Leave it to Electric Zombie owner Kyle Crawford to come literally out of nowhere and drop a brand new 43 piece brand. The new brand called Grave Takers has been in works since last January when the idea hit Kyle after dropping the Electric Zombie winter line with no promotion or typical EZ build up.

The new brand focuses almost entirely on black and white designs only and will act as an alternative to the the more colorful and sometimes parody driven Electric Zombie and Kyle has stressed that Electric Zombie is not going anywhere.

Grave Takers simply put is impressive. Consisting of 43 pieces including cut and sew jackets, button ups and jeans it is also rounded out with a multitude of tees, hoods, and prints. As we have come to expect from EZ all tees are printed on American Apparel and come with a very nice price point of $20.

Personally I have been a much bigger fan of the more muted looking winter lines that Electric Zombie have been putting out so for me Grave Takers is perfect. I can’t wait to see how this brand grows within the limitations of the black and white palette.

It is truly amazing that Kyle has been able to keep such a tight lid on such a huge project. Color me impressed.

Check out the entire line at: www.gravetakers.com

There are a couple things we have come to expect from Kyle Crawford and Electric Zombie over the years, one is he usually does not disappoint with his releases. This is of course true with his latest release comprised of new tees, hoods and prints.

Typically the summer EZ line is heavily illustrated and comprised of brighter colors, with the winter line feeling much more muted and sticking more to one color designs and badge type artwork. What I am digging most about this line is it looks a bit like Electric Zombie’s summer and winter releases. You have to love when you get the best of both worlds.

There are a ton of great selections in this line but the piece that sticks out to me most is the “Haunt White” design featuring some fantastic illustration and some awesome glow in the dark flavor. This design is also available as 18 x 24 glow in the dark print!

As to be expected there are some great horror movie based tees such as Child’s Play based “Good Guy” and of course the Nightmare on Elm Street inspired “Mastermind” design.

Also as to be expected are EXTREMELY fair prices with tees running only $18-$20, prints at $10-$20 and hoods at $40-$45.

Check it all out for yourself at www.buyelectriczombie.com

Let it be known that absolute favorite style and color t-shirt is American Apparel Tri-Blend Heather Grey, but with that said nothing to me looks better in summer than white and bright colored tees. I have scoured the internet to bring 50 of my favorite white and bright t-shirts! Summer has only started to kick into gear and there is plenty of time to fill out at that summer wardrobe.

This list is probably the most subjective list I have put together as it features what are in my “opinion” some of my favorite white and bright colored tees. That being said, I am of course going to miss some winners, but as I am a one man show, it’s going to happen! So no bitching! If you have a favorite white or bright colored shirt that you think should be on the list feel free to leave it in the comments below!

List is in no particular order and each link goes directly to where you can purchase that tee!

As always please be kind and retweet and facebook like this list! They take a long time to put together!

1. Swallows & Daggers | £15.99 | Buy Here

2. Ugmonk |$24 | Buy Here

3. Johnny Cupcakes | $35.99 | Buy Here

4. Arkaik | $19.99 | Buy Here

5. Dpctd Apparel | $22 | Buy Here

6. Miles To Go | $25 | Buy Here

7. Death, Shred | $26 | Buy Here

8. Colus | $20 | Buy Here

9. Sugar Steak Apparel | $20 | Buy Here

10. Dont Feed The Animals | $24 | Buy Here

11. Origin 68 | £18 | Buy Here

12. Gold Coin | $30 | Buy Here

13. Go Ape | $20 | Buy Here

14. Golden Eagle | $20 | Buy Here

15. Atslopes | $20 | Buy Here

16. Electric Zombie | $20 | Buy Here

17. Valley Clothing | $22.99 | Buy Here

18. Random Objects | $23 | Buy Here

19. Fur Face Boy | $19.99 | Buy Here

20. The Hundreds | $24 | Buy Here

21. 410 BC | $36 | Buy Here

21. SEIBEI | $22.99 | Buy Here

22. CX City | $23.95 | Buy Here

23. SUCK! Clothing | $25 | Buy Here

24. The Vague Idea | $33 | Buy Here

25. The VNM | $30 | Buy Here

26. Prestigious | $26 | Buy Here

27. Sockmonkee | $12 | target=”blank”Buy Here

28. Lincoln Supply Co | $25 | Buy Here

29. MASKED | $26.99 | Buy Here

30. Fullbleed | $18 | Buy Here

31. Mumford Clothing | $18 | Buy Here

32. Monsieur Eureka | $21.99 | Buy Here

33. 8 Bit Zombie | $18 | Buy Here

34. Kinkking | 21 € | Buy Here

35. Nomad Clothing | $23.95 | Buy Here

36. Regan Smith Clarke | $25 | Buy Here

37. RAWRS | $18 | Buy Here

38. Time To Panic | £13.95 | Buy Here

39. Branded Baron | $20 | Buy Here

40. Urban Misfit Society | $24 | Buy Here

41. Ruckus Apparel | $32 | Buy Here

42. Loud Silence | $20 | Buy Here

43. Seventh Ink | $24 | Buy Here

44. Omunky | $22 | Buy Here

45. Kaught Looking | $21 | Buy Here

46. Insomniac Apparel | $49.95 AUD | Buy Here

47. Make Believe | $25 | Buy Here

48. Design By Humans | $19 | Buy Here

49. Draw LTD | $20 | Buy Here

50. Zadok 44 | $18 | Buy Here

BONUS The Imaginary Zebra (this was originally on the list but was removed because their site was down) |$27| Buy Here

Kyle Crawford is easily one of the most well-known and polarizing clothing line owners in the game today. He absolutely never hesitates to speak his mind, regardless of the topic, company or issues at hand which is honestly why I have grown to love and respect him and his brand Electric Zombie as well as shake my head in disbelief at some of his approaches and comments. Regardless of whom Kyle Crawford is as a person and whether you like him or not you have to respect him as a guy that truly knows how to run a clothing company. His clothing line Electric Zombie has literally grown leaps and bounds every year and line he puts out stretching the boundaries of what you can expect from an indie clothing line. So with that all being said I figured I’d interview Kyle to get the real scoop about running his clothing line, how he views his fans and the industry. Enjoy.

Huge congrats on launching once again an absolutely massive summer line. How hard is it to plan a line consisting of that many pieces and how has the feedback been so far?

Thanks man. The planning wasn’t really so involved as you would think. I never go into the thing thinking, IT’S GOING TO HAVE THIS MANY PIECES. I Just look through my ideas, figure out who’s best for what idea and then hire out. By the time I finish my pieces and I get the pieces I hired out for, it’s like “Fuck I have a lot of shit.” It just happens. I never plan it out to be that way. The hard part is organizing everything after the designs are done. The designs are the easy part. Feedback has been awesome. There’s particular fan favorites, which always happens so overall it might not be the biggest and best sales wise. I just think people buy the ones they like the most, get it in the mail and go “Shit, I need to get more, this is awesome.” Not to say that the line is doing bad. I just think I offer too much goodness that people are more selective. The one thing I’m not looking forward to is the “Bring back the Street Sharks Shirt” comments once that design is long gone, much like the TMNT ones from a few summers back.

I know you just exhibited at Bamboozle and I have a lot of upcoming clothing lines ask about exhibiting. What are some positives and negatives of exhibiting at festivals and do you think it’s a good idea for brands that are just starting out to try and exhibit?

