buy from here and no one else will have the same shit as you!) However, keep in mind, these urban styles are at Urban Outfitters like prices, so if you plan on shopping here, make sure to take that double your boss offered you next Friday.
But if you can’t work the shift, get over there now and use the code “MERRY” for 50% off your ENTIRE ORDER.
DrJays – Original Street Style – Founded in 1975 in the South Bronx, DrJays hosts brick and mortar locations in NYC and NJ. They’re selection is similar to that of Karmaloop but with typically better prices. Their media site also has interviews famous people on it, oooo, ahhhh. Also, with there long history in the game, I imagine it gets them an advantage with exclusives and deals.
Also having a sale, check it out!
Threadless – One of the first design/submit/vote/shop community oriented T-shirt sites. They’ve gone a little down hill since their inception in 2000. I may have just grown out their designs but in my opinion have become a bit stale and are usually much more fluffy, cute, cliche, pun-ish and kitschy than other sites. However, they frequently reprint some of their older, more popular designs which I think are a bit better. The Ts tend to be slightly less expensive than others (now starting at $18 and a section of $9 Ts) and their sales are usually better, like right now,
The Select Series – Formally a special part of Threadless where popular designers were allowed to design a T-shirt and skip the voting process after their regular designs had won a few times. Select is now a full-fledged sub-brand of Threadless complete with its own site and features Ts printed on nicer fabric with various printing methods. These Ts typically have more well designed graphics and are closer to work seen on DBH.
Chealsestormey – Wellfare hipsters have no fear! Discount American Apparel is here!
That’s it, plain and simple, this site offers AA stuff for 50%-75% off retail.
TOPMAN – For the bourgeois hipsters and stylish yuppies, this place has some high class, high price clothing to make a dapper appearance from here to across the pond. Originally a UK store, they launched a US online storefront for us yanks to get in style. Look for Eurothreads and just plain classy shit here. Don’t want to pay shipping? Then wait ’til Spring 09 for their first US Flagship store on 478 Broadway in SOHO. Hit them up now and you could land a job there- who knows, maybe they have sweet discounts. Either way, just like everyone else- they have a sale going on now
REVOLVEclothing – Launched in 2003, it’s really just another online clothing store featuring collection of high design, hipster/urban-esq brands for your self-indulging pleasure. They stand out by having one of the largest brand selections I’ve seen (I didn’t bother counting, but it’s a lot, as far as actual selection they claim 4400+ styles for Women and 7500+ styles for Men). They also tend to have some brands that are harder to find and more exclusive (again, especially in the suburbs and less culture heavy, less-populated cities). They’re prices reflect they’re selections and are in the premium/designer range, but right now stuff is
30%-80% off during their End of ’08 Blowout.
Digital Gravel – A storefront-blog/tlog combo- features an assortment of designers and brands big and small. Mostly urban/street/hipster styles. Apparently has lots of exclusives. I can’t say for sure as I haven’t paid much attention to it because it’s definitely on the pricey side. Although I will now because they just started tweeting deals, hopefully this will turn into more than just a holiday thing.
Currently free shipping, but you missed the Sample Sale at there CA warehouse, also add them to your Twitter as they tweet random sales that last anywhere from 1 hour to a few days.
DistrictLines – A company that allows designers to operate small storefronts underneath their ecommerce infrastructure. The majority of its clients seem to be metal/hardcore bands and some Youtube related shirts. But there are some hidden gems and interesting designs hidden withing the shop list if you’re willing to dig (this may make it easier). They also apparently have no policies about copyright infringement.
Oh, and as far as I could tell, there are no sales here, however, I didn’t check every storefront.
Merchline – Just like District Lines except the majority of storefronts are actual designers instead of hardcore bands. This is the company that hosts Dobi’s stuff. Lots of good stuff here. Just gotta dig.
Neighborhoodies – Don’t feel like waiting for your design to win on Threadless and don’t want to make at least 6 of em on CustomInk? Neighborhoodies offers one-off custom shirts and of course, hoodies. But if you aren’t feeling creative, they also have readymades too! And if you’re in the hood, stop by theirs @ 26 Jay Street Brooklyn NY 11201.
