Summer's Here!

Even though it is summer, it’s worth having a gander at the autumn and winter collections too, not just because it’s good to plan ahead, but because their seasonal collections have amazing titles such as ‘Spring 09: I love mornings’ and ‘Winter 08: The Coquette’. Kling offer more than just clothing because they help you to style your look too. They offer weekly deals where you can buy the Total Look, and if you don’t know just how to wear your new Kling clothing, all you need to do is drop an email to Emma the stylist who will ‘work out your look’. Keeping things simple but stylish, there’s also a section of the website where ordinary folks, like you and me, can send in our pictures and become international supermodels (don’t laugh). So if your holidaying in Spain this summer, make sure you seek some shade in a Kling store – oh and take some extra spending money too.

Red and spotty has never looked so good

Admittedly this whale doesn't look as friendly as Free Willy

For women, the designs are slightly more peaceful and subdued, including this red and black bird design on a long grey shirt and a gold wolf on navy blue, which would incidentally look great with a green shopping bag…hmmm perhaps this handsewn ‘Broccoli’ bag? I can’t help but love it when veg gets promoted through artwork.

Mmmm, broccers

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!

All Irish people are like this aren't they?

The Irish have brought many wonderful things to the world. Guinness, leprechauns, potato based foods, a very unique way of pronouncing the word ‘tart,’ and lots of general cheery charm. No wonder I’m moving to Dublin, what’s not to love? Hmm, the exchange rate maybe – but that aside the emerald isle is one of the most iconic places in the world, and then there’s the street art scene which turns the city wall into a canvas itself. Turtlehead are a t-shirt design collective stemming from Dublin, but also featuring artistic collaboration with designers from New York and Canada. They have been ‘touching cloth since 2006′, and they have a solid mission statement. Aiming not to bring down corporations or presidents, Turtlehead simply want to show that they care, which they do by donating 5% of their profits to a charity of the customer’s choice and printing on ethically and environmentally friendly tees. If this isn’t enough to whet your appetite and get your teebuds tingling then you should know that all their designs are limited to 500 pieces, so your shirt will be pretty original. And if you’re an aspiring designer your artistic submissions will be welcomed, with all winning designs rewarded in prize money and your very own Turtlehead line of shirts!

But before your incredible winning design is featured on Turtlehead’s website, maybe you’d like to have a peek at their current edgy designs, firstly from Irish designers Chris Haughton and Will St. Leger. St. Leger’s design features a taster of the artist’s famous stencilwork, and handily reminds us that not all pigeons love bread. Haughton’s more colourful purple-headed, yellow-eyed, big-bearded posing man is printed on a bright yellow shirt and accompanied with a bit of Irish vocab: ‘ag damhsa,’ which means ‘dancing’ in the Gaelic language – and as you can see, this guy sure has some moves

Chris Haughton's Dancing Man

If you prefer dentures to Irish dancers then maybe Marc John’s ‘Famous People’s Teeth’ shirt is the one for you. This could be part of the perfect outfit if you’ve scheduled an appointment with the dentist in the near future. But if famous artists rather than famous teeth are more your thing, then you might like to display the progenitor of pop-art on your chest. Why not wear this Andy Warhol shirt by Italian designer Laura Paperina, which shows the famous artist looking worried while he eats a banana. Maybe it had gone mouldy, I hate it when that happens.

I can see Brad Pitt's molar

Just in case none of these capture your eye, you’ll find it impossible to dislike my all time favourite Turtlehead shirt, which has to be Mountain Man, designed by Melbourne artist Adam Cruickshank. Simple and effective, this shirt works because specs and beards are cool, and it’s like carrying a friendly little friend around with you. If you spill some soup down your t-shirt, don’t worry – you were just feeding him, if you need to go somewhere fancy dress – wear your shirt over your head, and if you get lonely – have a little conversation with the guy. People won’t think you’re strange, promise.

Your new best friend

Pull-ups

As a rule of thumb I’d advise opting for the ones that look darker and more like jeans, these ones designed by James Jeans seem to fit the bill. I don’t think there’s any way to really avoid these this summer, as much as you might want to, but perhaps they’re one of those things that you said you’d never wear and by next week you’ll have three pairs hanging in the wardrobe. 

They might look like Jeans, but they're actually James Jeans Jegs

When you’ve been away from home for a long time it’s always nice to come back to the place where everything looks pretty much the same only a little smaller than you remember. Yesterday I packed up my little house by the sea and came home. After finishing up all my work, doing my exams and a long drive home I was ready to see my parents waiting on the doorstep. I’m not going to deny that I envisaged them looking slightly distraught at the fact that I had been away from home for so long but with an excited glimmer in their eyes because their prodigal daughter had finally returned home, and preferably they would shower me with gifts and tears of joy. It’s meant to work the same way whenever you are reunited with loved ones, whether it’s at airport arrivals, on Christmas day, or simply when you’ve been to buy the morning paper and it’s taken a little longer than usual; however, my parents had gone on a tropical holiday when I returned (not jealous, not jealous at all. promise) so all my teary reunion ideas were shot to pieces.

I like reunions, but the best part about them are the hugs. Those big bear hugs that greet you when you’ve been away for ages. In fact the best ones are when you can’t really breathe so good and you get lifted off the ground a little and here cracking noises around the ribs. One of the ‘Design by Humans‘ artists clearly has the same love of bear hugs if you take a look at this shirt. Thankfully the bear hugs I’ve had haven’t been from frightening grizzly bears, or from men in a baby blue shirts that say ‘hugs’, but if you did want to combine the two…tahdaaaaa! Now I’ll just have to spend some time thinking up a new reunion image for when my parents come back looking all sun-kissed - my thunder has totally been stolen here.