I think TRY is the key word. I’m not going to be someone who blows smoke up your ass. But the people that go to these things, you have to remember are girls, or the lowest of the low of people. They either want free shit, or well free shit. You have to look at these things as a way to interact with people and get your name out there. If you sell some shit in the process, then hey, today was a good day. If you think going out there, automatically gets you money, you’re dead wrong. I’d be lucky to break even at bamboozle. The money I spent to be there. The display, the freebies, the product, it’s a fuckload of money. If you’re going to do these things. Really think about how you present yourself before you think about how much product you’re going to bring out. Bring as much free shit as possible, seriously. It’s all these people care about. Bring somene who is vocal as hell. With me, I am not one of those, HEY YOU YEA YOU COME HERE, CHECK THIS OUT! I can’t do it. If and when I go to events like this. There’s always those fuck heads who do that and have their super soakers and blast me in the face, and I want to drop kick their nose off their faces. I just can’t do that. It’s annoying. I feel like if someone wants to check you out, they will. I mean it’s an all day, sometimes ALL WEEKEND event. Don’t be a doucher, be patient.

Along the lines of exhibiting at shows what should a clothing company know before they exhibit at their first show and do you have any advice for preparing?

Like I said, bring someone who is vocal and that you trust. Be prepared for all weather conditions. The first 2 bamboozle I put everything in cardboard boxes and it rained both times. I finally started bringing everything in Plastic Totes. This year it was windy as shit, there’s prepping for that beast. As a result, I hardly gave away any free stuff or had anything on the table. If you’re going to do signings, make sure you get 2 spots, all your doing is hurting business. Those 30-120 mins a band is there doing a signing, yea brings people to your spot, but they don’t give a shit about your name, they just want that scribbly line drawn in sharpee. Take a few weeks and REALLY plan everything. I think it’s smart to do the thing once and the 2nd time you’ll have more of a readiness and a sense of what to expect in the future.

What are some of the most common misconceptions about running a clothing line?

That you have a lot of money, success and that it means you’ll get loads of vagina. That it’s super easy and that everyone and anyone can do it successfully.

Has there ever been a time that you wanted to pull the plug on EZ? And if so what made you keep plugging on?

OH THE PUNS! I think about pulling it all the time, see now I made a pun! No but seriously. I always look back at the other clothing brands I’ve done work for, and look at where they’re at today. I don’t want to be one of those guys. Sometimes I feel like finishing on top (ANOTHER PUN!). A quit while you’re ahead type of thing. But then I get an idea, and another and another. So it keeps chugging along. Sometimes, things that go on in my life, or with work make me want to just pack everything in and give the world a giant FUCK YOU. I’m a pretty tense person, so it happens a lot. But I also know that I am a tense person and know I shouldn’t make any rash decisions. When I stop running out of ideas, then I’ll sell it or just bury it. The thing about it being just mine, is I can bring it back if I ever wanted to. I’m sure that once I have kids and get married, it won’t be high priority to keep it going, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

In many t-shirt circles you are as famous as your brand if not even more famous. As anyone has hung out on Emptees or now Mintees, they have probably come to the conclusion that you are a pretty polarizing guy. People either to love you or hate you. First why do you think this is and do you let it bother you and second do you think having this persona about you helps or hurts your brand?

This is a toughy. It’s a bi-polarish type of scenario. People dislike me because they think I’m just this bully ass mean guy. Which I can be, but it’s not for “NO GOOD REASON”. I have a lot of people who I think may be jealous because they spend hours and hours on something and I take something familiar and put my own spin on it, and they get all pissy because it wasn’t completely original. There’s people that dislike me because they think I pick on people, like it gets me off or something. I say what’s on my mind, I might not use the best words or the most proper language. I may even come across more angry than I really am. But, I’m really not, it’s just my foul mouthed negative attitude. I don’t put up with shit, I get it not everyone likes my art or my brand and that’s fine and well. But it’s almost like, hey man, no one’s going to call my kid ugly, if anyone is, it’s gonna be me! type of things. I think it’s hilarious when people start their FUCK KYLE CRAWFORD banter and I come in and defend myself and then I’m the asshole. The contradiction makes my head slightly cave in a little.

There’s a lot of people who can’t believe I get away or say the things I say and or do. But what the fuck do I care? It’s T-shirts. If all else fails, I’ll become a lawyer or that guy who mops up shit or something. I’d rather say what I want, do what I want and say I was me, then be like, well oh gee, that just isn’t the nicest thing to do. I think as long as you’re being true to yourself and honest, it doesn’t get more right than that. It might not be what you like to see or hear. But in the end, I really don’t care if you like me or not. I don’t lose any sleep or any sales. There’s people who hate me but still buy my shirts. There’s people I’ve told off, that still come to me for work. I do good work, I work hard and I tell it like it is. If I was just some schmuck walking around saying fuck you guy, and hey you, fuck you too. That would be different. If someone wants to take on the challenge to calling me out, shit I love to argue and i could use a break from work, let’s do this. I think about 90% of the people who know about me, love me for this. Then there’s the other 10 that either hate me for getting away with it, or because they were on the receiving end, roll in some jealousy and there’s your explanation. I think people get this vibe from me that I am this cocky piece of shit. In reality, I’m probably the most insecure artist around. I’m sure people will now point the finger to that’s why I am the way I am but whatever. I do about 4 shirt designs a day, 6 days a week, sometimes 7, and sometimes more than 4. But I showcase about 100 designs on my portfolio. Obviously I don’t think I’m hot shit or anything by any means. I also feel like my designs in the Electric Zombie stuff, can’t hold a candle to the likes of everyone else. I feel like I’m the fat friend in the circle of hot chicks. I’m pretty hard on myself. I am cocky about how much I work, how hard I work, and how I accomplished so much, in the time I did and by myself. That you can call me out on.

Sometimes I wish I could be a little better with my customers, or get someone else to handle them. But I think it’s better for someone who owns the brand, who knows the brand to be the one who answers their questions. But sometimes, they are the dumbest questions ever. I explain things plain as day, and make it as easy as possible. I even have a FAQ section. Kids just refuse to read, they’re lazy and they EXPECT answers and in a minutely fashion. I don’t think they realize how much I do, and it’s just like, I’m not sitting here waiting to cater to you. I don’t need your 20 bucks that bad. I’m here cranking out work, use google, or the website, that’s why it’s there. Quit being so damn lazy. I tend to unleash and be a little harsh on the customer. Lots of people find it funny, sometimes the customers do too. But let’s be real, you/they are being lazy. I thought about giving away wet naps in orders to people who ask a lot of questions and design the package so it says, “I even wiped your ass for you”

I don’t like being the bad guy all the time, but when you’re good at something, do it and if it’s fun, then do it more. People who have met me or know me in person see and know who I am. I still talk shit and say how it is, and i still say fuck a lot, but the anger is toned down. I’m actually a fun/funny and nice guy. I just don’t like to get the word out on that.

What are some mistakes that you have made running Electric Zombie and how have you learned from them?

The thing I am starting to learn or mistake I’ve made is, not allowing myself enough time to get everything done. I’m still not completely prepped and ready for the summer stuff. It’s ridiculous! Trying new garments was probably a bad idea as well. I think I put out too much product. I give kids and customers TOO many options. But I’m one of those people that if I don’t make an idea while I think it’s a good one now. Then I wasted my time and energy thinking it. There’s a lot of double edged swords with Electric Zombie. I think I trust people too much too. I’ve been screwed over a bit in the past year. Money stolen, betrayal, YOU KNOW THE GOOD STUFF! I’ve made a few errors and maybe I don’t want to share them because that would be a little too useful to those companies reading. I feel like they should learn those mistakes first hand, and also, who knows if MY mistakes will be THEIR mistakes.

How is it working with a fulfillment house such as MerchNow compared to doing everything on your own?

