What’s the first thing to spring into your mind when I say ‘cavern’? I have to admit that for me, it is Aladdin. You know the big tiger’s head made out of sand, and its gravelly “diamond in the rough” voice, which I’ve often tried unsuccessfully to replicate. That was one cavern to give you technicolor dreams.

But in the fantastical world of caverns: [definition: a cave, or a chamber in a cave, typically a large one], the treasures it can hold all depend on individual taste. For my Father, I am sure the cavern would hold gadgets, for my friend it would definitely hold Snickers bars, and for myself? Well obviously: books….or shoes……too much choice, can I have a combination of both?

For a brand that affiliates itself with chambers of treasure, Cavern Collection has high standards to live up to. This ‘collaboration of ideas’ was born in 2005 by L.A. based artists Adam Tullie and Angeline Rivas. Their designs are focused on a core base of original, hand-drawn offerings. I can hazard a guess that their imaginary cavern would therefore, be filled with pencils and paper.

The designs on their t-shirts really do evoke an impression of graphic originality, native american/egyptian inspirations, and a printed evocation of texture which is fascinating to the eye.

Feathery

Accessories can be found in this Cavern too

Aladdin?

I think you’ll agree, it’s all beautifully Pocahontas.

And if you felt like decorating your home in the same style as your clothes, you sure can with Cavern Collection. My home would have this driftwood, manilla rope chandelier because it would make me feel like life in a tent, a simple life.

So Sahara

Once upon a time, everyone used to get socks for Christmas, and everyone used to give socks for Christmas. Christmas became synonymous with ’socks’ and because of this the sock ended up getting a bad reputation. Christmas gifts were too predictable, people were getting bored. Their toes might have been warm, but there was no longer an element of surprise in unwrapping sock-shaped gifts. Sock-stitchers tried in vain to make the sock more desirable by bringing out novelty Christmas ranges, but it didn’t work. In fact most people even preferred to wear plain old socks rather than a pair spotted with a flurry of glittery, round puddings. Then with the introduction of other (usually more frivolous) Christmas gift possibilities, the sock became gradually extinct in Christmas gifting. Now and then it still pops up, usually as a ‘joke’ gift to laugh about the predictability of the ‘olden days’ of Christmas past, but as a gift, the sock has slowly shrivelled away into the background…never to be seen again.

It is a tragic tale, especially when you think that the oversized sock/stocking is one of the Christmas traditions we still enjoy each year. So in a campaign to revive the sock from it’s back-of-the-drawer slumber, I’m bringing soxy back. Here are some new sock friends that you might want to make this year.

The cutting edge of style, recommended by none other than Vogue, is the ‘iridescent pop-sock’ which adds ‘coquettish fun’ to your sock draw. For these socks to work, you need bare legs, skyscraper heels/wedges and the courage to wear them during the ‘cocktail hour’, optionally garnished with a slice of lemon. Yes your bare legs might be cold, and no the pop-sock doesn’t really offer woolly warmth – but the sock is changing, it’s stylish and that means that it isn’t always completely practical.

Sock Candy

The next sock in line could be called the sock from the future. Heat Sox are socks which need a battery because they are foot-ovens. This sock knows what it means to be a sock…grrrrrrr. They may on the pricey side, and they might not be super dooper stylish, but c’mon, you can control the heat from low to high! And just in case you are a little bit concerned about having electronic feet (perfectly understandable of course), the manufacturers offer their customers reassurance that they have used a low amperage to eliminate the possibility of shocks and burns. Safety first.

Socks from the Future

Finally, we have the winning combination of style and warmth within a sock-concept. When wearing these you won’t have to worry about chilly bare legs or be concerned about about your voltage. These guys are hardy and strong. They have an edge of Christmas, a splash of practicality and a slice of ‘I could wear you forever and ever, come here’. You’ll get attached. With bobbles and reindeer, these Nordic socks by Urban Outfitters aren’t just socks, they’re slipper socks: yes! both a slipper and a sock. The design and colour scheme oozes Christmas in Oslo. Socktacular.