Looks so soft and huggable

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.

Here's something you never thought you'd see

HeadHoods have a wide range of faces to choose from, including famous heads and some that are just for fun. Some of my favourites include the gorilla face (perfect for anyone who likes bananas), a crying baby’s head (would work anyone who’s either pregnant or has a bit of a childish temper), and Michael Jackson, back in the day (to remind you that You Are Not Alone).

Hungry Gorilla

“Oh Meeha, keep in mind we’re very casual and jeans will do just fine.”

Just the words any intern/workshadowing student wants to hear when trying to venture into the world of the working kind. I didn’t really know what to expect  when I got accepted to do a workshadow with Jo and the gang at Indigo Clothing. All I can say is, quickest six hours of my life, apart from the really, really , REALLY fast six hours of sleep that preceded the working day.

I was taken by Jo, my mentor for the day to the warmest, most comfortable studio room-office ever. T-shirts hanging from a clothing line, of course, they customise shirts, among other things. Was introduced Eleni, who works with Jo, and got right down to work, being explained bits and bobs along the way.  After a  few additions and multiplications, sending back quotes to potential customers  it was time for lunch. Guess what, they feed you too!! Well, only if you’re interning I guess . Yummy chicken sandwich baguette from a bar across the road, you will truly be missed. When we got back from lunch I was introduced to the Blog on which these few words will be put up, I’m assuming. FUN! Although I’m not sure if this particular post will be half as popular or fun to read as any of Kate’s. Wow can that woman write or what?

As I write this, I’m getting my very own t-shirt printed.  It took me nearly half an hour to think up what I wanted to have printed on my shirt. I think it is quite near perfection.  Almost.

You readers should be so lucky to get a day to intern with Indigo Clothing, I did, so BOOYA!! I’m thinking of throwing in an evil chuckle somewhere, yes totally should.

*RUBS HANDS TOGETHER AND CHUCKLES*

And because I have a train to catch back to Loughborough University, I must stop writing this post from this big city computer, in this big city work place, in the big city.

This sheep in the big city and alien to fast walking, tube-taking, hustling and bustling must go back to the Village that is Loughborough.  Adios!

Meeha's new t-shirt!

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?

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!

Always Puft, always in style

This year the world of film openly admits its love of costume with a cinematic celebration of French designer Coco Chanel. In Chanel-mania, you can expect to feast your eyes upon three films charting life and times of the revolutionary designer who changed the 20th century woman’s wardrobe. The biopic Coco Avant Chanel is essential viewing for anyone who enjoys a bit of sumptuous period-clothing eye- candy, and an authentic slice of Français chic. With costumes overseen by Karl Lagerfield, and worn by actress Audrey Tautou, this film looks to be a treat for the senses. According to early reviews, Anne Fontaine’s film features outstanding photography, and as the trailer suggests, lots of love, wild parties, social strife and transformation. You’ll be in for a particular treat if you speak French, because these films are in Chanel’s native tongue, but don’t despair if you don’t understand a simple ‘Bonjour’, because subtitles and/or a pocket French dictionary will solve your problems, and after all, we’ll be watching it for the style darling - and that’s a language universally spoken. Hopefully in a few years, my Marshmallow man will have a fashion based film all of his very own too.

Audrey Coco Tautou

Jumpin Jammerz are pajama makers like no other. With their range of all in one bedtime suits, the face of sleep time fashion has been radically reinvented. The range is quite impressive, and they cater for every type of sleeper. Do your feet get cold in bed? Then get a bed suit with feet. Alternatively, if your feet get a bit toasty at night, you can opt for a footless suit. Always slipping over on the floorboards? There are suits with fleecy hoods, sticky feet (to minimise the risk of a dangerous slip on a wooden floor), and then there’s even a range with a ‘drop down seat’…well no one said that they’d make you look attractive. 

With these  jim-jams you can authentically experience childhood again: all you need is a jumbo pack of pampers, a warm bottle of milk and a pacifier to complete the look.

Today, I started thinking about the hybrids I’d like to see. Maybe the ’snish’, that’s a snake and a fish, or the ‘Seatle’, a seagull and beetle. Designer James Bourne had a similar idea when he set a project for school children to image a combination of their two favourite animals. Picking the most imaginative combinations he drew them, and then Mouldy Loaf put them on a childrens t-shirt. If you get one of these shirts you can spend hours trying to work out the new hybrid animals. I can spot a ‘CrocaBee’ (crocodile/bumblebee), and I think there might be a ‘Tortoose’ (tortoise/goose) there too, but some of them are too bizarre to decipher. In fact, I think one of them might be a plant. Just think, the children who had these animal visions are going to be the scientists of the future, so lock up your pets.

Animal Madness

We met on Monday, during a moment of madness. In fact, it’s all a bit of a haze. I was just walking down the street, as I do on a daily basis. Our eyes met through the glass of a shop window and I found myself walking through the double doors, forgetting that I’d actually ventured out in search of some cough syrup. I was not going to find cough syrup here. Slipping my left foot into it’s first ever contact with a size 4 Vivienne Westwood, it was the perfect fit. And that was it. We were hooked for life. Kate and the Lady Dragon shoe forever….until……..a white sticker with some numbers on it tore us cruelly apart.

It was a brief but beautiful, plastic, heart shaped encounter, designed by Vivienne Westwood for PVC shoe makers Melissa. The shoe-love of my life would never have hurt my toes, because he was made of soft bendy plastic.  In physical stature, he was just my type, bold and kitsch…and had the biggest heart. We were meant to be, but it’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have found shoe shaped love at all.

The shoe that stole my heart