If there’s one thing we should all know by now, it’s to shop around. The first place you find what you want is rarely the best place to get it, and with a little legwork you can comparison-shop your way to t-shirt nirvana.

While this has always applied for those looking to buy shirts, what about those looking to print? I think there’s been considerably less attention on the idea of shopping around when you’re looking to make your own shirts. There’s certainly a lot of selection out there, so which one do you choose? How do you know which print on demand (POD) company is right for your shirts?

Tees in a Pod has put together a comprehensive guide to the major print on demand services and breaks down everything from print area and cost to print methods, shop customization and affiliate commissions. It’s really a fantastic read.

While you’re there, check out their podcasts and hit subscribe, it’s good stuff!

The only part of American Idol I can ever stand is the beginning, where nobody’s that serious and there’s plenty of humor to go around. I didn’t catch last night’s episode, but someone showed me this clip at work where Renaldo Lapuz sings “We’re Brothers Forever,” an original composition. It really pays to watch the entire clip, it gets better as it goes on.

After seeing that (and nearly crying while laughing) I felt quite inspired. I walked around the office the rest of the day singing “I am your brother!” repeatedly. I made up a little shirt an hour or two ago to commemorate this little gem of pop culture goodness.

It’s available in all different cuts and sizes and styles, everything from thick tees, thin tees, hoodies, all that stuff CafePress is good for. A bunch of different colors and all the standard sizes of course. I think the cheapest is around $12. You can get the I Am Your Brother shirt at my CafePress store.

With the Iowa Caucuses out of the way, the New Hampshire Primaries dead ahead and Super Tuesday looming on the horizon, I got to thinking about this year’s presidential election, in t-shirt form of course!

While you can always get a candidates official apparel and related merch from their website, it is often…how to put this delicately…boring as hell. I understand they have to be safe, but you can only see so many variations of the flag wrapped over “John Doe 2008″ before nausea sets in. Nevertheless, the official apparel does funnel money directly into the candidates campaign, so keep that in mind.

The grassroots effort has spawned tons of creative and colorful shirts for every candidate and issue you can imagine over at CafePress. There are some really great ones, and of course some that would be better suited as shop rags. CafePress makes it easy though: you can sort by party (even the obscure ones), candidate, or by issue.

There’s also a section dedicated to “Anti-” shirts if being a negative nancy is your thing. For fun, you can also find shirts for people who aren’t even running, including Steven Colbert, Condi Rice and the like.

Check out the shirts at CafePress.