As Justice have perfectly demonstrated in their video for DANCE, everyone needs at least one or two interchangeable party tees.

There are few prerequisites for this genre of t-shirt, but for an unforgettable party entrance make colour, graphics and relativity your top priorities.

Chunk Clothing could arguably be the specialists in party wear. Their New York Sounds tee in cobalt blue is inspired by the New York subway map re-imagined into a pair of beat transporting headphones, to take you on the ultimate journey. Whatever subway sounds are like, it makes me want to hear them.

The subway never sounded so good

From Your Eyes Lie, there is another form of party tee on offer, this time it’s a Disco Owl illustrated with a dramatic purple and yellow lightning strike. Who would have thought that the owl was a serious party animal.

Disco Owl

If something more simple says PARTY best to you, then Lazy Oaf should be able to provide all your party attire. Their simple colour block tee for men is guaranteed to lift every spirit, but if you don’t need any extra help in the spirit lifting department you can show off in a Martini t-shirt, which comes complete with a Marilyn Monroe upper lip mole. Classy.

Colour Block

With a twist

Indigo have built and launched a dedicated official merchandise store for alumni of Cambridge University at camalumni.co.uk. Products include earthenware mugs, a Case Logic netbook skin, a Slazenger gym bag, a Balmain umbrella and a beautiful 3-piece recycled leather travel set in Cambridge Blue. Indigo will be adding to the range throughout the year and has handled all aspects of the project including building the website, making advertising collateral and producing, storing and shipping the merchandise.Indigo has worked closely with Cambridge University Alumni Relations Office (CARO) on this project. CARO exists to encourage relationships and build links between the University and its alumni wherever they are in the world. CARO keeps alumni informed about the development of the University, and provides a wide range of programmes, events and benefits.If you are a university or large organisation and interested in a bespoke merchandise solution, contact Alex on 0800 061 2207 (UK Freephone).

If you are looking for cool world cup t-shirts, look no further than Didi. They have t-shirts for most of the major teams. My particular favourite is this USA one, listing all top players as well as the hapless England goal keeper, Robert Green, who fumbled the ball allowing USA to draw 1-1 earlier in the month.

[28/6] Right now it seems like all the shirts are sold out but hopefully they will reprint some more.

What is it about the Ray-Ban that makes everyone from the Men in Black to Sarah Jessica Parker slide a pair up their celebrified noses? And aside from the celebridoodles, a pair of Ray-Bans have become indispensable to the non-famous. Take a stroll around your nearest city and you’ll outcount your fingers by the number of Ray-Banners you see protecting the population from the sun’s glare.This summer the shades that have experienced recurring patterns of slump and revival since their original creation in 1952 are experiencing a large scale return. But what is it about these shades that seems so accessible to everyone? Is it that they suit all faces, is it that they are seen as an investment in quality, or is it simply that

in the

“black suit with the black Ray Ban’s on”

you can

“Walk in shadow move in silence
Guard against extra-terrestrial violence”?

Debatable, but this year Ray-Ban has introduced more than colour to the simple black shades, today we have print. Collaborating with some of the world’s best print makers, Ray-Ban have extended from sunglasses to limited edition posters to publicize their new collection.

Alongside the posters, the rare prints collection is nothing if not exciting. These subway map style shades will make sure you always find your way around. Though if your attraction to the original wayfarer can never be lost, why not try a twist on the classic with an insider flower print.

Subway

Secret Flowers

LTD Tee publishes a new t-shirt design once a week. After a week you can’t get your hands on it again!  You can use promo code “indigoclothing” to get 10% off too. This week their design is supplied by Oliver Hibert who LTD Tee interviewed. Re-published here to read at your leisure:

LTD Tee: What was your inspiration or concept behind the artwork submitted to LTD Tee?  How did this artwork come to life?

Oliver Hibert: I’ve been quite inspired lately by all things dark and dangerous, touching on reptiles, mythology and symbolism which is represented here with the theme of the iconic Ouroboros. This piece is in connection with my recent and current works of having the feel of a “bad trip”, which is a bit of a change for me because most of my previous work has been considered as a “groovy trip”. The psych colors and feeling will always be a big inspiration for me but I’ve been intrested in playing with and mixing those colors and feel with darker imagery and concepts…

LTD Tee: What artists or websites do you find inspiring?  Where do you draw inspiration from?  What is your favorite artwork (either your own or someone else’s)?

