UGP House of Tees http://blog.undergroundshirts.com Underground Printing’s attempt to articulate the goings-on in the world of apparel - and some other stuff too. posterous.com Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:39:29 -0800 Tultex & The Emergence of the Economical Fashion T-Shirt http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/tultex-the-emergence-of-the-economical-fashio http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/tultex-the-emergence-of-the-economical-fashio

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Once upon a time in the world of wholesale t-shirts, there were basic t-shirts and there were American Apparel t-shirts, and not much in between. A number of American Apparel imitators emerged on the scene as well, but the price point was very similar to AA, leaving consumers with a real conundrum: pay less for a boxier, standard t-shirt or pay significantly more for the fitted, softer cuts of an American Apparel shirt.

For many customers that meant sacrificing fit and feel for fiscal reasons. Fortunately the big basics brands began to see an opportunity for to meet the demand for a less-expensive, American Apparel style shirt that could fill this niche. Their initial efforts a few years ago were, in this author's opinion, not up to par with an American Apparel shirt at all. The first editions of these products were certainly cheaper than American Apparel, but they looked and felt like it, too. As time went on, the big brands have greatly improved the quality of the cuts and the materials, however, and consumers have taken notice. New brands have begun to emerge in this space as well, such as Tultex.

Tultex has become a fan favorite seemingly overnight. While the big brands' fashion fit shirts are much improved, such as the Anvil 980 and the Gildan 64000, those brands have still held to a slightly less fitted, heavier  cotton shirt. Few of the economical fashion-fit shirts pushed the envelope on fit and materials on a par with American Apparel, with the exception of Tultex. Their shirts are very soft, lightweight, and cut more fitted than their big brand counterparts. This low price point and great fit and feel have Tultex shirts popping up all over the place, from band merchandise at concerts, to designer t-shirt lines, to birthday bar crawls, and everything in between. Check out some of the most popular Tultex garments below.

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Tultex 0241

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Tultex 0331

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The emergence, success, ubiquity, infamy, and recent financial troubles of American Apparel have been well chronicled. Their retail stores have given them an identity and following that wholesale brands typically do not enjoy but from the most frequent and savvy custom t-shirt buyers. For the first time since their emergence, however, American Apparel has significant competition at a lower price point. While we think American Apparel makes some great products and will, as long as they are still in business, continue to be in demand, it's been great to see some serious low-cost competitors emerge to help customers on a budget find a product people will love. If you are looking for a better fit and feel on a budget, check out the Anvil 980, the Gildan 64000 or any of the Tultex line of shirts!

Authors Note: As always, when dealing with more fitted cuts and lighter, thinner materials, be sure to think of the tastes and styles of the shirt recipients for whom you are ordering. Not everyone knows what to expect from a fashion fit shirt. We always point out that someone can wear a shirt that it a little too big, but they can't wear a shirt that is a little too small, so err on the side of caution if you're uncertain about fit. While many of these new materials are thinner, lighter, and softer, be warned that some shrinkage may occur. This is a tradeoff for those softer materials in particular. Some fashion-fit shirts can have sheer qualities as well, so consider your audience before selecting a style that might not fit their tastes. If you have questions on these or any styles, contact us for more information!


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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/564426/whitepinwheel.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5ALCzhBQfKPD Underground Printing UGP Underground Printing Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:34:00 -0800 Leveling the Playing Field http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/leveling-the-playing-field http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/leveling-the-playing-field

Think that a company like online behemoth like Amazon does not want internet retailers to have to pay state sales tax? Not true! Because of the physical fulfillment warehouses that Amazon has throughout the country, the retailer already collects sales tax in 5 states, and narrowly avoids collecting in other states due to a company structure loophole that just won't last. There is an article by Janet Novack on Forbes.com that does an excellent job of illustrating this. In fact, she says "Amazon is now supporting legislation that would allow the states to force sales tax collection by Internet retailers who have no physical presence - that is, by its competitors". Through its Price Check App, Amazon is narrowing the focus on advantages internet retailers posses, and expediting the day when all internet retailers are forced to pay state sales tax. Without this price disadvantage, brick-and-mortar retailers will hopefully prove to be more competitive to the price-sensitive shopper. 