The All-Rounder

Gillian McKeith tells us “You Are What You Eat” in an attempt to detoxify the nation with vegetable juices and puy lentils, but if I was going to turn into what I eat I wouldn’t opt to be bulgar wheat or brown rice. No, no, no: I would be chocolate. Apparently chocolate isn’t as bad for you as everyone says. Choc-full of antioxidants and other life and health giving gifts, eating chocolate is in your best interests. And if you ask Parisian women, they might tell you that wearing chocolate is also in your best interests. Last week the 15th annual ‘Salon Du Chocolat’ world chocolate fair took place in Paris, and with it came some striking examples of chocolate fashion, as models strutted down a catwalk wearing fascinating chocolate haute-couture, in true Willy Wonka style.

As you might be able to guess, the colour theme was brown, and the costumes were edible. The Chocolate Show is the brainchild of two French ladies, Sylvie Douce and François Jeantet, and is now so popular that it travels the world. The next scheduled show is due to hit New York later this year. My favourite chocolate wear from this year’s show is the brown truffle mosaic style dress, but I think it’s mainly because this was the one I could find with the most chocolate on it. All the others were a little bit less generous on the fabric:chocolate ratio. And if all this is making you a bit peckish, don’t feel guilty. Remember, death by chocolate is a myth.

Good enough to eat

I understand that there’s a point in life when you really shouldn’t be reading children’s literature, but Dallas Clayton’s ‘An Awesome Book’ is so….erm….awesome, that I’d be happy to see sharp business men and brain surgeons alike carrying a copy proudly under their arm, and reading it whilst they commute to work/stop for a coffee/wait for a meeting. Maybe this is because there’s more to this colourful children’s book than meets the eye. In fact it’s popularity inspired the creation of the ‘Awesome World Foundation‘ established in 2009 by author Dallas Clayton. For every copy of ‘An Awesome Book’ sold, the charity diligently donate a copy to schools, hospitals, libraries, camps and shelters in both the States and the rest of the world. Aiming to promote children’s literacy one book at a time, these guys seem to be doing a pretty good job.

But what does this have to do with t-shirt design? Well, believe it or not, you can snap up some fantastical kids clothing to go along with the book itself…a very awesome Christmas present in the making I’m thinking. There are two prints to choose from: either ‘rocket-powered unicorns’ or a hand drawn alphabet if your little ones are more into typography than fantasy. And with all these tees each sublimation print is slightly different, so there’s a healthy splash of uniqueness in every garment. Now it really would be awesome if they’d make make them a bit bigger or if I was temporarily shrinkable, but at least the book isn’t age specific…remember that while you’re on your morning commute.

Alphabet tee

Watch this video for a bit of light entertainment/more information.

As the majority of the student population begin the academic year in an oversized hoody and those mouldy old flip-flops left over from Summer, the brainboxes at Harvard University have turned their academic wisdom to the fashion scene. No, it’s not the students who’ve been busy designing a new, preppy, overpriced brand: it’s the University itself. Harvard Yard is a slice of fashion which even the dustiest Professor will soon be aware of. Following in the footsteps of “university” outfitters such as Jack Wills and Franklin & Marshall, Harvard Yard promotes an image that is clean, sharp, unaffordable and intimidatingly intellectual.

Late for Lectures? No one will care if you're a 'Harvard Yard' boy.

Collaborating with the tailored clothiers Wearwolf Group, the colour theme is crimson and green and the style is classic American. Branding yourself as a fashion house and a world-leading Ivy League University could spell disaster for this prestigious establishment as you don’t have to have “MA” after your name to wear these clothes, and more worrying, you don’t need any fashion sense either so long as you’ve got enough money to splurge. The crimson and green might not look as distinguished as Harvard envisage on a balding 65 year old man who always wished he’d gotten the grades to go to Harvard. This ‘men only’ brand effortlessly oozes style, class and the sex appeal of intelligence, so if you drool over expensive university apparel and the untouchable preppiness it evokes then this might just be the clothing line for you. Wonder if it’ll feature in the prospectus?

