TADDICT.COM T-SHIRT BLOG

Pop Culture Tees Does It Again

Derek — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:28:31 +0000

We all suffer from our fair share of filler posts in the world of t-shirt blogs. About the only way to get past the rut of short and simple posts is to really sit down and take some time. Liz at Pop Culture Tees just did exactly that.

The concept behind her post is How to Make Your T-Shirt Shop Stand Out and Sell More. This is definitely a subject matter that could have been broken up into multiple post to drag it out longer, but she knocked it out…all in one punch. She broke it down into a very readable format, included real world examples, and provided pictures to illustrate everything. The t-shirt industry just got better today.

Props go out to Liz for her hard work; so please take a moment to get schooled in the t-shirt shop basics.

How to Make Your T-Shirt Shop Stand Out and Sell More

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
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Turn Nocturnal
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Mediocore Clothing
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Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Tips on Designing Logos for T-Shirts

Derek — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:46:49 +0000

Since our last post was about an interview with a t-shirt designer, I thought it would be appropriate to point you in the direction of some good t-shirt design tips. This post is more specifically about designing logos for yourself or clients that are going to be printed on t-shirts. Even if you don’t do a lot of logo design, you can still gain a few good tips about overall t-shirt design.

This post comes from a very strong design blog, called myInkBlog, and they focus on design as a whole (not just on t-shirts). The title of the article is Logo Design With Apparel In Mind and it is well worth the read.

Logo Design for T-Shirts

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

T-Shirt Designer Spotlight: Dale Edwin Murray

Derek — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:52:38 +0000

This post is the inaugural t-shirt designer spotlight interview of many to come. We have a few of these interviews already lined up because these designers are the peeps that keep the t-shirt game strong. Enough chit-chat, let’s get down to it:

What is your favorite part of design?

My favorite part of design is the wonderful moment when you successfully visually articulate an idea that has been knocking around your head, and it looks as good as you had hoped. So often ideas can elude you and remain locked away in the brain but when you can get them out and down on paper it’s a great feeling. From a practical standpoint I also love doodling - the process of letting you mind run free and drawing as you do so is a really liberating experience n my opinion. So many of my designs have come from completely aimless doodling - I highly recommend it! And from a commercial point of view I still get a massive buzz from produce something that someone wants to buy or from seeing someone wear a t-shirt that I have designed.

How would you describe your style?

How would I describe my style. Hmmmmmm. I’m not sure really. I do this for a living so I try to be as versatile as possible and am always looking to develop new styles so that I have more to offer potential clients. I have always veered towards a more clean, graphic, minimal style but recently I have been trying to break out of this comfort zone and try a more maximalist approach. I guess most of my stuff on the whole is quite light hearted, fun and stylised. But my next mission is to push myself to try something a bit darker and more realistic.

What inspires your work?

What inspires my work? Other people’s designs, music, cinema, waking up in the morning, the never ending quest to produce the ‘perfect’ t-shirt graphic, a couple of pints of Guiness, a big fat credit card bill, my girlfriend, graffiti. I get a lot of inspiration from participating in online design competitions - getting positive feedback, or even negative for that matter, really pushes you on to try and produce better and better work.

What are five websites that you can’t live without?

Taddict (and you wonder why we like these designers?)
Threadless
Emptees
Design By Humans
TeeFury
FFFFound

What trends do you see developing in the future of t-shirt design?

God I haven’t got a clue really. I’m not really into design trends. I’m psyched about drawing monster characters at the moment and I have no idea whether that is ‘trendy’ or not? I hope that hand drawn rather than vectored graphics will continue to be popular because that is what I really enjoy. Yeah, hand drawn monsters are my prediction for the future!

URL: http://www.daleedwinmurray.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7452274@N08/

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Another T-Shirt Design Contest

Derek — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:44:29 +0000

Only the market will tell us at what point the internet will reach saturation on websites based on t-shirt design contests. One that I came across today and was unaware of, is a company called Itself. The problem with a lot of these new sites is that they take an already existing concept (crowdsourcing t-shirt production) and get dollar signs in their eyes. What I mean by this is, the execution isn’t so great, because the plan was conceived with a motivation other than passion. Itself doesn’t seem to suffer from that problem.

Here Itself - T-Shirt Design Contest

The thing that they are doing that appears to be a step in the right direction is following through with what they say they’re going to do. The simple premise behind their site is to pay winning designers and to create t-shirts out of those designs. I have seen a few sites lately that are making these claims, but you just aren’t seeing any new t-shirts in their shop. To me, that is the biggest community killer you could do. Itself has a few new shirts up, but they also back it up with their blog, showcasing the new winners.

The most interesting thing I saw with their business model is they are producing their own t-shirts. I know you might be thinking that is an obvious decision considering Threadless does it, but they don’t have the Threadless bankroll or volume at this stage in the game. I guess only time will tell, but so far so good….

