Does everybody have a funky uncle? I’m trying to think about funky things my uncles have done, but struggling to come up with material…does balding count as ‘funky’ these days? I think the ideal funky uncle is a diverse character. He has interests which span agriculture and food, investment, media, time travel and fashion. Thanks to Funkuncle, now everyone has a shared uncle who according to this criteria, is indeed funkalicious.

Funkuncle dubs itself a ‘multinational corporation with diverse interests throughout the world, extending into the atmosphere and even right down into the soft underbelly’, something which every uncle with a desire to be a funcle should strive to achieve. The corporation was established in 1955 by Edward J. Funkuncle as a manufacturer of spandex, but has grown and expanded ever since to become what it is today. So perhaps it isn’t really anything to do with becoming a funky uncle.

With its newest expansion being fashion, Funkuncle now offer a delightful range of graphic tees. Funkuncle write that their textile division seeks to create high art at the same time as completely mechanizing the artistic process, this is mostly achieved as their production line is 100% robot.

Some of their most iconic tees are “Time Box” and “Game Face”, which fuse modernity and colour with a distinctly retro overtone.

Time Box

Game Face

And remember, to be a funky uncle…everything must be taken with a pinch of salt.

Posterous

Here at Indigo, the customer services team are often delighted to get testimonials and thank you messages from happy clients via email. The challenge was how could we quickly publish the testimonial to our website, twitter (@indigo) and Facebook (Indigo FB page)? Also, how could the customer services team member do this themself without asking the IT department to do it for them?

Our solution was Posterous – a blogging platform that can auto-post emails sent to it. Now, once someone gets a testimonial they just have to send it on to post@posterous.com and it will publish to our site and wherever else we need it to go! Sweet!

That time of year has come around again. Yes, the time when I lock the door, close the curtains, turn off all the lights and pretend I’m not home. It’s Halloween. However, Halloween these days is more about socialising, looking a little bit ridiculous, and laughing at other people. So in the spirit of the season, I will tonight dress up in a bin-liner as a friendly ghost. This has required some serious preparation as you might be able to tell. I had to make sure I bought white bin-liners instead of black ones. Sheesh.

I’ve heard of some pretty crazy Halloween costume suggestions flying about this year. Moving away from the regular zombie, monster traits, people are planning on evoking the past as 1920s flappers, literary heros such as Atticus Finch from Harper Lee’s classic tale ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, and pregnant men. What does Halloween mean today? I have no idea.

If you want to make a nod to the holiday, but would prefer to avoid a fancy dress faux pas, Threadless have some very creative tees inspired by all things scary. There’s ‘Zombies only want you for your Brain’, which will go down well if you’re famous for your wit and intellectual mind. ‘Bone Idle’, is white like snow, with a ghoulish skull: perfect if you want to evoke subtle fear. But my all time favourite has to be ‘Brains’. The colours and all over print, I think you’ll have to agree, are frightfully nice. Have a happy Halloween, and don’t be too scary ok.

If you've got a Brain, the Zombies want you.

Looks creepy, doesn't it? Bone Idle.

Definitely the scariest. Eeeek.

WE MAKE T-SHIRTS kind of gives the game away. What do they do? Make T-Shirts. Who are ‘we’? They are Tony, Gill and Mike, Nottingham designers, printers and sellers – nestled in the hub of the creative t-shirt trade. ‘We Make T-Shirts’ was born during a busy University life of design, and since then has continued to grow and expand into proportions which might be (in fabric terminology) comparable to big billowy parachute. As the name suggests, for this company the ‘making’ of the t-shirts is a very important part of the creative process, and on their website you can find an intricate, almost David Attenborough-esque, documentary of the production process. Sleek. After watching it you’ll know exactly how your t-shirt came into the world, all the way from sketch pad to clothes tag. Some of their designs include….

“Salut”

“Paper Planes”

“Cubesville”

and my personal favourite…..”Tv’s”

But these kind t-shirters are also willing to print on request, so if there’s a particular style/colour combination you’ve got your heart set on then your wishes might just be accommodated. As ‘We Make T-Shirts’ begin to burst into stores in London (Lik & Neon Brick Lane), Sheffield, Nottingham and Birmingham (“Cow” Stores), their talent is getting some well deserved recognition and I think it’s time to jump on their bandwagon.

Ever felt like everyone is looking down on you? Then maybe this t-shirt isn’t the one for you. Altru Apparel’s most recent t-shirt line includes a print which may take you by surprise. It might just be that I am naive in the design stakes, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this on a shirt before. Altru’s ‘Central Park’ t-shirt might be just the thing to keep you entertained on rainy afternoons, as this shirt features a birds-eye view of New York City’s famous park, complete with inhabitants. As Altru suggest: ‘You could spend hours spying on all the people hanging out’, but I’m not one to advocate voyeurism. That said, so far I’ve been able to spot a group having a picnic, an older couple having a natter on fold-up chairs and someone who could possibly be George Clooney…but maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Spot anyone you know?