It’s official, the smallest cakes of the world have their own national week of commemoration and general recognition, or maybe it’s just a great chance to gorge on cupcakes for a week without feeling bad? Know which approach I’d rather take. However, in an effort to become a cupcake master of skill and artistry I decided to get my bake on. My humble creations might not be Hummingbird standard quite yet (did you know we make their staff uniform?), but it’s National Cupcake Week and they tasted pre-tty good if I do say so myself.

What do you think?

Cupcakes: Bake On

During my bake-athon an apron might have been wise as I did inevitably end up licking the spoon and daubing a sizeable spoonful of frosting down my face/shirt. Next time I decide to do that I’ll make sure I’ve shopped at Bakelove Bakewear in advance, where you can get “Bakelove” aprons for the all important bakery process. Looking the part is half the battle. But if you’re planning on spending this National Cupcake Week eating cupcakes rather than making them, don’t bother with an apron, just go for a simple “Cupcake” t-shirt – though I don’t reckon that the lady baker on the front of this shirt would pass health and safety regulations these days. Happy munching!

Cakeylicious

From: Faith, hope & gaffertape
Sent: 19 August 2009 11:15
To: Jo Myronidis
Cc: Eleni Panayis
Subject: Thank you

Dear Jo, Eleni and all at Indigo,

We just wanted to e-mail to say a huge thank you for our hoodies. They are absolutely perfect and the young people on our theatre event loved them. In fact, most of them lived in them for the whole event and hardly took them off! Thank you too for getting them to us so quickly – we were hugely grateful for your speed and efficiency.

Please find attached a photo of the cast of The Wiz in their hoodies on the first day of our Theatre Week event.

Thank you so much again

Best wishes

Caroline

And the Faith, hope & gaffertape team

Being a bit of a techno-phobe, Twitter has been one of those things that everybody is using but I don’t really understand. Over the past few months I’ve been hearing a lot about tweets, but they’ve still largely remained to me the sounds made by small garden birds in summer months. Today however, I have made a big step. I have decided to come out of my cocoon, create my very own Twitter account and learn the ropes hands on.

Already I have learned that the early bird gets the worm on Twitter, as most of the variations of my name were already unavailable so I had to be a little bit more inventive. My initial concerns are that tweeting (is that a good usage there?) is going to be quite a challenge for someone who struggles to be concise at the best of times, and has issues with commitment, but I’m ready for the adventure and I have done my research; I have a whole 140 characters to make my own. You could say that my inspiration for this new direction in my life has come from this Threadless tee shown to me by Alex, which boasts ‘I’m huge on Twitter’. I can see myself having to buy one of these in a few weeks when I’m the new Stephen Fry (apparently he’s quite the big deal on Twitter). Wonder if he’s got one?

me size please

You can follow indigo at: http://twitter.com/indigo

My name is Matthew Setter and during last week I had the pleasure of providing contract IT (website development) services for Indigo Clothing. Through Roome Consulting, I was put in touch with Alex at Indigo.

Over the course of the 29th – 31st of July, I updated and enhanced the technology in the company’s online quote system to provide more comprehensive ordering, new t-shirt printing methods and pricing structure. For the technology-savvy the work involved required a thorough working knowledge of Ajax, jQuery, Protoype and PHP 5, standards-compliant xHTML and Javascript.

If you would like to get in touch with me, send me an email at matt@matthewsetter.com, chat with me on skype: settermjd or call me on 07776 368 221.

Spookily Symmetrical

Monsieur T. are here with their spring summer 2009 collection of crazy new designs which you will probably want to spend all the money you saved up for that holiday on. Well, you’ve got to look the part right? The ‘History’ shirt might be one of their most memorable designs by Emil Kozak. Displaying an oversized fountain-pen nib and a drop of red ink, the tagline to this t-shirt is: ‘History was often written in blood’. Chilling isn’t it. I don’t know about you but I like the shapes on this shirt, and even if the tagline does but more sensitive souls off this shirt, you can always ignore it and just pretend that it’s novelty ink/tomato ketchup.

