Today’s spotlight shines in the direction of Monsieur Poulet a humor oriented website which invites artists to submit their designs that will then be voted on. Twice a month the winners of the vote are printed on T-Shirts and bags which can be purchased through the site. Check out the site here
to pick up some unique designs and also to start voting on your favorite designs.
Just an update to anyone who recently subscribed to email feed updates from Indie Clothing Blog, I’ve been trying to update some of the features on the site and I had to fix a problem I was having with my feedburner settings as such users will have to resubscribe to email feeds if they wish to receive email updates again. Sorry for any inconvenience this caused…
Anyone interested in getting one of their designs out there for everyone to see should check out this contest. The contest is to design a T-shirt for London based electro-rock band TempoShark, check out the band at their website www.temposhark.com. Besides potentially seeing your design as the official T-shirt of the band you can also pick up some other great prizes. Some of the other prizes include CD’ s and visa gift cards. Be sure to head over to the contest page here for more information on how to enter and to see a complete list of the prizes. Check out the contest ASAP as it ends March 31st.
Since I haven’t posted an interview on the blog since i’ve taken it over I decided to ask Chris Reagan over at Artifex Shirts, a new start up that is specializing in 100% organic cotton clothing, a few questions. I welcome any feedback about the interview or the questions asked, if you want to see different types of questions asked let me know and i’ll see what I can do. I plan to do more interviews as I believe it gives some great insight into starting up your own clothing line. Well enough of that now lets get to why we’re all reading this.
Artifex Shirts is a new start-up offering 100% organic cotton clothing with a goal of offsetting 50,000lbs of CO2 emissions. Also Artifex Shirts plans to help fund the production of a windmill facility in South Dakota. They are going to do this by donating $3 from every customer purchase of the Windmill shirt to Native Energy.
Now that we know a little bit about what they offer, here’s a few questions I asked Chris Reagan, one of the co-founders of Artifex Shirts…
What made you decide to start a clothing company?
After a few environmental lectures, I decided that I wanted to do something for the environment. But I wasn’t sure what to do. During my brother’s senior year in high school, he purchased a screen printing kit and made shirts for his friends. After some thinking I put 2 and 2 together. I knew how to build websites and he knew how to print T-shirts. But we didn’t want to just be another T-shirt company, we wanted to make a difference. That’s when we decided to go the organic route and to contribute a portion of our profits to Native Energy. A clothing company would become our vehicle for making a difference in this world.
What’s been the largest obstacle getting Artifex off the ground?
Starting a business is similar to swimming upstream….there never is a moment where you are able to relax. The moment you do, you begin to lose the progress you’ve been making. My brother is a sophomore at U Buffalo majoring in architecture and entrepreneurship. I’m a first year high school teacher in Boston. Finding free time to get together is tough…but this is what we love to do.
Is there any advice you can give others looking to start their own clothing line?
Starting your own clothing line is demanding yet rewarding. If you want to enter the clothing industry, don’t just print T-shirts — print T-shirts that you love. If you would not wear something you make, then you should not be selling it. The market is already saturated…you need to differentiate yourself from everybody else. Find a niche and run with it. Set a goal and follow it. Be open to ideas, but never lose site of that goal. Never do anything that will compromise it. But most importantly, do what makes you happy. If you love it, then somebody else will.
Do you create your own designs?
Yes, my brother Tim is the creative force behind Artifex. He has created – and will continue to create – every design we print.
What’s the most popular piece of clothing right now
Our most popular shirt can be found here: Windmill on Aloe, We are very proud of our Windmill design. Not only does it convey a strong message and is a great design, but we also donate $3 from every Windmill shirt sold to Native Energy, a company that uses that money to construct a windmill in South Dakota. We are glad to see so many people support this cause.
Where do you hope to take Artifex in say the next 6 months?
Our dream is to have our products carried in clothing shops and boutiques. March 11th will mark the first day a shop will carry our products…and we have a feeling there will be many more to come. But more importantly, we hope that by summer we will have a social project affiliated with every one of our T-shirts. That way, no matter which T-shirt you purchase from Artifex, we will donate a portion towards an environmentally-conscious project.
Thank you for taking the time to answer those questions Chris, anyone looking to pick up some of these T-shirts as well as a few other pieces of clothing head on over to Artifex Shirts
now and make your order…
I was recently given a heads up about this week’s Brand of The Week, Aplomb Clothing, they have a professionally designed site with some great shirts for both guys and girls. Aplomb comes to us from Washington D.C. bringing some unique shirt designs as well as an original skateboard deck. You can buy their clothing either through the site or from the three different retailers that are listed in the retailers section. For the women reading this check out the “Swirls Tank” design which comes in Black, Cream and Raspberry colors. For the guys check out the “D.C. Bird’s Eye” design. Right now they have a spring sale at their online store with up to 50% off and free shipping on all items.
Head over now and take advantage of their great pricing and free shipping… www.aplombclohing.com
This week’s Brand of the Week, Red Lotus Clothing comes to us with just under a year since being founded by two friends. The company offers a number of different hoodies, and tees for both men and women. You can even find something for your four legged friend. The site is clean and easy to navigate. One thing that I haven’t noticed before on many other sites is the Events section, you can see where they will be giving away prizes and clothing and drop by if you’re in the neighborhood.
Check out www.RedLotusClothing.com for yourself and pick up a few new pieces of clothing you’re sure to love…
Happy New Year Everyone, I’ve taken over Indie Clothing Blog from Chris. My name is Regan. I’m still familiarizing myself with everything but I’m back from holidays now and have a bunch of emails to go through for the site, expect to see more updates and more brands soon and more often hopefully.
Thank You Everyone for your interest in Indie Clothing Blog,
Regan
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Quiksilver has been one of my favorite brands for years. Although they aren’t considered an indie brand, Quiksilver has deep roots in the Hawaiian/Californian surf scene and could be seen as indie-at-heart. Here’s a fun Sunday read of one of the greatest success stories in the industry.
LRG (lifted research group) have unveiled several new hoodies, just in time for autumn. A notable, but oddly named “Pay me to lay with me” zip-up features bold shades of red, yellow, and green on tan material. They have also released a ton of new t-shirts and hats that deserve a look.
Check out their website or as always, find them on .