If you’re prone to bouts of vertigo, then perhaps it would be safer all round if you opted for the ‘Organ’ tee. Another classic photographic tee in greyscale. If you’re an aspiring organist then this design will offer endless practicing opportunities on the move. It’s your very own portable, mute, 2-D instrument. And if you happen to bump into someone who is already a talented organ player (you might find one at church), then you can strike up a beautiful friendship by inviting them to play Bach’s Toccata on your stomach. Just make sure you’re not ticklish first.

One man. Four hands.

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

I am Five. We’ll in truth I have aged a bit since then, though the frequency with which I have to whip out the old proof of age would beg to differ, as would the checkout people who have in the past checked that I’m old enough to buy Baileys ice-cream. I can say with pleasure that afterwards they were slightly embarrassed at checking. Looking young is clearly something to treasure, though I worry that one of these days I’ll wake up and all my ageing will have happened overnight and I’ll all of a sudden be hobbling around with a stick and booking myself in for a face lift.

I am Five isn’t quite a statement of age, it’s a t-shirt design label based in London town. I doubt that they’re grappling with the same age-appearance incompatibility related issues as me because they’re so busy making fantastical t-shirts. The first line from their brand spanking new online store is all about London fun. With a clean website, and equally clean design techniques they present a series of nods to London past, present, regal and fictional. You might like to wear Sherlock Holmes‘ profile, a t-shirt interpretation of the British Post-Box or three letters than mean so much: ‘LDN’. I like it.

"ER" Royal Majesty

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

Here’s something I’ve not seen before. They say that ingenuity is in simplicity and this t-shirt design by Brooklyn based PASTE is simplicity at it’s most ingenious, or is it? Here Paste’s graphic artist Jason Laurits has designed a t-shirt featuring nothing but a sketch of a…..t-shirt……yes, you heard correctly, on the front. Despite its blatant simplicity, I still can’t get my head around this t-shirt. There are a million questions I could ask: is the t-shirt on the design inspired by the t-shirt itself? Which came first, the design or the t-shirt? Whether you like it or not, the tee on tee is one of the PASTE’s more simplistic designs.

See two tee?

Others include the slightly more adventurous ‘Damn – Girl’ shirt, on which a Jane Austen-style legacy hero casts a flirtatious look at the bee-hind of one of his female companions, and by his comment seems, well what can I say? Rear-ly impressed. Not sure what Austen would have to say about that, but if this indie design soars in popularity perhaps it will be added to the script of the next Pride & Prejudice adaptation, completely changing the characterization of Mr. Darcy for generations to come. I predict outrage. Like it or loath it, you can’t accuse Laurits of failing in his vision to associate his t-shirt line with art, culture and humour.

Damn-Girl

Oh Goodie Goodie Two Sleeves! Yes readers, there are more special offers all lined up for this week only. Get your mouse clicking finger at the ready because Goodie Two Sleeves have slashed the prices of their t-shirts for their (not green, not purple, not even red but…) ‘Black Week’ of pre-crimbo sale shopping. Not only that, but if you buy this week you might even win 7 free t-shirts from these generous folks. Black Friday (the day after American Thanksgiving) traditionally marks the first official day of Christmas Shopping, though for my Mother that began way back in August. After Black Friday you’re allowed to release all that pent up Christmas energy…you’re allowed to get Christmassy. Go on…. deck the halls. And to celebrate this week of before Christmas Christmas Sales, Goodie Two Sleeves have whacked a whopping 50% off their shirts as a Black Week celebration of snip-priced shopping. So first things first, select some shirts from their online store to buy. This could in fact be the trickiest part as they have got a lot of amazing tees. I saw a good few that would be ideal Christmas presents. Know someone with a rep for globetrotting? The show-off ‘Represent’ shirt will go down a storm, and the design is very cool.

I've been here and here and here and here and here and here and

Got a friend with a bit of a sweet tooth? Aha, the Gummy Bear shirt! This beast is fierce on the outside but with a bit of a chew it’s a real schweetie, d’aaaaw. Now then, what about Dad? He’s always a tricky one to buy for. Not any more! Thankfully my Pap is rapidly balding, and if yours is too then this shirt could be a perfect present. Make the combed-over scalp in your life proud of his combing because ‘It’s the haircut with a sunroof’. Whoa there, good job…you’ve just got Christmas in your cart. Now head off to the checkout, tap in the Discount code: BACKINBLACK and enjoy seeing the numbers crunch in half. But before you finish, why not get a little treat for yourself. A reward for such a productive and money saving shopping spree maybe? I’ve seen just the shirt, you should be ‘Proud to be Awesome’.