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Affliction Cofounder Resigns Amid Controversy

Derek — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:08:14 +0000

It is very rare as a t-shirt blogger that I get to write about mainstream news drama. Today is different. Affliction is a very popular t-shirt company that caught on with their oversized prints, frequent air time on American Idol, and saturation in the mixed martial arts world. They are also the brand behind the popular MMA clothing line Xtreme Couture by husband and wife team, Randy and Kim Couture. That partnership is also where the issues begin.

The Affliction brand’s Cofounder and Vice President, Todd Beard, had to announce his resignation this week stemming from threatening comments he made towards Kim Couture (wife of MMA fighter - Randy Couture). Kim had to go as far as getting a restraining order against Todd Beard, with his past history of violence towards women as the reason. During his resignation, he also disclosed that he will be seeking treatment for anger management and alcohol abuse.

It will be interesting to see how the Affliction brand handles this obstacle, and whether or not it affects their growth.

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Lupe Fiasco X FALSE Collabo

Derek — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:14:08 +0000

Lupe Fiasco is one hell of a lyricist. If he puts a fraction of his focus into a clothing line, then get ready for some sick gear. His clothing line is a collaboration with False and the theme is as deep as Lupe’s double entendre rhymes. The title of the line is Fallacy of Rome and the first launch in a series of 3 is centered around the Hounds of Hades. I will just mess up the explanation for the Hounds but you can read more about it at False’s blog. In the meantime, here are the two pics of the Hounds of Hades t-shirts:

The Fallacy of Rome

The Hounds of Hades

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Abduzeedo T-Shirt Design Contest

Derek — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:03:44 +0000

One of our favorite design blogs, Abduzeedo, has recently started a t-shirt design contest. The theme for the contest is pretty simple with the designs needing to relate to Space and/or Abduction. The t-shirt printer for the project is Spreadshirt because they are one of the sponsors of the contest. They are about to have their hands full with some difficult prints, because the random examples shown are about as technical as they can get (especially on dark t-shirts). Good luck to all those who enter the contest and even more luck goes out to Spreadshirt for taking on these prints.

Abduzeedo T-Shirt Design Contest

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Is This a Budding T-Shirt Dynasty?

Derek — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:15:23 +0000

Two of our favorite companies to write about are Design By Humans and Tee Fury. It’s no secret that they are littered all across this t-shirt blog because of their superior t-shirt prints and sick t-shirt designs. They were both the second major players in their niche with Design By Humans successfully following Threadless‘ trail and Tee Fury taking the Shirt.Woot path.

Being second is not a bad thing at all. Please don’t misconstrue this post as anything negative, it is actually quite the opposite. These two companies have come out of the starting blocks, running like Olympic athletes. Obviously, the market was not saturated, and they have done a great job of grabbing up market share so that the next me-toos can’t be so successful. Recently, they formed a partnership since their business processes are not competitive and their marketing hits the same audience.

Ironically, both companies are located in Irvine California. This makes the partnership more convenient or might make a conspiracy theorist think that the owners are the same. If in fact the term partnership is being used loosely and the owners are the same, then these guys might just be the next t-shirt dynasty. As far as not disclosing to everyone that they are one in the same, don’t blame the player… blame the game.

TeeFury

Design By Humans

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Another Solid T-Shirt Interview

Derek — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:55:52 +0000

Hopefully in the t-shirt world, good t-shirt interviews come in threes like most everything else. Because I just found the second one today. One was brought to us by Liz at Pop Culture Tees, where she interviewed Amanda Mallardo from Kickin Ass Tees. Like most independent t-shirt retailers, Amanda is the jack of all trades for her site.

In my opinion, the most important thing that she said in the interview was how she really had to work to get her t-shirts sold. I think the biggest mistake someone can make when starting out, is to believe that “if you build it they will come”. The online t-shirt industry is anything but a field of dreams. The only way to succeed is by busting your hump. Check out the interview by clicking on the picture:

Kickin' Ass Tees Interview

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"

Coty Gonzales Brings It with Johnny Cupcakes Story

Derek — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:36:41 +0000

Coty Gonzales is a t-shirt blog and also the name of the author who writes it. He recently caught up with the folks at Johnny Cupcakes and was able to provide us 5 things you can learn from them. The post is so solid and informative, you just know that Coty put a lot of work into it and the t-shirt world is better for that. It is the least we can do at TAddict to show a little link love to such an interesting post.

The story of Johnny Cupcakes is an anomaly. They have an absolute cult following for such a niche concept that you know their advice is worth reading. Duplicating their success is something we all would dream of, and now we have five priceless nuggets to include in that game plan.

So what is your time writing another post without heading over to read this article first. Note, our favorite point in the list is the first one, because you can’t get anywhere worth going without hustling.

5 Things to Learn from Johnny Cupcakes

Thanks for being a Taddict.com subscriber! To show our appreciation we have teamed up with various stores to offer you exclusive coupon codes.

Also don't forget to check out our new interactive t-shirt forum that was just announced!

Funk Rush
20% off code "TADDICT789"
Turn Nocturnal
10% off code "TURNTADDICT"
Mediocore Clothing
10% off code "TADDICT3439"
Wandering Whale
25% off code "TADDICT"