the district

Alright, I know its cliche to take pictures of graffiti on a rooftop, but I figured since the paint was pretty spectacular, and it is actually where I live it would be excusable. Here are some new pictures from my roof:

You can see the rest at our myspace page. Add us as a friend while you are there. Read more »

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.

District Cotton today is unveiling its (our) latest T-shirt design competition; the District Shootout.  District sponsored 2 beta runs last summer, and is now presenting the format in a more permanent context.  The Shootout sets itself apart from existing design contests by including District Cotton’s signature measure of social responsibility.  In addition to the exclusive use of 100% organic cotton blanks, each contest will also donate 10% of proceeds to a select non-profit organization. For the first run of the Shootout, District is teaming up with NYC based bicycle advocacy group Time’s Up in an effort to create the best bike shirt ever.  In addition to money for green NGO’s, contest winners will also win $250 cash plus a $100 gift certificate, and and additional $250 with each reprint.  For details about submitting, visit the Shootout Rule’s page.  To view and critique submissions visit the contest homepage.  Submissions will be accepted until May 9, at which time the next contest theme will be announced.

Fair Trade Apparel by Counter Sourcing has slowly begun cropping up in university book stores across the country, demonstrating the feasibility of a t-shirt that actually takes care of its workers. As customers increase their sophistication of the apparel manufacturing process (in no small part thanks to AA’s marketing of their vertical integration), a small but significant market has emerged for clothing that is genuinely sweat-shop free, an often misused and ambiguous label.
Originally applied to farmers, and often considered problematic for manufactured goods, the concept of Fair Trade ensures that third world producers are paid a fair price for their goods sold in developed world markets. The many difficulties associated with “fair trade” manufactured goods were so daunting to Trans-fair USA (the only fair-trade certifier in the US) that they opted out of certifying apparel in a lengthy report published last summer. The major obstacle revolved around the question of whether or not it is acceptable to name a good fair-trade even if not every part of the production chain has been certified (farmer, spinning mill, knitting, cutting and sewing).

As it applied to Counter Sourcing, 17% of the company’s annual sales is returned in various forms directly to those involved in the cutting and sewing of the garment, the most labor intensive steps of manufacturing. Until recently Counter Sourcing was primarily offering only large quantities of custom printed T’s and sweatshirts to its customers, although has recently teamed up with District Cotton to help enter the blanks market.

I don’t think this site is new, but it’s new to me so I decided to share. Emptees is a great place to check out new designs, labels, and news about all things T-shirty. They also have an active forum to post pre-print designs for critique, which seems way more constructive than most things on the internet. You can check out our latest soon-to-be (maybe) shirt as well. (it might be a bit too Hot Topic, but I really kind of like it. Comments please.)