Another of Monsieur T’s summer line designs is named ‘Low Self Esteem’ created by Andy Rementer. The story behind this shirt is more of a question: ‘Do you ever want to kick yourself in the head?’ The answer to that question might have already flashed through your mind once or twice, but hopefully you haven’t taken it quite as literally the chubby little guy on this t-shirt who is about to stamp on his own decapitated head. His facial expression is quite something, and his green beanie hat really does bring out the colour (or is that fear?) in his eyes.

Don't try this at home

Starlight in Monaco

Indigo Clothing printed t-shirts for the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s recent trip to Monaco where F1 fan Courtney (pictured) got to meet his hero, driver Lewis Hamilton.

It is a great charity and if you have not heard of it, here are some key facts you should know about them:

• Starlight Children’s Foundation is the leading charity in the UK, granting wishes of a lifetime to seriously and terminally ill children, and entertaining children with fun and laughter in every hospital and hospice throughout the UK.
• In its first year Starlight helped just 4 children.  This year, Starlight will help 500,000 sick children throughout the UK.
• Starlight was founded in 1987 by Emma Samms (Fallon Colby from Dynasty). When Emma was growing up, her nine-year-old brother tragically died from aplastic anaemia.  This understandably had a devastating effect on Emma and her family. Years later Emma helped a very ill boy fulfil his wish to visit Disneyland.  She was deeply moved to see the positive effect the ‘wish’ had on the boy and his family.
• Starlight operates with very low fundraising costs, with 91p of every £1 donated helping Starlight’s very ill children.
• Starlight does not receive Government or Lottery funding and relies entirely on the generosity of the general public, companies and trust funds.
• Starlight celebrity ambassadors are Sienna Miller, Matthew Williamson, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Dougray Scott, and Gemma Atkinson all of whom have shown great dedication to helping Starlight’s sick children.   Starlight also receives huge celebrity support in granting wishes from people such as David and Victoria Beckham, Tom Chambers, Orlando Bloom, Sharon Osbourne and McFly – to name just a few.

To refer a seriously ill child to Starlight or to make a donation, simply log on to www.starlight.org.uk or call 020 7262 2881.

Indigofera

An Indigo Clothing fan sent us this image from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens: a label for an Indigo plant. Ironically the gardens are one of Indigo’s clients – we make their staff uniform!

If you’re interested in ethically attiring yourself, People Tree are among the specialists. Since 2001 (in the UK), People Tree have pioneered exclusive fashion with fair-trade standards, offering quality and style alongside genuine ethical principles. Their products have consistently matched their stringent policies. The world of ethical fashion has always been interested in recycled fabric, so it’s no great surprise that People Tree have joined in through giving a whole new lease of life to traditional Indian dress.

If you’re on the lookout for something a bit unique, this might just be the answer. Sewn into a black organic poplin skirt, the recycled sari dress combines tailoring with traditional hand embroidery at the hem and neckline, and ties with a matching belt at the waist. Excitingly, each dress is unique, so when you order you’re guaranteed that your new gear will definitely be one of a kind – though you can order from a whole spectrum of colours, which you can carefully match to bring out the colour of your eyes (because apparently that matters when you’re deciding what to wear). Made in India, your sari dress will be genuinely Eastern, and you can rest assured that when it was transforming from sari to stylish summer wear, everything was fair.

The famous London Marathon has just passed us by, and with it has passed a whole world of fashion, from freakish costumes to personalised team gear; these days running events are more about sporting fashion that you might think. Some of my favourite fancy dressers from this year’s race included a dashing Rubik’s cube and a giant, if a bit disproportional looking, running nurse. Though big congratulations also go out to classic dressers like Paul Simons who set a new record as the fastest Santa on record.

Florence Nightingale?

Next weekend I will be participating in the Great Edinburgh run, and though it’s no 26 mile marathon I am still having nightmares. As I’m accustomed to running in a used-to-be-white-but-now-it’s-a-bit-greyish men’s tee and some embarrassing ’Yale’ shorty shorts, I thought that it might be time to invest in some uber cool running gear (ideally to make me look faster than I actually am).

