the district

I got an email this morning from a T-shirt brand called Origin68 in Manchester. The fact that I only understood about half of it leads me to assume that they are from Manchester England, and not Manchester New Hampshire. That and they used words like pub and beavering. (oh shit, LL Cool J just came on the radio and totally destroyed what little train of thought I had going.)

Anyway, they make shirts and i write about shirts. Here goes: The first design “up in smoke”, I definitely like. The thing that I didn’t really get about the brand though, is that the designs have a lot of suggestion of social responsibility, but it doesn’t seem to go any further than that. There seems to be something deeply ironic about a t-shirt preaching against conspicuous consumption (below), because despite the fact that I make a living selling t-shirts, I am well aware of the fact that most people already have enough t-shirts in their closet to last the rest of their natural lives. Additionally, while Origin68 does print on Continental shirts (which have a pretty strong record on labor ) there is nothing above and beyond about their choice of blanks. Putting a “printed on recycled paper” stamp on the website is kind of cute, but it doesn’t really mean much either. Obviously, I like the socially conscious message of the line, but unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be much substance behind it. Check it out at www.origin68.com

How’s that for an exciting lead-in. Sears, which apparently still operates stores somewhere, has signed LL Cool J, who is apparently still around, to produce a line of hip-hop street clothes. Oddly enough, this story has lit up the news wires, but interestingly, it appears to be mostly getting filed under the heading of “news of the weird”. No pictures yet, but I can assure you they’ll be here when available.

As Inigo Montoya once said, let me explain, no no there is too much, let me some-up: Fresh Jive printed the t-shirt above, a lot of people got pissed-off and called them anti-semites. Urban Outfitters decided to quite selling the shirt, lest people actually associate them with progressive urban image they try so hard to maintain.
I’m assuming that the negative reaction is the result of an overly literal interpretation of the design, which would be that Fresh Jive is saying that all Palestinians are victims, so it’s okay to give kids AK-47s and tell them to shoot at Israelis. As street-wear legend Rick Klotz’s response clarifies, there is a lot more to depth to this shirt than inciting hatred. While I truly believe that the worst of it is over, I am truly saddened by the way that Americans have become so intolerant of any view points on the middle east that are more nuanced than, “You are either with us or you must be a terrorist-sympathizer”. Frankly, since Sept. 11 the censorship of mainstream American political culture far trumps the worst of anything we have ever seen from the actual government. Point being: what the fuck did Urban Outfitters think was going to happen when they put this shirt on their shelves? Let’s not forget that until very recently you couldn’t even critique the war without having your loyalty to America called into question. Regardless of one’s interpretation, this shirt is clearly making a bold political statement raising the question; Are Urban Outfitters’ buyers so naive that they didn’t anticipate this shit-storm? Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one, then they should at least have had the gumption to stick with the shirt once they green-lighted it in the first place. It is pretty shameful that at the first sight of controversy they would rather pull the shirt than let people react to it. Albeit a small one, this is just another example of tyranny of the majority in which any type of political dissent (or even commentary) is discounted merely for rubbing some individuals the wrong way. Urban Outfitters decision to pull the shirt marks another significant loss for legitimate political dialog.

Incidentally, these pictures of Mexican Man-vestites on Fresh Jive’s website was way more offensive than anything political could ever possibly be.

Alright, so I am just copying this from Karl at T-critic, but I figured that it was sufficiently in the District domain to repost. This shirt is pretty funny, although the seller’s other shirts are pretty fucking stupid, IMHO. (i learned that new abbreviation)  The fact that organic and orgasmic kind of sound alike wasn’t really that funny when it was in a shampoo commercial 5 years ago and still isn’t funny.  T-shirt designers take note: sexual double-entendres are not nearly as funny as poop jokes.  On that note, as much as it kills me to do it, I must refrain from a great personal anecdote right here.

The first District Shootout winner was announced this week; Sven Palmowski from Germany by way of Barcelona. Printed on an unbleached 100% organic cotton tagless District T, we think this one really stood out due to the high level of detail and originality.  10% of the proceeds on these will go to NYC’s Time’s Up, which promotes various cycling projects.  The next Shootout theme will be announced by the end of week, but we can tell you it’s gonna be another NYC group. Keep posted. To order the new shirts click here.

Dear the 148 weirdos that read this page at least semi-regularly,

I apologize for my absence, I was out of town and then I had some kind of bullshit or something that I didn’t even get from making out with a girl and was just really tired for a week. Okay, maybe it wasn’t mono at all, but I was still really tired and didn’t feel like writing anything.  Don’t worry though, I am back with lots of moderately interesting things to talk about.

Love,

Brett