Spreadshirt – Like DistrictLines and Neighborhoodies, Spreadshirt is an on-demand Tshirt printing site. It’s pretty cool and a review of it can be found on the The Tshirt Blog, but there is also a storefront of other peoples work. Definitely worth checking out.
Seems like the sales are over, but stuff is pretty affordable anyway.
Mysoti – Brought to my attention by TSB Another on-demand Tshirt site with a marketplace. The generally reflects a mix of DBH and Threadless, although the Most Wanted seem to all be leaning towards a DBH look.
A Better Tomorrow – A clothing store with primarily Ts but also with some apparel like special edition, artist painted Nikes. This site combines the aesthetics of Threadless, DBH and Karmaloop with a very eclectic mix of styles. I’m pretty sure there used to be an English storefront version of the site, but right now it’s all German. A good place to snag super exclusive threads and kicks as the German aspect has probably confused and scared off your friends who can’t waste their time with other languages. I don’t know about shipping, but I’ve had good experience getting stuff to the US through Deutsch Post from other companies.
No sale as far as I can tell, but, I can’t read German either.
Oddica – A Tshirt site with decent designs. The name is pretty fitting as the designs can be a bit weird at times. General style reflects a mix of Threadless and DBH. Oh, and
THERE IS A Sale- $10 Ts, $18 Polos and $25 Hoodies.
BustedTees – I mention this one last because although funny/entertaining, these type of shirts aren’t really for me anymore, they also have enough advertising between Facebook, MySpace and College humor that they don’t need my link. However, I’ve included them in the list here because I referenced them a few times in this article. So in case you didn’t know about them, now you do. Most of their products are T-shirts with graphic puns, funny references to pop-culture and other related designs. There a step up from the shirts you bought at Hot Topic and thought were cool to wear when you were in middle/high school; but they aren’t anything too graphically complex or sophisticated. Most of these are shirts are ones that I could appreciate on someone else and think are pretty funny but wouldn’t wear myself. I say most because there are a few, that if given to me as a gift (i.e. free, e.g. I didn’t have to pay for) I would probably wear. Also, hilariously sarcastic, caustic and now iconic Someecards has licensed their designs to BustedTees. Providing an entire new array of fairly amusing shirts.
There is also a special sale this week only AND FREE RETURN SHIPPING!
The others- Below are a few more somewhat generic online T shops. For the most part, they’re nothing special and/or new, but still might be worth checking out.
Chop Shop – Another one like Loiter Ink or BustedTs. Some decent designs worth looking at.
Currently featuring a sale of Ts from $1 to $10
Luckythreadz Loiter Ink – Previously LuckyThreadz, Loiter Ink is kind of like BustedTs and trying to be like Threadless. Haven’t seen many new shirts on here in ages- but depending on your style, you might like some of the shirts found here.
Although they’re site is Christmas themed, it doesn’t seem to be related to any Christmas sale…dumb.
TeeTonic – Like a Scottish based version of Threadless, you’ll find enough unique stuff to merit a visit, but after a while, you’ll notice some redundancy, ideas that have been covered by Threadless, Rob Dobi and others months/years earlier.
They are also having a 50% sale and some stuff for 5pounds, I don’t know about shipping costs to the US though.
Turtlehead – With a T design style VERY similar to that found on Threadless but a selection that doesn’t even fill one page, it’s not much to look at, but I didn’t want to leave it out.
MOJITEE – Unique Character Tees, unfortunately I haven’t seen the selection change from those six same Ts in at least 2 years. Also, the T I got was super soft but was very light, weirdly stretchy and fit awkwardly.
Insanely Great Tees – A decent name wasted on a lackluster site. Good for the Apple Geek in your life, this site features a static selection of Mac and OS related Ts.
Also, stay on-top of T-Shirt news and styles with http://tcritic.com/, http://www.iloveyourtshirt.com/ and http://www.thetshirtblog.com/
Did I miss any worth mentioning? Let me know in the comments!
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