It’s kind of a different situation all together because I work here. But before I worked here, I was with Merch Line. I feel like it was and is a big help to have someone do that work for you. When I was on Karma Loop a few years back, I had to ship everything myself. Fill out forms, tracking all of that. I did that every Saturday for 6 months and I hated it. I maybe did about 20-50 orders a week with them and it was grueling. Then I had to come back and email them their tracking number and marked that it was shipped. FUCKKKK THAT. I’d rather just give someone a percentage to take care of it for me. I have enough going on as it is.

With me working here. I can check on stock by walking through doors. Notice problems and present them to them and it gets fixed. Rather than having to get on the phone or wait for an email. I get an automatic answer. So that rules. Being able to do the same thing with the printing of my stuff is great too. The whole situation I am in, is a pretty great one. Not everyone gets to see their stuff come in on the dock, get printed, pick your own ink colors, pinpoint errors before it’s too late, see the shirts come off the dryer and then put on the shelf. I’m pretty lucky.

You do a fantastic job of branding your line from cohesive photos, lines, designs and images which is something I see a lot of clothing company upstarts struggle with. Was branding something you established as your built your brand or something that you had a plan for from the start.

I kind of just do my thing. I don’t really have a plan of attack so to say. I just have an idea or a vision and I execute. I’m just very controlling and Iod know what I want, and I’m not satisfied until it happens or I get it. I don’t know if I just have this natural eye for it or if I just get lucky and comes together. Sometimes one idea leads to 7 more and it works together as a unit. A phrase or quote that I created may spark a buttload of other ideas. It just happens. I think me just being artistic and overly organized gives the appearance that I have a strategy. It’s a question I can’t really answer. I just make things and I know when things don’t fit so I save them for next time or ditch them all together. I have no idea, haha. I’m just a think machine.

Moving forward what is your long term goal and vision for Electric Zombie?

Ideally I’d like to do way more custom pieces. Way more fashiony and out there. Toys would be awesome. More grown up approach in the fall / winter. I always put that, go out with a bang mentality in my head when I plan the next line or the future. You have to take that risk, at some point you’re going to fail and the business will be non existent. I’d rather fail and learn. In the fall I have a nice little theme again and I already have the summer and another line after that planned out. So Electric Zombie isn’t going anywhere in the near future.

Before we go, is there any last minute announcements, shout outs or advice you would like to leave us with?

I just wanted to thank you ( IATT NOT YOU READERS!) for all the support over the years, nice write ups and informative and entertaining write ups and posts and videos. You don’t get too much of that now a days. I also want to thank my fans in the philippines, indonesia and malaysia. You guys are crazy supportive! Richard Minino, Derek Deal, Keaton Henson, Chris Lovell, Felix LaFlamme and Rhys Cooper for all their help this summer. The Johnny Cupcakes crew for being awesome at Bamboozle. Johnny For advice and support especially. Thanks for all the nay sayers and the fans who drive me to make the best stuff for you and for myself. I’ll be starting the fall stuff in a few weeks and it’s just a matter of time before the KYPE takes over again!

You can check out the entire new Electric Zombie Summer Line at: www.buyelectriczombie.com

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about how certain brands got their name or asked for a suggestion on picking a name I could actually run IAMTHETREND full-time! Well being proactive I decided to contact a bunch of indie clothing companies to get the scoop on exactly how they picked their brand name and what the significance and story is behind it.

I received answers from some of the biggest names in the indie clothing tee game such as Glamour Kills, Electric Zombie, Full Bleed and UGMONK as well as a bunch of up and comers. Sharpen your pencils and get ready to take some notes! You can also click on any clothing company name to go straight to their website!

So how did you come up with your companies name and is there any significance or story behind it?

Electric Zombie

Electric Zombie originally got it’s name from a t-shirt design for the band FROM FIRST TO LAST. I always tried to come up with some sort of good name for my t-shirt designs. I really hated when designers or merch companies named them something lame, like “Chair”, “Clouds”, or “Hot Bitch”. Okay, that last one wasn’t really one. But, you get the point. So I had this shirt design made up of me in a suit, and some whatever zombie images I found and added some really crappy lightning bolts and some Plugs and wires I took photos of. At the time, this was a ground breaking design. 2005 baby… I gave it the name “Electric Zombie”. I liked the name so much, that I changed my graphic alias to that. It sounded better than previous names, especially the one before that, “Converse Kid”, I know it’s lame but until 2003, when I traded my converse in for slip ons, the name fit.

From 2005-2007, I spent my time working with clothing companies, Heartcore, Entrust, and Rockett. Once all my hard work and working 3 jobs all the time, finally paid off, I landed a job with Warner Bros, took the massive salary (for a kid paying 400 bucks a month in rent), falling out with all 3 of the companies I once worked for, I had my eyes on continuing my legacy, and needed a name. It was right under my beak of a nose the whole time, Electric Zombie.

UGMONK

Actually came about pretty randomly. I came up with a bunch of different names, many had to do with design or apparel, but then kept coming back to “Ugmonk” (random, but had a nice ring to it). It was weird enough to stand out, while still being short and memorable. I like the idea that before I started Ugmonk, the word itself was ambiguous and had no preconceived meanings associated with it. This allowed me to define what “Ugmonk” is and represents.

Glamour Kills

I was about 19 when I started Glamour Kills. I knew I wanted to started a clothing company. I had a ton of designs and I knew the direction I wanted to bring my brand but I had no idea for a name. One day Im just driving in a car with a friend and bouncing names and ideas off of one another and Glamour Kills kind of stuck. There really is no great story behind it or special significance just a happy accident that stuck. Sometimes happy accidents work out well. Thank goodness this one did.

Stheart

So many people ask for the correct pronunciation. It’s fairly simple, just say “start”. My older brother was actually the one who suggested it way back when & I loved it. It’s simple, yet effective. The word is a combination of “start” & “heart”, it’s all about the beginning of something new & following your dreams. Basically, do something with your life & make sure to give it your all!

Full Bleed

When I started Fullbleed in 2004 I didn’t want to get lumped in with the rest of the companies who were labeling themselves “_____ clothing” or “_____ apparel” when all they were making was t-shirts. I wanted something that could stand on its own and have a double meaning, similar to the style of t-shirts I designed. I could lie and say there is some deep meaning to it, but I just wanted something that had appeal, but didn’t exactly mean what it sounded like. I decided to run with the graphic design term “full bleed” which the unsuspecting buyer might think sounds cool, but in reality it is just a term for a specific type of printing method.

Seventh.Ink

I am frequently asked where I came up with the name Seventh.Ink because not only is the name itself different but it also contains a bit of punctuation right in the middle of the name. Seventh.Ink’s name actually comes from my graphic design company, Seventhfury Studios. Since I do everything for both companies and also because Seventh.Ink is a sort of subsidiary of Seventhfury, I wanted to tie them together with similar names.

You might guess that my favorite number is seven, which is of course the biggest impact on both names. I come from a family of seven and my birthday is March 7th, those are two reasons behind my fondness for the number. Plus, you can’t go wrong with good ‘ol Lucky 7.

Overall, the names of both companies bring a certain amount of my personality into them which makes them more of a part of me and keeps me motivated to keep on creating and shaping them as my own.

Kill Brand

In 2001, Kill Brand was created by Jonny Smith, while on tour in the band Tokyo Rose. With a hot pink T-shirt and black spray paint in hand, he randomly graffitied K-I-L-L (as a joke) across the front of the Tee, and was his staple show shirt. Before long, Jonny was designing, spray-painting, and selling his T’s out of the back of the tour van.

