T-Shirt Reviews Blog

Posted: 26 Jul 2010 04:46 PM PDT

I have a feeling that the alternative t-shirt label DeathGob is based in Margate in the UK judging by this shirt, however no matter where they are you can tell by their pithy anti-establishment line of humorous tees, bags and badges that they’re British, oh most definitely. Run by five friends who won a car in a local contest and sold it down the pub, got drunk and still (in the end) managed to pull a great little t-shirt company out of the bag, they offer up a hearty portion of cool designs and one-liners that suit a wide range of peeps from your local squatter anarchist to international jet-setter. It’s just that kind of label, you know, it starts off as a tiny little cult label and then everything starts to explode, they have that vibe about them for me anyway.

It’s obvious from the moment you visit the site that these guys (and gals) really love t-shirts, they even offer a FREE Pimp My T-Shirt service, here’s what they do… “We want you to tell us about your most hideously shameful shirts. Send us a pic and tell us a little bit about why it’s so bad, and we’ll pick the worst of the lot and get you all pimp-daddied up. Yes, we’ll take your shirt off you and modify its ass until it becomes the envy of every lounge lizard fashionista the world over, and what’s more, we’ll do it absolutely free of charge.“

Asides a healthy selection of genuinely funny shirts there are a few cool classics, stylised illustrative, even diagrammatic if not a little geeky designs that really shine out for me. Take a gander at this lot…

Jukebox Gold Tee

A classic jukebox design adorns this shirt, oh so retro, oh so cool. It reminds me of greasy transport cafes and old man’s pubs in the 1970s. By the 1980s most places cleared these out and replaced them with CDs. I was working in a bar in Brighton trying to make ends meet as a student and on my first day there the manager was thumping his CD jukebox as it kept skipping, I begged him to let me listen for a while. About 3 years later I heard almost exactly the same kind of sound on the radio, it was Fat Boy Slim. Who knows he might have been a regular there ;P Anyway get the Jukebox Gold Tee for £18 for men and women in a range of sizes and colours.

Mac T-Shirt

I was late when it came to Macs, but not for the want of trying, I asked for a Mac in the 1980s one Xmas and was laughed out of the room. When I first tried to get into the graphic design industry I needed a Mac to get the experience to apply for the shift-work so many graduates slave away through in umpteen design houses around the world. Vis-a-vis: no job = no money = no experience = no Mac = no job. Still what looks like a heap of crap these days was like Manna from heaven back then. Love it, the style is as cool, calm and collected as the content. Get the Mac Tee at £18 for girls and guys.

Truck Tee

Totally old school, probably older than the actual saying “old school”, this fine illustrated shirt is probably my fave tee at DeathGob right now, there are funnier ones for sure, but just for the sake of style I’d stake my claim with the Truck Tee. I love old illustrations, it’s probably nostalgia or a flashback to playing with trucks as a kid, who knows, it’s got me all the same. I’d like to think it was a beer truck just to finish it off :) Get this tee for guys (sorry girls no trucks for you! Complain if you wanna’ lol.) in all sizes and a four colours for £18.

Lifestyle World

Monday, 26 July 2010