Underground Printing, with locations in 10 states, is well versed in the sales tax issue. We have customers all across the country, and while many of them enjoy not having to pay sales tax, as we continue to grow our physical locations throughout the country that may not be the case.

Last month there was a lot of uproar about the Amazon Price Check App. There were many articles about the retailers protesting Amazon and coming up with strategies to "thwart" price comparison applications. While this is definitely an issue that should concern brick-and-mortar retailers, the silver lining will probably be this: legislation requiring online retailers to pay state sales tax. In the long run, this will be crucial for the survival of your favorite local brick-and-mortar retail store. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1218235/rishirockingout.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hesfOslcoYYYO Rishi Narayan ugprishi Rishi Narayan Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:03:48 -0800 "It's attractive because it's made in America" http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/its-attractive-because-its-made-in-america http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/its-attractive-because-its-made-in-america

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Often times in fashion, what was old becomes new again, and many trends and styles repeat and reinvent themselves as new generations rediscover gems of the past.

This logic doesn't just apply to bell bottoms and leg warmers, but to industry as well.  I just read that vinyl record sales have increaesed 5 years in a row, even as over all album sales decline - what's old is new....

Well Last night while reading Fast Company, I can across a really great article which highlights one of the newest "old" trends, "made in America." Its been the belief, especially in the apparel industry that Amercian made products can't compete with the lower cost structure of products made overseas.  This viewpoint is extrememly limited however in assuming the competition is measured ONLY by cost, and thus margin.

However more and more companies are finding that competition is fought accross many variables like turnaround time, quality, social responsibility, and brand image just to name a few.  It may be true you can get a shirt sewn in cambodia for $.29 per hour (see this great article on Dallas Cowboy's Merchandising http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7435424/dallas-cowboys-dip-sports-appa... but there is a cost to that cheapness as measured by cusomer negative sediment for the lack of workers rights.

Out of that path to profits, comes a new trend, a positive trend for those of us like Underground Printing (who produces all of our Screen printing and embroidery here in the U.S.) which is for brands to be cool becuase they are made here at home.  

This article does a great job of highlighting a 90 year old American company who faced the hardships of outsoucing and well as a great resurgence of American manufacturing. 

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/161/edith-a-miller-womens-clothing

 

 

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1756981/Screen_Shot_2012-01-10_at_8.17.11_AM.png http://posterous.com/users/cQyyCt0MeldBE Ryan Gregg rgregg Ryan Gregg Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:11:00 -0800 2011: Year in Review http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/2011-year-in-review http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/2011-year-in-review

As we prepare for 2012, we wanted to take a minute to review some UGP highlights from 2011, in case you missed them.

A New UGP Store

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UGP opened our 17th location and our first in the state of Nebraska in August. The Lincoln store is located on the campus of the University of Nebraska at 1601 Q. Street. When UNL joined the Big Ten, we knew we had to open up there, and it we are glad we did. The store is off to a great start, and we're looking forward to continuing to serve the campus community there for years to come.

We also did some revonations at our Ann Arbor - Main Street location to accomodate even more terrific retail products!

 

Apparel Trends

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See the full gallery on Posterous

2011 continued to the trend of retro-80s throwbacks, with neons and crop tops making a resurgence in popularity. Quarter-Zip fleeces and Deep V-Necks continued their popularity from 2010 with another strong showing this year. Our number one seller however remained the basic t-shirt. In the Gildan 5000 style alone, we printed more than 430,000 t-shirts! Watch out for relative newcomer Tultex in 2012, as they have been gaining popularity quickly for their low-cost, comfortable, and fashion-fit t-shirts this year!

 

A Million Plus!

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We printed a few things in 2011. As of December 29th, we had printed just over 1,040,000 garments this year. That's a lot of apparel!

 

POGO Popularity Soars

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We knew UGPogo, our online group ordering system, would be a hit, and in 2011 we processed 400 new carts. That means 400 customers were freed from the burden of collecting money and sizes from their group by taking those payments and orders on their UGPogo cart. 400 customers also were able to make money (if they wanted to) on their orders by adding a little on top of the prices we charge to raise money or profits! If your group or organization hasn't tried out UGPogo in 2011, make it a resolution to simplfy your shirt ordering in 2012 with a UGPogo cart!