Oliver Hibert: Well, I like many different artists ranging in different styles for a lot of different reasons, many current and some that have long past. Though, currently I’ve been getting more and more into Egyptian art and Hieroglyphics… One of my favorite paintings ever is the well known and celebrated “Garden of Earthly Delight” by the amazing Hieronymus Bosch.

LTD Tee: What is your favorite medium to work in and why?

Oliver Hibert: My favorite medium to work in is definitely Acrylic on wood or canvas. I am a true painter in my heart. After completing a piece, the sense of accomplishment makes me feel alive like nothing else. I also enjoy the fact that there is only one original copy that can never be truly duplicated, that makes it very special.

LTD Tee: Any tips for aspiring artists?

Oliver Hibert: Keep working at what you’re doing. Have faith in what you are making. Have fun with what you are creating. The most important person to please is yourself, so be yourself. If you are enjoying what you are doing then your right on track…

LTD Tee: What is your core belief or ideology?  What is something you would like to share, or think everyone should know?

Oliver Hibert: Some questions are better left unanswered, for me this applies to art in a big way.

LTD Tee: Anything else?

Oliver Hibert: I sneeze a lot but I kind of like the way it feels.

Indigo Clothing has built and launched a merchandise store for the MBAT, the annual sports tournament held every year by the MBA programme at HEC, Paris. Now in its 20th year, the MBAT organising committee wanted to be able to start offering merchandise online; before, during and after the event.

The MBAT Shop built by Indigo

Indigo supplies the merchandise, handles payment, fulfilment and customer service and provides a complete merchandise solution. If you need something similar, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

There’s something spesh about mesh. You have to admit it. Mesh clothing has a definite feel for the cringe. It reminds us that fashion doesn’t necessarily conceal. It demonstrates the essential difference between the terms opaque and transparent. And it often shows us much much more than we’ve ever wanted to see.

In its most frightening form, mesh is synonymous with ‘Hi, look straight through me. See the bare skin. See the bare skin everywhere.’ American Apparel’s male department has a perfect example of this: their Nylon Spandex Micro-Mesh T-shirt. Nice colour, not so nice transparency; but doesn’t it look breathable.

When not worn in intense doses, a splash of mesh here and there can be super nice. Mesh sleeves, in this Urban Outfitters sweater, are diluted with dots and a puff sleeve. There’s nothing criminal about showing a bit of arm.

Fred Perry even offers something meshy, so (brave) men can try it too by mixing fabric in a polo.

But mesh is always at its best in a dress. This Conspiracy Dress by Australian outfitter StyleStalker shows that when folded, twisted and ruched, mesh is eye-catching for all the right reasons. The very special fabric takes on different shades and depths of transparency all by itself, and that’s a quality not many materials can boast.

I have summer plans. They involve two wheels, handlebars, a bell, a helmet, and afternoons with the Father. Air on your face never feels as good as when you’re cycling. One time I saw former Prime Minister, THE Tonester Blair while on a summery bike ride. I did wave, but he didn’t wave back sadly. In hindsight, it might have been because I looked less than respectable in my cycling attire, so in an attempt to get back behind the handlebars and brrrringing that bell in a way that would attract the attention of former Prime Ministers, it might be time for a visit to Dark Cycle Clothing.

Representing a comprehensive cross-section of the cycling world, Dark Cycle Clothing’s t-shirts prove, once again, that being on a bike really is for everyone. But as the saying goes ‘Different strokes for different folks’ Dark Cycle similarly suggest ‘Different bikes for different…….types……of species’. It semi works.

Have you ever seen a badger riding a velocipede? Now you have:

What about a fox on a racer? Here you go:

Ever tried to work out how a super tall giraffe would cope on a bike? So have Dark Cycle:

Finally, have you wondered, deep within your heart, who tandem biking is really for? I like this colour.

Admittedly, I’ve not heard about many monasteries in Australia.
I’ve never seen a monk on any Australian soaps.
Monks down under are more into t-shirt design perhaps.
That’s the impression you get from t-shirt designer specialists Das Monk, anyhow.