As demand grew, he invested in a screen printing machine (that he used in his studio apartment). For years Jonny personally screen-printed every item by hand with his signature, KILL. Kill Brand’s notoriety grew as Jonny left Tokyo Rose and pursued promoting the apparel at music festivals across the U.S. Now Kill Brand is currently available in chain stores like Hot Topic Karmaloop, D-tox, Zumiez, and over 300 retail stores worldwide.

Snakes & Suits

The name is a shot at people who do things for the wrong reason. Generally, they’re referred to as a snake or a suit. The idea was to use the name as more of a stab at that kind of person but do the opposite and help others.

Goodie Two Sleeves

When inspired with the idea to create a positive humor based clothing brand in 2002, we were faced with the dilemma of what to name it. Surprisingly, in less than 24 hours I stumbled upon a clever wordplay, mixing 1980′s music artist Adam Ant’s ode to the prim and proper with a staple feature of t-shirts, it’s sleeves. We figured we could easily update the antiquated expression ‘Goody Two Shoes,’ a term originally coined in the 1600′s, with the same wit and charm we would lovingly instill within each t-shirt design. Thus, Goodie Two Sleeves® was born, a uniquely earnest business name that lends itself directly to our corporate image and target market.

Sugar Steak Apparel

I wanted a name that people wouldn’t be able to forget, even if they hated it, they wouldn’t forget hearing it. I still don’t know exactly how I thought of Sugar Steak, I wish I had a cooler story of how I pieced it together, but I literally thought of it one night in the shower. I had gotten in from a rough night out and “BAM!” it just hit me, “Sugar Steak.” It was a glorious moment! I later tacked on “Apparel” so I could get the ASS-backwards effect because it helped define the brand. I may have a biased opinion, but I love the name and I know people don’t forget it, which is exactly what a brand name should do, create awareness. When you think of it, most brand names are weird when you first hear ‘em, but that’s exactly what makes them work.

Miles To Go

Miles To Go comes from a Robert Frost poem called “stopping by the woods on a snowy evening”. named my belt company miles to go belts about 9 years ago even though it had nothing to do with belts and when i did clothing used it because by that point everyone just called me miles or miles to go anyway. the list of names i had before choosing miles to go for the clothing was pretty dumb, ha. i have had “miles to go before i sleep” tattooed on me since i was 18 and im now 31, so that poem has been with me for a long time.

RIPT Apparel

We knew we wanted to sell limited edition t-shirts for only 24 hours, and after they’d be laid to rest forever in our T-Shirt graveyard. The RIPT in RIPT Apparel actually stands for “Rest In Peace Tees”. We’ve haven’t really ever spelled that out before on the website, and I’m not sure many people even know that, but RIPT does actually mean something.

Prestigious

Prestigious, by definition, alludes to a sense of elevated stature- regality, you may say. Prestigious as an adjective is a postive, powerful term. That’s how I felt inside when the idea to begin a brand, a movement of my own, became swollen enough to come to life. The best products (I print only on American Apparel) made with the strongest care and concern command a sense of prestige (only 100% vegan products will ever be released bearing the Prestigious brand name, and everything is made in the USA under fair labor regulations).

Yema Yema

Yema is actually the spanish world for yolk, egg yolk. What does “yema” have to do with t-shirts then? Well, Yema was also a nickname given to a little girl who was very curios, full of life, dreams and with a bright, colorful personality. The idea if this person is what “Yema” represents. Life, color, energy and a bright wacky personality. I chose Yema as the name of my brand because i still remember what it was like to be that little girl.

Fresh Prints

The name, Fresh Prints Clothing, began as an inside joke. I started a DIY screen printing project in my college dorm room, printing shirts for my band and other bands from the area, to help pay for tuition and miscellaneous bills. With little experience in screen printing, I often left finger prints on the projects. Rather than waste a ton of tees, I would often wear them, finger prints and all (I was a broke college kid, what can I say?) These blooper tees jokingly became known as the “Fresh Prints.” The name sort of inspired me, and one day while messing around I designed a tee that was a parody of the show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and it instantly became a hit. Since then we have continued to produce tee shirts that are fun and make people smile.

Draw LTD

Draw Ltd. got it’s name from the basic idea that anyone and everyone can Draw. Since the foundation of our company was everything was hand-drawn, the name Draw just fit. It wasn’t just name, but a call to action for what we’re trying to get people to do.

Parative Clothing

With the name I originally wanted already taken for a company name, I creatively went to the dictionary. I stumbled on the word partitive, meaning to break apart. At the beginning this resembled the bands that I worked with “breaking apart” as they all went in different directions playing shows. As the concept of my brand grew, it took on a new meaning of breaking apart the slave trade industry in Southeast Asia. But from the start, like a fourth grade spelling champ, I misspelled it creating PARATIVE.

Wolves Vs Lions

WolvesVsLions got its name when a friend and I were discussing naming trends in bands and realized how many include Lions and Wolves. For example In midst of lions, wolves at the gate, lions lions, to speak of wolves. So thats about it. Just a sort of inside joke that allows for interesting illustrations.

Tripleta

Back in 2005 I decided to take my art to the masses through t-shirts. And so, my best friend, my boyfriend and I decided to join up and make this thing happen. We needed a snazzy, catchy and unique name to set us apart from everything. Since food is an epic latin passion, we thought of a Tripleta (pronounced: Tree-Pleh-Tah), a popular Puerto Rican sandwich that has 3 different kinds of meat. And since we were 3 friends with a lot of taste…Tripleta was born! Since then, we treat our products like deli sandwiches, and have fashioned everything, from our online shop to our uniforms with that deli cook flavor. ¡Buen Provecho!

Maintenance

The name and overall concept of “MAINTENANCE” came way before the brand did. I used to spend a lot of time doodling and journaling. One night I journaled, as a note to self: ” Always remember to maintain the things you love.” I found that phrase catchy, and towards the bottom of the page I scribbled the word “MAINTENANCE”. From there, I made a list of all of the elements in my life that I had to balance: work, friends, money, hobbies, relationships. I realized that if I simply remember to MAINTAIN each thing equally- my life will be in order. Shortly after this revelation and new way of thinking, I thought a clothing brand would be a rad way to represent this strait forward way of positive and proactive thinking.

Endgame

I knew that I wanted to start a chess themed clothing line, but given chess’ horrible public image, I didn’t want the name to scream, “chess!” I wanted something more subtle…something that people might not even associate with chess.

“Endgame” is the classic term for the final phase of a chess game when there are only a few pieces left on the board. It has also, more recently, been adopted to describe the final content in video games. I thought Endgame would be a winner because it was true to my chess niche, but also had some relevance to the larger gamer crowd.

Free Movement Projec (FMP Clothing)

Actually, Free Movement Projec was not the original name of my brand. I was still playing with the idea of starting a brand years ago, I had came up with the name “For My People Clothing” and proceeded to create designs centered around this name. The name didn’t last a week. I was forcing myself to design in a style that was unnatural for me. After I ditched the name and designs, I was back a square one. I needed a new name but I was already in love with the acronym F.M.P. So, I worked to find a name that fit ‘me’ and the acronym. And that’s is when I came up with “Free Movement Projec” as it stood for the freedom of creativity, which is what I love. The “T” on “Projec” was left off for stylistic purposes

Go Ape

I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with apes. In high school, my group of friends would call each other “ape” instead of “dude”, “dude brah”, or whatever kids are saying these days. I had an ape mask that we’d play pranks with, and I own the Planet of the Apes DVD box set. All of that, plus it’s a play on words of “go ape shit”, which basically means to go really nuts about something. Oh, and also, the abbreviation is GAS.