A sweat band is the first essential for all serious runners, as is an accurate watch to time your speed. Thankfully TimeBandits have combined the two. Though the watch may not be digitally sound, it will add a little bling to your get-up, and resting on a blue and green toweling sweat band will ensure that you keep the sporty vibe alive.

tick tick tick

Next in importance are the running shades – don’t want any sun glare to impinge on my athletic abilities now. I think I might opt for these Galactic sunglasses from Lazy Oaf to add a trendy retro feel to my pace. They’ll protect my eyes, and as you might be able to see, they are slightly(ish) streamlined down the sides for ultimate performance.

The afro rules out the streamlining effect a little bit

Finally, as every professional sports personality knows, the key to success lies in the visor. These days you can glam up your visor with sequins or get on in the shape of your favourite foam animal, will that be toucan or shark? In fact you can even get your hands on ones that light up and flash a rainbow of colours. There’s just too much choice, I can’t decide. But hang on one second, there’s something crucial I’ve forgotten: the trainers…oops. After having a leisurely browse I think my feet would be on fire in a pair of these houndstooth high-tops from Nike, available at Flatspot. They look super-soft too – though maybe not so good for actual marathon running.

Old man smoking jacket meets trainer

With my sweet-sweat watch, streamlined shades, visor and trendy trainers, I’ll be a sight for sore eyes. Watch out Edinburgh. But if you fancy some more scary looking fitness gear then you could always play it conventional with Stella McCartney’s designs for Adidas. You might think this is just a white t-shirt, but it’s actually a ‘Perf Run Tee 09‘ with breathable ’ClimaCool’ fabric, sounds very technical and complex, but if you’re a stylish pro then it could be the perfect shirt for you.  Gees, you’d think with all this hi-tech runner-wear they’d have designed something that could just do the running for you?

It has been a while since I have written here to tell the world the latest Indigo news. Kate, our fantastic fashion blogger has been keeping you all amused with t-shirt tales whilst Jo has been leading the team in the office through the economic doldrums that have been battering the economy. I have been in Paris since January, on a sabbatical, studying for an MBA at HEC.

Considering the bad news that has been plastered across every visible surface of the media, Indigo is in good shape. Like everyone, we’ve carried out a full survey of our costs, trimming where savings could be made. Our sales have been excellent to date, with orders from new customers making up for those customers who feel they can go without promotional clothing this year. In fact Jo’s client services team is so busy at the moment that we are hiring for a new team member ASAP – check out the jobs page.

Stephan’s enthusiasm for digital printing has lead him to set up a direct-to-garment printing operation in the northern end of the office, and to complement it, a new Roland vinyl plotter cutter. Digital printing is great for orders that are too small for screen printing or for sampling and he has written a fantastic guide to digital printing along with prices.

I will be speaking about our forays into digital printing and the Indigo story at the upcoming FESPA digital conference in Amsterdam on May 13th May at 11.45am. I went to FESPA’s conference in Berlin in 2007 and can highly commend it as one of the best European trade shows for the industry so if you are in the trade do come along and check out the latest industry innovations.

We continue to support ethical garment manufactures and are delighted with the new products from Continental for 2009. Their catalogue is available for download as a PDF and Eleni is adding new product details as quickly as she can to the promotional clothing catalogue. Make sure you check out the carbon neutral range, certified by the Carbon Trust called Earth Positive. The office was also delighted to recive a certificate from Paper Round, our office recycling partner, announcing we recycled  242kgs of paper and 24kgs of cans and plastic bottles!

Award for office recycling

T-shirt printing still makes up the core of our daily operations whilst we continue to screen print, embroider, label, bag and distribute a myriad of apparel to our clients. The WordPress merchandise store, run by Indigo, has a raft of new products coming onstream in 2009 too.

Indigo’s student cashback scheme has proved to be popular with the Royal College of Music, Southampton and York to name but a few universities who have benefited from cheques to date. We have increased our marketing in Cambridge, our original office location and will be sponsoring the student unions (CUSU’s) steward’s clothing this year as well as having a stand at the ever popular Fresher’s fair.

I post infrequently to Indigo’s twitter account and I’ll strive to fill the Indigo blog with more Indigo news. If there are any t-shirt bloggers out there who would like to become guest authors, maybe you have a product, site or brand to promote then feel free to get in touch.

Hope everyone enjoys the start of the summer!