Das Monk is a graphic clothing label, the creative collaboration of husband and wife team Marc Hendrick and Anna Lunoe. Since 2007, they have been inspired by everything from cassette covers to cubicle wall doodles in their Sydney studio, and have found a happy urban home within Australia’s art and music scene. They rendez-vous artistically with emerging artists worldwide, enjoy wonderful weirdness, and their designs are fresher than home grown tomatoes.

In these designs, diamonds within diamonds produce colourful kaleidoscopic effects, and hexagons are home to fluid explosions of colour and shape, as Das Monk graphically display fusions of colour and shape structures that catch the eye, stay in the mind and rest perfectly against the chest.

But the visual repertoire of Das Monk is neither repetitive or limited. Alongside these structural representations there is playful design and optical illusion. Das Monk design is a world where precisely peeled apples become serpents, pencil sharpening shapes turn into gazelles, and ice-cream is acid. This monk ain’t never been so wild.

Don’t be fooled by the sudden shift to sunshine. It’s April remember the….drip, drip, drop little april showers. A sure fire way to encourage the rain to return happens when Brits slip into their flip-flops before April is out. It might well be warm, your feet might be dying to smell the air, you might have seen the most perfect pair of summer sandals, but don’t do it. Not yet. Good things come to those who wait.

In the meantime, while we tread the precarious path between spring and summer, why not wear something effortlessly classic? In keeping with the trend of summer prep, tie yourself in knots with a pair of ever so fashionable oxfords. This classic style of shoe oozes continental charm. The oxfords can be sported by aging bearded professor and sprightly young professional alike. Most attractively however, they make a beautiful, soft “pat pat” noise on the ground, which is far more appealing that the harsh “flip flop” sound. Despite their refined charisma, oxfords don’t have to be conservative. In this pair of ‘Striped Huipile Jazzie’ oxfords by Osborn Shoes, there’s a hint of summer combined with the laces of higher education.

Jazzie

If you’re looking for a pair of lace ups that say, ‘prep’ without saying ‘I tried consciously to achieve this effect’ you might find your perfect match after a ten minute browse on the Zuriick Collection website. Sometimes I have dreams about their shoes. This pair of ‘Shug Low Black Leather’ style oxfords look like they were made for schmoozing. You can almost feel the softy softness of the leather, and you can rest assured that in a few months these guys will have molded around the contours of your feet. It’s amazing how a picture can speak a thousand words.

soft soft soft

Though the oxfords come in many shapes, sizes, styles and textures, nothing beats simple and classic, right? For a pair of traditional oxfords with spring wearability these New York shoe specialists, with an equally special name, have lovingly made a pair of oxfords which boast no special effects, apart from simple style and magnetic charm. The ‘Chelsea Crew “Holland” Tan’ have spring written (invisibly) all over them.

Simple. Classic.

Yes it’s April and it’s still snowing.
It should be warm.
Instead, it’s snowing.

But you know what we should do? Instead of complaining we should roll around in the snow, go sledging, look up at the sky and stick out our tongues to catch cold drops. We should take a leaf out of this t-shirt company’s book and ‘Cheer Up!’ because summer has got to be on its way. Right?

Cheer Up! Clothing started back in 2006 through a collaboration of besties Matt and Ed. They loved to design clothes so they decided to embark on an adventure in the business world. With a brand called ‘Cheer Up!’ who wasn’t going to love them? From t-shirts which remind you of your Momma telling you to ‘Enjoy yourself‘ to scribble shirts which brightly tell everyone who sees you to ‘Cheer Up!’ this company’s ethic is clear. It’s even depicted in their company logo which is an old-school milkshake silhouette. What could make you happier than milkshake? Who knows? I can’t think of anything that’s made me happier than milkshake.

Guess what you should do...

Their milkshake logo is displayed with pride of place in this simple fitted polo shirt, which is my favourite item from their range. It’s polo-tastic. Back to milkshakes now; this reddish colour reminds me of the cherry on top of milkshakes, though interestingly enough I’ve never had one of these in real life. Where can you get a good milkshake with a cherry on a stalk on the top? Hmm, only in the films I think.

Spot the milkshake

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.