Turista Clothing

I always answered what people wanted to hear. “A doctor!” “A police officer?” “Maybe I’ll work at a Department store and work my way up…” If you replied that question today, with the knowledge you
posses now, would it make a difference? I know for me it has. I would like to travel the world.

Turista Clothing Co. was born out of the urge to do unique things, and live with passion for our jobs. To enjoy life, instead of merely existing, and dreading our days when we headed off to our miserable routines.

Peasoup Clothing

Peasoup Clothing came out of the ashes of Peasoup Records which never really got off the ground. I always wanted to do clothing but had planned to do it after the label. Chris (co-founder of Peasoup Clothing) was helping me out with the design aspect of the label and I asked him to come on board with the Clothing line. He is also my best mate so we have always wanted to do something together in this type of capacity.

The name Peasoup was thrown up during a drinking session when trying to come up with a name for the record label. It was kind of a ‘it should just be called something daft like….err….I dunno…. Peasoup Records or something’

Vicious History

I know that history can be boring for many people so I took my passion for the subject and combined it with a bold word that would help give my brand name a contemporary feel. I wrote down hundreds of word ideas and tried them out with the emptees crowd until I found something that was unique, easy to remember and portrayed the in your face brand image that I was going for.

TwnSrpnt

I love snakes and I obviously wanted to incorporate something snake related. At first it was just me (Rob) designing business cards and logos for friends and family. I went by the name of Rob the Snake. When I started getting more and more requests to do stuff, I called my brother to join in the action. We love mafia flicks and one day we came up with Twin Serpents Mafia which represented my brother and I. It sounded cool to us and to our friends but when we started handing business cards and flyers, older people looked at us weird. What’s this Mafia thing? Then we started doing shirts inspired by Mafia stuff. Wrong again, cops came up to us. “Is this some sort of gang?” We almost got kicked out of a flea market. That’s when we decided to drop “Mafia.” It was just Twin Serpents but…twinserpnts.com and twinserpent.com domains were already registered. When I started designing the logo, the name looked weird and unbalanced next to the logo so I tried removing the vowels of serpent and that’s how TwinSrpnt came up to be.

Regret Clothing

When choosing the name for my brand I put the following into consideration. The term ‘regret’ means; a distress about something that one wishes could be different. This is what Regret means, well to me at least. I spent most of my life with second guesses and I wanted all of that to end. So I call my brand Regret, it’s the idea of what regret as a word means to everyone and the making it truly mean the opposite of its connotation. Instead of regretting all the things I didn’t do or could have done, I am now doing those things and taking those chances. I myself want to live life to the fullest and that’s what I want to encourage people to do through Regret Clothing. Which is why I decided to name my brand Regret, life is way too short to be unhappy, so live a life worth living. After all life can be a party, just make sure you invite yourself to it.

Johnsaurus

I drew a little guy in a dino pajamas and I’ve day dream almost every school day about him going on adventures. Discovering and beating up mean dinosaurs that gets in his way, I thought really hard about his name. So a few days of brainstorming, I came up with the name “Johnsaurus”. I was very happy with it and it just seems pretty awesome. The name John came from me and the saurus came from the Tyrannosaurus, He’s pretty much the kid in me. I decided to bring Johnsaurus’s adventures onto shirts first and little by little, I’ll introduce dinosaurs, villains, and more characters. Pretty soon, I’m hoping to have like a youtube episodes or tumblr episodes. who knows?! The Adventure Awaits.

Although I titled this “Balancing Your BRAND And Your Life” it can also apply to all you indie bloggers and t-shirt reviewers out there. After all, building a successful blog is similar to building a successful brand, both of them involve a lot of time and effort that almost inevitably leads to stress affecting more of your life than just the portion devoted to your online endeavor. I have been pushing Sugar Steak for about a year now, and yes I say “pushing” because my brand has become like a drug, I’m addicted to it, and sometimes that does more harm than good. I’m sure all indie brand owners and bloggers can relate to this feeling at some time or another. Spending way too much time thinking about your brand, what you’d like to do with it, ways to build your social networks, ideas to spark some more sales, and so on. It’s awesome to have passion for your brand and always be thinking of ways to improve, but sometimes you’ve got to take a step back in order to avoid burnout, jolt some creativity, and ultimately make better decisions. Below I’ve tossed together a few things that contribute to what I’m calling “obsessive brand disorder” and ways we can stay passionate without driving ourselves insane.

SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ONLINE

Yes, we run online businesses, therefore much of our time will be devoted to emails, site changes, blogs, social networking, etc… But when is it too much? I’m not going to lie, I check the admin portion of my site multiple times a day, I take care of new orders, I monitor site traffic, I trackback links to see who’s posting what about my brand, I check what discount codes are being used, what shirts are viewed most; all important aspects to running an online store. But multiple times a day? C’mon Kyle, what’s the point? Most of the time there is very little change from the last time I checked, aside from the times when a new article went live or a new post spurred some attention. The fact is, we all do this, and while checking once or twice daily is important, checking every few hours is only setting yourself up for disappointment. If you don’t see the changes you have imagined will be there, you’re just going to be bummed. Which is why I suggest limiting the amount of time you spend checking the admin portion of your site, your retweets on twitter, your new fans on facebook, and all of the other stuff we as indie brand owners spend way too much time thinking about.

ALWAYS COMPARING YOUR BRAND TO OTHERS

It’s important to gauge your competition in an industry as cutthroat as clothing, you can learn valuable info from others successes and failures, and we all keep tabs on each other whether we admit it or not. We follow each other on twitter, we read articles posted on blogs, we check out our competitors’ new releases and sales, and that’s totally fine and dandy. If you didn’t do any of that you’d be a lazy and stupid brand owner. What we shouldn’t do is compare ourselves to other brands too often, especially those not even targeting the same demographic of customer. I’d be stupid to compare my brand to say, Electric Zombie, props to Kyle though for having an awesome first name and a stellar brand. Sure some customers might be down to rock gruesome eyeball tees and at the same time kick it with a tee featuring a sweet piece of meat, I’m one of those people. But I would never gauge anything I’m doing off of a brand like that, not only is he light-years ahead of me in terms of brand recognition and prestige, but for the most part we target very different customers. If I was to always be comparing Sugar Steak with the brands I thought were awesome and established, I would find myself disappointed a majority of the time. Those brands paid their dues and now they are reaping the success. Don’t spend time comparing yourself to others too often, let your brand grow at its own pace, do what you can to push growth to happen more quickly, but don’t beat yourself up over it.

TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY

I saved this one for last, because for me, having a smartphone is a blessing and a curse. If I didn’t always have my phone on me I could spend a lot more time chilling and not worrying about The Steak and what’s going on. I have even refrained from adding apps for my social networks just so I’m not so tempted to check ‘em all the time. And yes, it’s awesome being able to answer emails on the spot, get in touch with customers as soon as they ask questions, and stay up-to-date on every little thing that goes down on my social networks. But it gets very distracting at times. I just recently removed all but one of my email accounts from my phone, and I have to say, it was a genius decision. So now instead of answering back emails on the spot when I’m out at dinner or in the middle of a movie, I check those other email accounts daily and take care of business then. The majority of the people that hit me up for time-sensitive material have the email that still goes directly to my phone, which is important, but I no longer have multiple emails hitting up the blackberry every twenty minutes. Nobody is going to think you have poor customer service because you didn’t answer back within ten minutes, and if they do then you have some pretty anal customers and I feel sorry for you. I know all of us brand owners and bloggers have more than one email account, and I strongly suggest only choosing one of those bad boys to keep on your smartphone device. Try it for a week, if it doesn’t feel less stressful I will eat my words, but trust me, it will.