Because let's face it...you are

When Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt painted his iconic work, “The Kiss” in the Vienna Art Nouveau movement, I’d chance it to guess that he wasn’t anticipating that Oddica artist Simon Noynay would re-design the handsome male kisser from “The Kiss” into an altogether more alien and Mr. Spock eared creature of “The Bite” to be printed onto a t-shirt. In fairness, Klimt’s smooching masterpiece is a work that has been subject to great theoretical interpretation  – the man’s faceless face indicating that he’s lost in the kiss? – The golden background paralleling the timelessness and spacelessness of a first kiss? Or in this case, the man as a vampire like biting monster – well art is all about interpretation and re-interpretation and this shirt shows just how it’s done. Although I’d rather send my Granny a postcard of Klimt’s original, the way this design makes you look twice at something you’ve seen endlessly before is quite addictive, and I’m sure you could come up with twenty times twenty number of obscure artistic interpretations as to the meaning of this re-design, or alternatively, you could just think it looks pretty cool and has nice shapes. Whether Gustav would be seen reclining in this shirt, we’ll never know, but Mr. Spock? Well that’s still doable, there’s a Star Trek movie coming out next year after all!

Klimt's Kiss

The biting alien t-shirt design

Get those voting fingers at the ready and vote, vote, vote. No I’m not talking about picking between marvellous MaCain or outstanding Obama (I don’t really know that much about either of these chaps, so I’ll leave it at the mediocre alliteration), I’m talking about something that’s altogether more Nicolas Sarkozy: it’s French.

LaFraise is a wonderfully democratic, yet also incredibly competitive t-shirt design site. With two ongoing competitions, un: laFraise classic, et deux: laFraise Mademoiselle, the idea behind the whole thing is that the members of the site who do all the voting end up getting the designs that they like the best printed…it’s not rocket science really is it? It’s survival of the most popular. After you’ve done your voting and everyone else agrees that the said design is the cream of the competition, you can trot on off to the shop at laFraise and bag your freshly printed goodies.

LaFraise is pretty sharp because it cuts out all the waste of printing t-shirts which nobody likes with the added thrill of the competitive spirit. I’m particularly fond of laFraise because it’s French for ‘strawberry’ and I really like strawberries, but aside from that, the website is also decked out in seasonal autumnal shades with no shortage of pumpkins, and if that doesn’t encourage you to vote, vote, vote, then just take a moment to dwell with gratitude on the fact laFraise is another example of buying a t-shirt being about so much more than just buying a t-shirt.

This cursed credit crunch is a source of some serious woe for me (“The weather’s terrible! Must be the credit crunch”; “I can’t be bothered to go for a run! Blame it on the credit crunch”; “I’m late for work! Thanks, credit crunch” etc). In these credit crunchy times, I struggle to find interesting things to eat for less than 50p on my terrifyingly small last-day-before-payday budget, and, rather than heading out to forage for wild mushrooms in Hyde Park, I find myself looking for a source of easy money. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across this little gem of a website.

Part social networking, part venture capitalism, Cameesa is an online T-shirt store with a difference. Freelancers submit their T-shirt designs to the website (nothing offensive, obscene or crap, please) and then try to find 50 supporters who are each willing to invest $20. Once these 50 fans have come forward, the artist gets $500 and the T-shirt gets printed up – not too shabby at all. And everyone who ponied up $20 gets a limited edition version of the T-shirt. Better yet, they also get a stake in the future earnings of the sale of that T-shirt. That’s not very much speculation for quite a lot of potential accumulation! You might spot the next ‘I?NY‘ t-shirt and make a mint.

So I’m rooting around down the back of the sofa, emptying out all my pockets, maybe I’ll pawn some tat lying around the house, all in order to scrape together the £10 or so I need to back one of the ace artists on the site. It’s still small and, like a Strictly Come Dancing group dance, only as strong as its members, so get involved, people!

What your Startup Schwag bag may contain

Over in Silicon Valley, near San Francisco and home to hundreds, if not thousands, of web companies, a company exists that sends you a bag of “schwag” in return for a monthly subscription. This bag of schwag is not the spoils of some bank heist but t-shirts and stickers from web 2.0 start-ups. Each month subscribers don’t really know what is going to be in this goody bag but they can be safe in the knowledge they will be sporting the latest geek logo whilst wearing a lovely soft American Apparel t-shirt (and will get some free stickers).

The concept is not new. In fact this site took up the idea from a company called RubyRed Labs in San Francisco but in April 2007 they stopped doing it. StartupSchwag.com sprung up in September of the same year to fill the void.

This is a fun idea in an industry that has been churning out funky new logos for years, combinded with a fan-base that loves to wear t-shirts. I am sure a similar idea could work well for the music industry but of course there are those expensive licences, required to sell band merchandise.

Some codes for you to use at our favourite t-shirt store on the web!

• 25 % on all grey t-shirts with the voucher code GREY. Only valid until Monday
• Free Shipment on all Organics t-shirts with the voucher code ORGANIC.

Visit LaFraise