Long time no see!

So it’s been a while since I made a post, but I have good reason for that!

Working over the Christmas/New Year period has been insane, but with it all over now, I have finally got enough time again to start working on some new stuff. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be working on a few review Vlogs on my Youtube account, which I will also post here, allowing you all to check out some of the stuff I’ve picked up over my time off, as well as my thoughts on where the industry is going. It’s gonna be a sweet 2012, so keep your eyes peeled for some awesome stuff in the coming week!

And Now For Something Completely Different: Social Media, Marketing and Coca-Cola. Oh, and shirts.

How do you get the attention of 100 million people all at once? And how do you use this to market a product? It seems that Coca-Cola may have the answer.

For those of you who might not have noticed in your local soft-drink/soda aisle, Coca-Cola has started putting the slogan ‘Share a Coke with…’ and then a name, on their bottles. As people drink them, or find them in the supermarket, it has become quite common for people to take a photo of the name and post it on Facebook or Twitter, tagging their friend with the same name; effectively virtually ‘sharing’ the coke with them.

What Coke has stumbled upon; whether intentionally, or inadvertently, is a way to market their product to 100 million people without lifting a finger. I think it’s safe to say that this is quickly becoming one of the best, if not the best example of social media-driven marketing. Kudos to the dude who came up with this idea.

But what does that have to do with shirts, you might say?
Simple. If Coke can do it, why can’t the shirt industry? All it takes is to give out a few shirts to some of your fans/friends on the condition that they take a photo of themselves wearing your shirt design and tag a few of their friends in it. As the image becomes more and more recognised, the interest will generate, people will ask where they got the shirt and it brings you more sales. They then end up with your shirt in a photo on their Facebook profile and it all begins again. If it spreads, or even ends up trending on Twitter, who knows, you might be reaching an audience of 100 million people too.

What are your thoughts on this concept, will it work for the shirt industry? Is Coca-Cola’s indirect use of social media intentional, or is this just something that randomly happened?

Review Callout!

Hey guys!

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for me on the Tee front, as I wait for new Tees to arrive in the mail and I finish off the end of my university studies FOREVER!~

What will this mean for The Tee Punk?
It’ll mean more time to review and report on the latest goings on in the online Tee world, from new releases, to special events and all those other amazing shirts in-between.

What I need from you though, is if you have a shirt you want me to review, let me know! Whether you’re a designer who wants to get their work noticed, a shirt website that would like more publicity or just someone who thinks I should make a shout-out to their favourite shirt, then drop me a line!

You can tweet me on Twitter, @theteepunk, scribble down a wall post on my Facebook Page, send me a super awesome email to theteepunk@gmail.com, or better yet, comment below, and we’ll sort something out!

I look forward to checking out some amazing shirt designs in the future. For now, keep an eye out in the next couple of days when I review my latest arrival shirts; one of the Johnny Cupcakes x Nickelodeon designs, and a great design I picked up from Ript Apparel!

‘Til next time,

Punk Red//.

 

There’s a shirt community?!

It’s come to my attention that there is a shift in the culture of clothing, and more importantly, shirt design. I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at sites like Redbubble, Threadless and Ript Apparel, and they’re quickly joining Tokidoki and Johnny Cupcakes as some of my favourite shirt sites. These three have something key to them that’s making them so attractive to me, the idea of their community.

Ript Apparel's Facebook integration makes for easy commenting and networking.

Unlike traditional shirt design, there is no team of designers working for the company or label who make the shirts. The team of designers is me and you. Users can upload their designs, and with interaction from other members of the site, or just those interested in your design, by voting or selecting designs, they get printed and sold. Redbubble functions slightly differently to the others, as it doesn’t rely on voting for a design to be submitted for print, but this doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of community. Users comment on and favourite each other’s work, giving advice and praising people for their designs. They also sell more than just shirts. There’s some amazing artwork available, but it’s the shirts that I go there for.

It’s great fun seeing potential designs from people all around the world being posted on the Ript Facebook page and letting them know which shirts they should print. Social networking is the key here, where users on the Ript site comment on the day’s shirt using their Facebook account, allowing for a greater sense of community. Threadless uses social networking well too, promoting their shirts, getting people’s thoughts and comments, as well as drawing in a greater following and fan-base.

It seems that community is the key to good creativity; we should share ideas and let others tell us what they think. With more than 30 000 shirt designs online between the three sites we just checked out, they can’t be wrong. So if you’re keen on becoming a shirt designer and getting into the industry, or just keen to see people wearing your designs, then get on board and join me, as well as thousands of other people, in the shirt community.

 

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink.

It’s been a busy few weeks balancing university, work and life in order to keep writing, but I’m back.

One of my favourite designs sold by RedBubble

This week, I thought I’d let you all know about a site that I’ve been referred to several times, and after some investigation has become a site I’ll spend more time checking out.
I’m talking about, of course, RedBubble. As a community similar to Threadless.com, it allows you to upload a digital file with your design on it, which they then print, sell and ship as shirts, stickers, prints, whatever you want. Obviously, it was their shirts that caught my eye.

