In this episode of Thread Notes TV I take you to the park (because it’s practically criminal to sit at home when it’s nice outside here) and tell you a little bit about a sweet t-shirt Patrick from Tilteed sent me. There are a lot of things that set Tilteed apart from other t-shirt design competition, so they’re definitely worth a look.

In this episode

Jungle Book – Tilteed (t-shirt details) – Price: $18

This intricate design from Tilteed delivers a classic 1-2 punch: it stuns you first with its attention to detail and the delicate lines on the book pages then knocks you out when you realize there’s really nothing random about it and the message is quite focused and clear.

It comes across like an illustration you’d expect to see on an old British children’s book, Danny or Christopher Robin perhaps?

It just really makes me think of all those times we had to read a book in school as child. I didn’t want to do it at first because it wasn’t a book that I picked out, but after a while I realize it’s a good story and there’s a reason the teacher picked that book.

Soon enough I’m engrossed in the story and don’t want to put it down. The imagination is in full gear and I’m filling in details and backstory on my own. Then, just as you’re knee-deep in it, somebody taps me on the shoulder and it’s like being startled out of a dream. All that smoke and color goes back into the page and you’ll left with just a bunch of words on a bunch of pieces of paper. It’s about that time that there can be a brief moment where you realize the imagination’s power to turn something so literal and concrete into such a vivid and vibrant experience.

Leave a comment down below and let me know what you think! If you’d like your t-shirt featured in a future episode of Thread Notes TV, check out my submit a t-shirt page.

Thanks again to Patrick at Tilteed for sending over Jungle Book and being so patient while the review was edited and put online. Zip over there and check out their latest designs.

In this episode of Thread Notes TV I review a couple of t-shirts from 2600 Strange Ave. If you think Ed Hardy t-shirts are lame, you’re going to love 2600 Strange Ave.

Their tees are the perfect antithesis to all the overpriced status-symbol brands that are bastardizing the core idea of what a t-shirt is and should be. It’s also worth noting that while every t-shirt business has a story of how they started, I don’t think I’ve heard one as amusing as the one 2600 Strange Ave has.

In This Episode

$90 T-Shirt – 2600Strange.com (t-shirt details) – Price: $20

This shirt cheekily points out that there’s much more to life than a $90 t-shirt. If you’re spending that much on a shirt…well, you’re beyond help and probably not reading TRB. For a shirt to be worth that much it’s got to be pretty damn special, and well, I guess magic cotton would qualify. If you think the most important part of what you wear is how much you paid for it, this isn’t the shirt for you.

Description – 2600Strange.com (t-shirt details) – Price: $20

This shirt lists everything you’d find on an Ed Hardy t-shirt. So why is this shirt so much cheaper? This shirt only has the words, while an Ed Hardy shirt may have the actual things. If they actually printed on this shirt all the things they list, they’d have to charge an arm and a leg for it.

You see, Ed Hardy shirts are like Mexican food. Very, very expensive Mexican food. Stay with me here. While to the casual observer all Mexican dishes are different, they all have the same basic ingredients – albeit in a unique order. Mexican food is tortilla, beans, meat, cheese, and tomatoes/peppers. Each Mexican dish takes these 5 ingredients and rearranges them into some kind of unique dish.

Ed Hardy shirts are no different. Skulls, wings, gold foil, unicorns and crossbones – those are the basic ingredients. Tweak the colors, put them in a different order…tada! New Ed Hardy shirt. If only we could all be so original.

Both of these shirts from 2600 Strange Ave get down to the core of what a t-shirt is and isn’t, and I like that. No matter how cool you feel, spending $90 on a t-shirt accomplishes only two things – making you look like a jackass and telling people around you that you have no sense of your priorities. These guys get it right.

Leave a comment down below and let me know what you think! If you’d like your t-shirt featured in a future episode of Thread Notes TV, check out my submit a t-shirt page.

Thanks again to the guys at 2600 Strange Ave for sending over these shirts. Check ‘em out!

Goooooooooood morning Vietnam!

It’s finally not Monday anymore…though I would argue that it certainly feels like it! It’s still as rainy and dreary here as ever…I’d definitely be alright with the sun coming out to play. Anytime now. Really.

Anyways, there’s no time to let the rain get you down because I’ve got a pretty sweet collection of links here for you! So without further delay:

108 LOST T-Shirts to Celebrate the End Including 20 You Can’t Buy – Coty Gonzales
How could this one not top the list this week? This is a thoroughly exhaustive list of Lost-related t-shirts put together by tee-blogger extraordinaire, Coty Gonzales. As the series draws to a close, there’s no reason to not work your way through this list, if only to marvel at its size and sheer amount of work that went into compiling it. Bravo!

Novel-T Team Jerseys – Andy @ Hide Your Arms
Andy wrote about these interesting shirts from Novel-T. They depict various American authors and literary figures as members of a softball team. Each shirt features a name and number on the back and a representative image on the front from a book by that author (or containing that character).

While I zipped around Novel-T’s site I found a few that I liked more than the Vonnegut shirt Andy picked out. I think the idea is truly very clever and I wouldn’t mind wearing Gatsby or Darwin honestly.

Andy does point out that their website is their weak point, and as much as I hate to admit it, it could use some work. There’s nothing wrong with it visually or functionally, but the usability definitely needs some TLC. That said, I’d love to see these shirts get the stage they deserve.

Ghostbusters Glow in the Dark Tee – Ollie @ Cottonable
Ollie pointed out this clever t-shirt that makes you look like Venkman right after he got slimed. Again. The design is solid and the use of glow in the dark ink is what takes this shirt from “eh, that’s kinda clever” to “duuuude, check that out.”

I really want to re-watch Ghostbusters now, it’s been forever. Time for a Bill Murray fix.

Thread Notes T-Shirt Newsletter – Shameless Self Promotion
So it would be awfully awkward to link to Thread Notes everywhere this week except a post full of t-shirt links. Thread Notes is a t-shirt newsletter I started to offer exclusive videos, coupon codes and other goodies to subscribers. I’m giving away 7 Design by Humans t-shirts starting May 24 to celebrate the launch, how cool is that?

If you like this site, you’ll love Thread Notes. If you want to see my mug pitch the idea to you, check out my Beautiful Weather for a Drive video. There’s a sign-up form in the sidebar here or you can check out Thread Notes for a video.