On MilitantGeek we not only cover a lot of TShirts - we also own a crazy ton. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours within a week that we can wear the spoils of conspicuous consumption. For all those shirts which don’t quite make the cut may I suggest a T-Shirt cannon.
As seen on BoingBoing Bre Pettis of Make’s Weekend Projects has a tutorial on how to make one. Like many geek projects worth doing, the ubiquitous PVC is involved.
Special thanks to laslo for writing in and letting us know about this design. There’s some really high end science tees on SanchezCircuit. However, the one that we’re covering today is called ‘Equations’. It comes at $25, which is a bit on the high side. But can you really put a price on being able to walk into a room and instantly intellectually intimidating everyone else?
As we’ve previously described here on MilitantGeek not all social misanthropes are created equal. Further evidence is present in this brilliant hierarchy of geekdom seen on Flatrock.org. Somebody get this on a shirt, pronto! (Full size image here.)
While TShirts are the usual stock and tirade of MilitantGeek every once in awhile a design is so good we can’t help but mention it. A bit of warning however - this style comes at a price; 99 British pounds, to be exact. With the diminished purchasing power of US currency that means that this collection of all things collectible will cost $493 (or something like that). However, it still costs tremendously less to wear all that coveted gear as opposed to actually owning it.
The Hardware Hoodie can be bought at Dadawan.com. Special thanks to HideYourArms.com for the heads up.
As I briefly mentioned yesterday MySpace has paired with on-demand T-shop Zazzle. The idea is to take MySpace’s tens-of-thousands of music profiles and allow them to sell customized shirts directly from their MySpace pages. MySpace already allows artists to sell their music to people through their deal with SnoCap. Selling T-shirts directly from the band profile pages is such a no-brainer it’s actually a surprise that its taken this long.
The issue this raises, from a non-musician standpoint, is how long will we have to wait for one of the major on-demand shirt printing places - be it Cafepress, SpreadShirt, or Zazzle itself to make an embeddable widget for custom tees. In the same way I can throw a YouTube video on my blog or social networking profile, why can’t I embed a customized T-Shirt shop? Instead of just posting pictures of geek shirts on this site why can’t I directly embed the creator’s store widgets and allow people to buy directly from here? While TShirt Takeaway does have this functionality the service has gotten poor reviews.
It was with much fanfare that LinkedIn launched its very own store. On the corporate blog is the breathless proclamation “Start Your Holiday Shopping Now!”. For a moment lets set aside the fact that most people don’t wait for their 3rd or 4th favorite social network to tell them when to shop. This is LinkedIn, the network that you join when you haven’t yet worked up the cajones to really look for a new job. Buying a shirt from LinkedIn doesn’t carry the gravitas of the One Campaign, the geek cred of Mozilla, or the awesomeness of the MySpace/Zazzle band schwag announcement. It’s as if LinkedIn woke up one morning and thought it could win back some cool points lost to other social networks like Facebook or Bebo by opening a frickin’ T-Shirt shop. What’s next in the misguided attempts for Web 2.0 credibility - the LinkedIn Segway?
The takeaway is as follows: if your core membership is unemployed or soon-to-be unemployed corporate, tie-wearing management, don’t try selling them tees. Or if you do, at least have something more creative than something that screams “I have found nothing else to fill the vast void in my life than to shill for a boring, business website”. It’s just too sad.
What is the greatest threat to a geek’s wallet? Well, if the sharp and funny designs by Jeremy Kalgreen are any indication it’s his new TShirt shop, WEAR SCIENCE! The quality permeates the offering, from the incredible designs (shown above and below) to favor text that is nearly on par with the crack team of bargin hunters at Woot. Each shirt is accompanied by a LOL description (for example, what follows appears next to the ‘Germ Wrangler’ tee):
Hypothesis: The rapidly fluctuating velocity provided by ciliate locomotion could provide significant riding / wrangling challenges.
This assumes of course subject paramecium could be properly enlarged or researcher scaled down.
Result: Potential for impressing females was radically underestimated.
The store has free standard shipping on orders of $25 or more for the month of November. Also, if you love the clean lines and above-average cleverness of Jeremy’s work make sure to also check out Amorphia Apparel, the parent site. Special thanks to Jeremy for dropping me a note this evening - he’s got some great stuff!
All this week on MilitantGeek we’re scouring the hand-crafted depths of Etsy, a fantastic outlet of unique wonders. While there is a ton of stuff that either isn’t relevant (or just plain ugly) the diligent geek can discover some wonderful treasures to be worn. Here is one of them!
Sadly, our Etsy week has come to an end. Last, but certainly not least, is a delightfully anarchistic Boombox ‘n Bones shirt from RiotGrrrlInk. Equal parts jolly roger and mobile party, the design is wonderfully appropriate in this day and age when piracy runs rampant, major recording artists are ditching their labels (NIN, Radiohead, etc.), and music is more popular than ever.
Shirts start at $14.99 and supplies are extremely limited.
All this week on MilitantGeek we’re scouring the hand-crafted depths of Etsy, a fantastic outlet of unique wonders. While there is a ton of stuff that either isn’t relevant (or just plain ugly) the diligent geek can discover some wonderful treasures to be worn. Here is one of them!
Because Etsy has from any number of influences the source of inspirations are incredibly varied. For instance, take this shirt from Etsy user Ikyoto. He scoured vintage Japanese science textbooks for the wacky, profane, and downright odd (after all, this is the nation that invented tentacle porn - why should their scholastic texts be any different?). Here we see iron attempting to ward off rust from attacking air, water, and… um… fruit juice? Prices start at $15. And if this chemistry geek-er-y is your thing also check out Ikyoto’s Evaporation T.