“Stay passionate about your brand and always look for ways to improve, but live your life. Make time for other things, becoming too obsessive with your brand will only lead to brand burnout, lack of creativity, and desperate decision making.”

Just when you think that Electric Zombie couldn’t make their releases any bigger, here comes a mammoth Summer release, featuring more pieces than I care to count!

So rather than going through all the pieces in the line I figured I’d highlight some of the standout pieces in my opinion. First off this line has a ton more cut and sew than I have seen from Electric Zombie in the past, from cut and sew tees, hoods, and tanks the all over print on the new items looks amazing.

Also new to this line are Electric Zombie cinch bags and flip flops both of which look fantastic. I’m also absolutely loving Slasher Hood. The item is completely cut and sew featuring a ton of cool details like printed inside, leather hem tag, and an embossed EZ logo. Pretty bad ass.

I know I put my Awesome Tank List for Summer list out two weeks back but I am definitely going to have to go back and add some of the new EZ tanks, because with over ten new tanks to choose from these tanks are indeed awesome.

On top of all that Electric Zombie has kept their low prices featuring most tees and tanks at $18 to $20. Also make sure to check all the new posters added to the store as there are some gems in there as well.

Overall this line is just pure awesome. It features the brighter more cartoonish summer aspects of EZ that we have all come to know and love while still offering some designs and pieces for those of you that aren’t into the jumbo printed bright colored designs. With designs paying homage to Short Circuit, Ghostbusters, Beavis and Butthead, Nightmare on Elm St. and Mortal Kombat you can color me impressed.

You can check out the entire release at: www.buyelectriczombie.com

Kyle, the owner of Electric Zombie, is usually the hype master posting sneak peaks, contests and building huge buzz before his massive releases, but this time around he took the surprise attack approach. While I believe he called this a “mini-release” but in fact this “mini-release” contains 21 pieces, some of the new and some of them re-workings of older releases. Needless to say what Kyle now is calling mini, most indie t-shirt companies would call massive!

Anyways, the new line looks absolutely fantastic. It picks up a bit where hit Winter line left off with muted colors, cleaner designs and in my opinion a more mature look. I am loving the “Classic Black” design featuring some awesome typography and the new design “Kingdom“.

Aside from the new pieces there are also some re-workings of older designs such as “Bandaid Breath“, “Bomber“, and “Sorrow” all appearing on new items such as hoods and long sleeved shirts.

Everything as always is comfortably priced with most tees selling for $20, long sleeved shirts for $30 and hoods for $40 to $45.

Check out the entire new release at: www.buyelectriczombie.com

As with almost everything in life presentation is the key to success. Many wise men have once said “you only have one chance to make a good first impression” and those wise men were right. Presentation of your product to your customer can be a make or break situation that results in a sale or a missed opportunity.

What exactly makes up the “presentation” when it comes to t-shirts?

In the previous three segments we have talked about packaging, printing and price these undoubtedly make up the core layers of your t-shirt presentation, but there is always more to think about.

Website
Most indie clothing lines are strictly based online and that online only atmosphere comes with a HUGE disadvantage, not being able to touch, feel and try anything on. So the question then becomes how do we turn those negatives into positives?

The key here is creating an online experience for your brand. You must think of your online store just as if you were building a bricks and mortar store for your brand. One of the biggest turn offs and mistakes a clothing company can make is cutting corners when it comes to developing their online store. When a customer comes to your site the first thing they are going to take note of is your website. In the first two seconds a customer is going to decide if they can trust you and if they want to buy from you. The key here is coming off looking as a reputable company and not a fly by night operation. It is completely okay if your working out of your parents basement or do this in your part time with every bit of extra change you can gather, but by no means come across looking like that.

Keys to making your website the best it can be.
BRANDING! Another huge pitfall that indie clothing companies fall into is not creating a recognizable branding image. Quite simply there are just way to many clothing lines out there to do just a mediocre job and succeed. The brands such as Johnny Cupcakes, Ugmonk, Electric Zombie, Glamour Kills and Pyknic all have one thing in common, they are instantly recognizable. Take a second and visit those sites if you haven’t already, those website clearly and effectively reflect a brand image that their shirts portray.

Take quality photographs
A picture is worth a thousand words, and when you are trying to sell products online a picture could be the difference between making money and losing money. As stated before it’s just not possible for a customer to pick up and feel your product through the internet but they can visualize what it would like on them through good pictures. Pictures along with your website can tell a story and create a brand image, so make sure to take that into consideration when you are doing your photo shoot.

I also HIGHLY recommend taking two different sets of product pictures, pictures for your look book and pictures for your store. Look book pictures show your tees or clothing “in the wild” or in everyday situations while shots for your store should be straight on shots that really show the detail of the shirts. Photos for your store should be done against a plain background (I prefer white), as to not distract a customer from what you are trying to sell, the product.

Functionality
This sounds like a no brainer, but make sure customers can EASILY navigate your site. There is nothing more frustrating for a customer then trying to jump through hoops when making a purchase. Quite simply they wont, if you make something difficult on them they are gone. BigCartel and Storenvy both offer very simple, cheap and customizable solutions for setting up a web store.

BUT ISN’T THAT EXPENSIVE?
You have to spend money to make money, but you also don’t have to be stupid about how you spend your money. Ask around, use social avenues such as Twitter and Facebook to help strike deals. Maybe you aren’t a pro photographer but ask some of your friends. Chances are that if you ask around someone is bound to know someone that can take decent pictures and most likely for free or on the cheap just for recognition.

Also using storefronts such as BigCartel and Storenvy can be done for extremely cheap or nothing at all. But by no means just sign up for a cart, slap your logo on it and call it a day. If you cant afford someone to design you a custom theme there are several sites that offer pre-created themes for $150 and under.

As I started this out article out with, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. I get several emails everyday from clothing companies asking me to check them out and their website and presentation is usually what makes me run for safety or investigate further and there is no reason not to think customers aren’t the same way.

If you missed any of the first three segments make sure to check them out below:
Part 1: Packaging
Part 2: Printing
Part 3: PricePrice

That’s when I decided to start the hunt for clothing companies that were striking out on their own and doing something different than the big players.  Since starting iamthetrend.com almost one year ago I have continued to be impressed and surprised with the amount of upcoming clothing brands that continue to sprout up and the high quality that a lot of these brands are bringing to the table.

So i decided for Christmas this year I would try and put together an article on why everyone should buy clothing online from these startups instead of just buying the same bland stuff from mall stores.  If you enjoy this article and believe and support the indie movement please take a second to tweet this to your followers and/or share this with your Facebook friends.

Here goes,

5 reasons why you should buy Indie Clothing

1. Support Individuals They Are Passionate About Their Line

The majority of people that are starting these indie clothing lines deeply care and our passionate about their brand.  They pour every ounce of extra time, money, passion and creativity in their line trying to put out the best product possible.  Dont get me wrong they’re individuals out there that simply think that starting a clothing line is easy and a quick way to make a buck, but those people are quickly proved wrong and usually do not last long. Economies are also built with entrepenuers and small business growth and by supporting up and coming companies it’s a great way to help encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation.

2. Indie Brands Usually Have Cheaper Prices

In today’s economy everyone is looking to stretch the dollar further and further.  People are looking for ways to save money and find deals.  Well here is a definite avenue to cut clothing costs and buy cheaper and smarter.  Indie brands tend to have lower prices and offer more deals and incentives for purchase over mall brands found at Zumiez, PacSun, Hot Topic, etc.  Just last month I put together an article showing how you could buy 16 Tee Shirts for only $100, if you can do that at a mall please let me know!