The community at RedBubble seems to be massive, with shirts that cater for every style, whether you’re in the mood for a funny, retro, design or my favourite, geeky shirt, they have something for everyone. But what grabbed me, was the fact that a lot of designers which are featured and printed on Ript Apparel are then printed by RedBubble, allowing those who miss the 24 hour deadline to purchase their shirt at a later date. For all of you out there keen to see your designs printed on shirts and sold around the world then the site is definitely an option for you, with their easy, hassle-free submission system. They also encourage comments and feedback, where others can comment on your designs, how to improve them, or why they love them!

There are over 20 000 different designs available for purchase, which means that no matter who you are or what you’re into, there’s a shirt for you on RedBubble. It’s definitely worth checking out, plus their international shipping only takes 5-10 days, so it’s quick, easy and totally painless. Their prices are a little higher than other similar sites, but the advantage is, you get your shirts hand-crafted and printed on American Apparel, the comfiest damn shirts on the planet!

So go, check out RedBubble.com, and let me know what you think!

Punk Red//.

The Ultimate Limited Time Offer!

So while I wait for my new Johnny Cupcakes CupGun shirt to arrive, I thought I’d share with you all a web site that I’ve recently come to love. At first, I brushed over it, but after a friend of mine continually linked me to the site daily, I finally gave them a look, and I loved what I saw.

Captain Corporate America. One of the unique designs Ript Apparel has in their graveyard.

Ript Apparel, a Chicago-based retailer, specialises in selling “one unique T-shirt design everyday for 24 hours for only $10″. But what sets them apart from all the other online shirt retailers is not just their designs, but also the way they are gathered. Every shirt design sold on Ript is submitted not by a member of their creative team, but a member of the community. Ript allows you to submit your shirt design to them, then they pick the designs they like best to be printed as shirts for 24 hours.

The concept is great, and it provides a great platform for impulse buying, as well as for those who want a shirt that they know none of their friends will have. 24 hours is just long enough to decide whether to buy a shirt, but short enough to generate enough interest in each design to draw you into buy them sometimes instantly.

Once the 24 hours is up, you can check out the ‘Graveyard‘, where all their old designs go not to die, but to be admired forever by those who wished they had come across the site earlier and bought them before their time was up. I’ve spent a lot of time in here, wishing I had come across the site sooner and bought so many of the awesome shirt designs.

Ript’s site is updated daily, and with daily updated Facebook and Twitter pages, it’s hard to miss what the day’s new design is.
Go on, check the site out for a few days. you just might find a shirt design you love and keep coming back for more. I know I will!

Keep your eyes peeled in the coming days for when my JC shirt arrives, and I’ll have a special surprise for you all!
If you’ve got a site you want me to check out, or a shirt you want me to review, hit me up on Facebook, Twitter or leave me a comment below.

‘Til next time//.

Clothing design gets its own Facebook?

Recently, I came across an article from the Telegraph newspaper website. The article, titled “Carmen Busquets invests in social networking clothing design business Lookk.com” immediately grabbed my attention. A social networking site for clothes? The idea intrigued me. I just had to look it up, and as it turns out, the website is due to launch at the end of this month. It looks like there’s going to be some big changes to the fashion industry in the coming months.

The idea of a social network where designers can collaborate, share and communicate with each other is, I believe, a brilliant idea. It removes so many barriers that affect newcomers to the design industry. Imagine you’re a new designer with some fresh ideas. You post these ideas on Lookk, and you catch the attention of some of the world’s most famous designers. They love your work, want to work with you, share your ideas and before you know it, you have all the main staff of Louis Vuitton, Prada and a hoard of celebrities on speed dial. All this from just sharing your ideas on a social networking site. It’s tough to get started in the clothing design business, as there’s so much competition and it’s difficult to get your name known amongst more than a few people. I should know, I’m working on my own clothing label. This idea is a godsend for someone like me, who wants to get their designs and ideas brought to life and to catch the attention of the more famous names in the design industry. I know that my dream is to catch the attention of Johnny Cupcakes and Tokidoki, and it’s possible that this new concept could bring that dream into reality.

With such powerful and famous investors, such as Carmen Busquets, who was a major investor in websites like www.gotryiton.com and is the founder of Couture Labs, there’s sure to be a large interest in the site my not only famous designers, but also in vast numbers of buyers, looking to purchase unique, exclusive and original clothing that only something like Lookk’s social networking structure can provide. It looks like there’s going to be a big change to not only the shirt design idustry, but the entire fashion industry. I can’t wait to see how this new venture shakes up fashion!

What are your thoughts on the idea of a social networking site for clothing designers? Will it work, or will it flop?

‘Til next time,

Punk Red//.