Also indie brands tend to have a ton of really great sales. For Black Friday we complied a list of our over 75 brands that were having sales, some of which were 50% off or more! Even when the brands are not on sale your can typically find high quality items for $20 or less. They’re a ton of t-shirt blog sites as well as iamthetrend.com that promotes these sales, so continually be checking sites such as
iamthetrend, popculturetees and hideyourarms because these sites are an incredible resource for showing who has what on sale.

3. Have Something That No One Else Has!

For me there is nothing worse than rocking your new favorite shirt, jeans, jacket, etc to come across someone else wearing the exact same thing! When you buy from indie clothing startups you are going to greatly diminish the chances of running into someone with the same shirt that you have. Most of the upcoming brands you find online run a very limited amount of shirts per design. Having such limited number of shirts per design is not only awesome because you have something “rare” but you are in a sense “thetrend”. You will be the person all your friends and peers will be asking where did you get that, or who is that made by and let’s face it most of us like to be the ones setting the trend and finding the coolest clothes out there!
Say it with me now “iamthetrend” : ) I cant even count the amount of times that I have been asked by friends and peers where I got a particular shirt, it’s a great feeling when people go out of their way to recognize and appreciate awesome clothing.

4. Greater diversity and selection

Your options in clothing and style are pretty much limitless, this is one of my favorite aspects about the indie clothing world. No matter what you are looking for you can find it, from the most offensive tees, to the most loud colored illustrated tee all the way to a tee that barely has anything on it, there is an indie clothing company that fits your style. You really cant get this sort of diversity by visiting the same mall stores buying what is being spoon fed to you.

Let’s just say that you have a favorite brand that is being solid in malls, for example Obey, Lrg, DC, or Nike, guess what, there is a brand online that has a similar style that in all honesty is probably doing a better and more creative job making eye catching clothing.

For Example:
If you like simple yet effective designs try Ugmonk, 410 BC, Altru Apparel, Rethink, Simplified
If your a huge fan of over the top illustrations and bright colors try: SHRED, Dead!Serious, Kill Brand, Pyknic
If you like that cartoony look and feel try: Linty Fresh, Johnny Cupcakes, Lowdtown Friends and Freaks, Seventh Ink, Omunky, Seibei
If you are into skate/surf/snowboard style clothing try: Future Clothing, Okoto, Wellborn, Assault Clothing
If you like gore and horror try: Zombie Liqourice, Arkaik:Empire, Disturbia, I Came From Nothing
There are also a ton of brands that have a bit of all these categories such as: Electric Zombie, RANDR, Shirtfight, Miles to Go, Cavata

This list could go on forever! The bottom line is their is a company online that is tailored made for your style, you really just have to open your eyes and seek them out!

5. Quite Simply It’s Just More FUN!

Honestly finding new brands that no one knows about is just plain fun! Think of it as a treasure hunt, the deeper you dig the more your going to find and the more rewarding its going to be! I can’t even begin to put a number on the amount of indie clothing companies that are out there, which can be very exciting and very daunting at the same time! If your the type of person that loves to dig around the internet looking for the next greatest thing, searching for indie clothing is right up your alley! Even if your a person that would rather just have people point out to you what’s cool and upcoming we have you covered, because quite simply that’s what we do at IAMTHETREND!

Conclusion

The bottom line is buying indie clothing can be a very fun, rewarding, and even save you a few dollars. When giving the gift of indie clothing this year for the holidays you can now look forward to that person opening their gift and absolutely their unique gift and possibly even turning them into a fan of clothing line that they never heard of before! The indie clothing world is a community and we all need to stick together and support each other to make sure everyone becomes successful at their passion and to make sure the indie clothing world thrives!

1. Johnny Cupcakes

$35.99

2. Seventh.Ink

$24.00

3. Akumu Ink

$21.99

4. Disturbia Clothing

£22.00

5. Threadless

$10 On Sale!

6. Randr

$20

7. Kill Brand

$21

8. Fright Rags

$19.95

9. 8 Bit Zombie

$20

10. Electric Zombie

11. Suck!

$30

12. Miles To Go

$22.99

13. Fresh Prints

$15

The Fall/Winter line features new tees, hoodies, posters, cardigans, belts, hats, flannels, jackets and even a wallet! Holy Hell! The overall line reminds me of the last year’s EZ Fall/Winter line, which featured much more toned down color schemes and overall more muted designs and products. Which I absolutely love! To me being able to wear a killer zombie, or gore themed tee shirt that doesn’t rely on loud colors is pure win sauce!

Looks like they decided to raise prices on their tees around $2, with most tees still running an EXTREMELY fair $20-$22 price tag. What I also loved seeing in this line is that EZ printed on some Alternative Apparel Tees, which are a bit thinner and more worn feeling. I think the addition of Alternative Apparel to the mix is HUGE plus and will only further help EZ standout.

My favorite pieces from the line are: Savior Black Hood, Destiny Black Tee, and AWOL Jacket. If anyone is looking for Christmas presents for me, there’s a hint ; )

Seriously devote at least ten minutes to soak in all the new products at: buyelectriczombie.com

Electric Zombie Behind the Scenes Fall – Winter 2010 from adam elmakias on Vimeo.

I also put together a short video about the pro’s and con’s of woven vs. screen printed tags on our YouTube Channel. Make sure to check that out and subscribe to our channel at: www.youtube.com/iamthetrendtv

Alrightok

ARKA

Bleeding Star

Byeline

Cavata

Dead Bury Dead

Designkins

Dream Gold

Electric Zombie

Fistful Apparel

FullBleed

Fuzzy Ink

OneShirtOneCause

Glamour Kills

Goodie Two Sleeves

Here Be Robots

IAMTHETREND

Johnny Cupcakes

Labyrinth Clothing

Letter From John

Miles To Go

Monsier Eureka

Mumford Clothing

Omunky

Paper Root Clothing

Perfidy

Lady Umbrella

Regan Smith Clarke

Rockett

Skeg

Sketchy Ink

Slut Clothing

Stheart

Storenvy

Subeco

Tee Fury

WornBy

You’re History

There are zero affiliate links in this list, and Iamthetrend.com is getting nothing for posting this, but in return we would greatly appreciate it if you took just a second to hit the RETWEET button or Facebook Share button in the right hand column!

Lastly feel free to let us know what tanks are your favorite on the list by leaving a comment below, we have been known to give away tees to random commentors!

Enjoy!

1. Miles To Go $21.99

2.Wear Subeco $25

3.Dekay $20

4. RANDR $25

5. Umbrella Clothing $13

6. Stheart $19.95

7. Pyknic $20

8. We Are Alchemy TBA

9. Rockett $20

10. To Write Love On Her Arms $18

11. Masked Clothing $23.99

12. Glamour Kills $24.99

13. I Love Antix $18

14. Kill Brand $20

15. Iron Fist $25

16. Dance Party Massacre $23.95

17. Snakes & Suits $19.99

18. Shrimp Sauce $28

19. Electric Zombie $18

20. Miles To Go $21.99

21. To Die For $23

22. Simplified Clothing $18.99

23. Stheart$19.95

24. Pig Cloth $22

25. Live To Love $20

26.I Came From Nothing

26. Agape $19.99

27. The Names Brand $23

28. KKBB $24

29. Shrimp Sauce $28

30. Snakes & Suits $19.99

31.Wickvilla $14

32.Pyknic $20

33. Joshua Clothing $20

34. I Love Antix $18

35. Honour Over Glory £11.99

36. Rockett $20

37. Regan Smith Clarke $22

38. Masked Clothing $22.99

39. Alive & Well

40. Miles To Go $21.99

41. Electric Zombie $18

42. Glamour Kills $24.99

43. Stheart $18.95

44.I Came From Nothing £20.00

45. Masked Clothing $23.99

46. Pyknic $18

47. Big Deal £14.99

48. Shatterproof $18

49. Live To Love $20

50. CXCITY $22.95

51. I Love Antix $18

52. Dance Party Massacre $19.95

53. Agape $19.99

54. Revert Fashion $19.99

55. Arkaik $20

56. Take Notice $12

57. TopShelf Records $20

58. Tokyo Hardcore $20

59. Arkaik $20

60. To Die For $23

This sale is to celebrate Electric Zombie hitting 1500 Twitter Followers, so if you don’t follow Kyle and EZ you can now at : twitter.com/kyleisez

Also just released from EZ are 6 new tanks featuring designs from their summer release! Each tank is only $18 and printed on AA!

Pick up some new threads for summer on the cheap at: www.buyelectriczombie.com

Dizzy Bat Contest: Check out a submission HERE
Deadline to Enter is April 19th:
Win a $100 Visa Gift Card from IAMTHETREND!
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Electric Zombie’s New 25 tee line: www.buyelectriczombie.com

Johnny Cupcakes Tour and T-Shirts: www.johnnycupcakes.com/tour

Sales:
Seventh Ink all shirts are $3 to $6 off
Branded Baron: UP to 50% off
Heroine Clothing 35% off
Kill Brand $10 Tees and $25 Hoods

Do You Like My Tee Tees
Cure Apparel
Skummie
Monsieur Eureka
Skeg

Very Nice
Adam: Electric Zombie Carnage Silver $16
Steve: Free Clothing Co Unite $20
Bo:

1. The Printed Mind
“The Kid” $14.99

2. The Printed Mind
“I Heart TPM” $14.99

3. Electric Zombie
“Takeover” $18

4. Arkaik
“Baseball Tee” $10

5. Pyknic
“Splatter Raglan”

The way that I view this line is in two parts. First the old school Electric Zombie that we have come to expect, amazing illustrations, loud colors and overall in your face action. The second part is a more muted yet equally awesome Horror art look and feel. EZ has done a really incredible job with this blending several aspects/ideas you would see on old movie posters to form their own truly incredible and awesome looking designs.

What I am also really digging about the new line is the range of tee colors used. Yes, there are about 50% black or grey shirts but there are also some awesome Aqua, Forest Green, Purple, Pink, Mint, Baby Blue, and even Gold tees. This range of colors really adds a lot to the summer feel of the line as well as adds some nice diversity to the EZ look.

The tees run from $16 to $18 for the standard tees and $28 for the limited edition tees that come complete with a movie poster. Honestly how EZ manages to keep their prices at $16 to $18 for top notch quality shirts and designs blows my mind.

If this is a sign of continued things to come out of EZ the future is looking bright!
Head on over to www.buyelectriczombie.com to pick up some threads and also stop by www.killorbekilled.us to view the look book!

If you have any questions for Kyle we are giving you an open invitation! You can email us the questions to info@iamthetrend.com or just leave them in the comments below!

Make sure to tune in Monday to see if we read your question!
www.iatt.tv Monday March 2nd 8PM CST

We hope you dig what we are serving up! If there is a shirt that you believe deserves to be on the list please leave it in the comments below! Also a fair warning I did not include t-shirts from bands, just indie clothing lines! Enjoy, and as always RT’s, Facebook Shares and Diggs are always appreciated!  The links provided go directly to where you can purchase the shirt!

In no particular order we bring you 75 Skull T Shirts That Do Not Suck! (well at least according to us

1. Public Domain Clothing

2. 410BC

3. A Better Tomorrow

4. Mediocore Clothing

5. Malus

6. Threadless

7. The Chop Shop

8. Built for Sin

9. Altru Apparel

10. Disturbia

11. Paper Root Clothing

12. Zombie Liquorice

13. Drop Dead Clothing

14. Shred

15. Threadless

16. To Die For

17. Fullbleed

18. In His Name

19. RANDR

20. Design By Humans

21. Threadless

22. The Printed Mind

23. Akumu Ink

24. Design By Humans

25. Kill Brand

26. Disturbia

27. Paint The Stars

28. Electric Zombie

29. Glamour Kills

30. Design By Humans

31. Rockett

32. Dekay

33. Uneetee

34. Topato Co

35. Threadless Select

36. Miles To Go

37. Dead, Serious! Clothing

38. Design By Humans

39. Altru Apparel

40. Built For Sin

41. Zombie Liquorice

42. Thriving Ink

43. Shred

44. Malus

45. Kill Brand

46. Design By Humans

47. Threadless

48. Heroine Clothing

49. To Die For

50. Enclothe

51. Paint The Stars

52. Rockett

53. Design By Humans

54. RANDR

55. The Horror Project

56. Designed Extreme

57. Dekay

58. Blackbird Clothing

59. Tilteed

60. Skeg

61. Tilteed

62. Akumu Ink

63. Affends

64. Joby Cummings

65. Submit and Remix

66. Arkaik Clothing

67. Fright Rags

68. Hotlife

69. Havok Clothing

70. Iron Fist

71. Crispy Tees

72. Pros and Cons

73. I Came From Nothing

74. Fatal Clothing

75. Dead, Serious! Clothing

Electric Zombie: $8-$10 Tees
Made With Awesome: All Tees are $16
Lead & Light: Use coupon code CUPCAKING at checkout for 15% off
Milk & Eggs Co. Buy the “Tree Buddies Tee” and receive a free tote bag!
Malus 25% OFF With Coupon Code: ILUVMALUS
Seventh.ink $10 Valentines Day Tee
Omunky 15% OFF with coupon code: LOVELY
Dos Chicos Tees Buy 1 get 1 FREE TEES!
RandRTees Select Shirts on Sale for as low as $10!
KKBB Apparel all shirts are 50% OFF!!!

So after your done drooling over your keyboard take a second and visit these companies stores because everyone on this list aside from having top notch models have top notch tees to offer! Hope you enjoy the list! (in no particular order)

Also feel free to leave a comment on whom is your favorite! If you enjoyed this article please take a second to click the Retweet, Digg or Facebook Share buttons located in the right column!

1. Exclusive Entertainment

2. Live to Love Apparel

3. Rip N Dip Apparel

4. To Die For Clothing

5. Prestigious

6. Lady Umbrella

7. Takeover Clothing

8. Threadless

9. Skeg

10. KKBB Apparel

11. Dead Serious Clothing

12. Johnny Cupcakes

13. Alumni Clothing

14. Alumni Clothing

15. Cherry Sauce Clothing

16. Coastal City

17. Panic Pop

18. Pyknic

19. Shrimp Sauce

20. Heroine Clothing

21. Byeline Apparel

22. Hide And Seek

23. Holebrain

24. Glory

25. Glamour Kills

26. Built For Sin

27. Babycakes Clothing

28. Ugmonk

29. Metal Ink

30. FAQ

31. Skilla Fashion

32. Kill Brand

33. Pause Designs

34. Miles To Go

35. Toi Creative

36. Arkaik Clothing

37. Pyknic

38. Kill Brand

39. Iron Fist

40. Dead Serious

41. Glamour Kills

42. Electric Zombie

43. Cottonmouth

44. Ceerius Apparel

45. Altru Apparel

46. 410BC

47. The Printed Mind

48. Shirtfight

49. Karmaloop

50. ShockerTees