 

Shop Expansion

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Producing all of those t-shirts, hoodies, and more requires a lot of space and equipment. Our old shop was just getting too crowded for all that jazz, so we took over the space next door, knocked down a few walls, brought in some new equipment, and spread out a bit. When the dust settled (and was vacuumed up so as to not end up on your shirts) we unveiled our now 55,000 square foot production facility with new presses and even more capacity to meet our growing demand in 2012 and beyond!

 

Thank You & Happy New Year!

We'd like to thank all of our customers who made all of these accomplishments possible. UGP would not continue to grow the way it has without all of your support, year in and year out. We feel very fortunate to have such loyal customers, and we look forward to bringing you even more great apparel in 2012!

Happy New Year, Everyone! Here's to a great 2012 (and making it to 2013 so we can all feel good about how we made it past Y2K and 2012! Take that computer glitches and ancient Mayan calendars).

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/564426/whitepinwheel.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5ALCzhBQfKPD Underground Printing UGP Underground Printing Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:00 -0800 Bowl Mania at UGP! http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/bowl-mania-at-ugp http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/bowl-mania-at-ugp

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Another wild college football season wrapped up this past weekend, finally putting in place all of the postseason 2011-2012 bowl games. While the national championship game may be a rematch, there are a lot of other great bowl games to check out. UGP is lucky enough to have stores on 11 campuses whose teams are headed to bowls this year! We want to congratulate all of those teams for their hard work in becoming bowl eligible!

2011-2012 Bowl Schedule for UGP Campuses

 

We are also fortunate to have official bowl game apparel available for two of our BCS matchups this year as well. Check out the official merchandise offerings for Wisconsin from Sconnie and for Michigan from Moe Sport Shops!

 

Sugar Bowl Apparel

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The Sugar Bowl apparel for Michigan is awesome and a must-have for any Michigan fan. After a 10-2 season under new head coach Brady Hoke, the Wolverines are fired up to have reached a BCS bowl for the first time since 2006. Moe Sport Shops has all of your official 2012 Sugar Bowl gear in store at 711 N. University in Ann Arbor and online at www.moesportshops.com.

 

 

Rose Bowl Apparel

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The Rose Bowl will feature the Wisconsin Badgers for the second straight year, as they seek a victory against the Oregon Ducks. Led by Montee Ball and his 38 touchdowns, the Badgers will try to reverse the outcome of last year's Rose Bowl loss to TCU 21-19. Sconnie has all your official 2012 Rose Bowl gear in store at 521 State St. in Madison and online at www.sconnie.com.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/564426/whitepinwheel.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5ALCzhBQfKPD Underground Printing UGP Underground Printing Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:42:49 -0800 Need Jackets? No Budget? No Problem! UGPogo's got you covered. http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/when-you-dont-have-the-time-or-budget-for-gre http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/when-you-dont-have-the-time-or-budget-for-gre

Let me set the stage for a very common problem that affects many of our customers including businesses, student groups, greek houses and non-profits.

In the hype and hubub of the fall, you went to Underground Printing and got your organization a great deal on some sweet t-shirts that everyone has been wearing around town. Unfortunately, that was all the budget you had set aside for apparel for 2011. Flash forward a few months to today, when the wind is blowing, the days are colder and shorter, and your sweet UGP-made t-shirts are covered up by jackets, hoodies, snuggies, or whatever people are using to keep warm these days.

Buried under all that down and fluff is your brand, logo, and message. You may have outdoor, cold-weather events coming up, or you may just generally want your name and logo circulating around town, still, despite the cold!  Sadly, you don't have the budget to hook everyone up with a new hoodie, fleece, or jacket. With a busy end to the year, you probably don't have the time to collect money from everyone, either. Lame, right?

But wait...There's UGPogo!

UGPogo (UGP Online Group Ordering) solves this problem perfectly and with almost no effort for you! With UGPogo, we will create an online cart for your organization. Here's how it works in three ridiculously easy steps!

STEP ONE: TELL US WHAT YOU WANT AND WHAT YOU WANT ON IT

We'll take your logo or design and slap it on some products for you! Need some free design help? No problem. Need suggestions for hot new products people will love? No problem! We've got hoodies, jackets, fleeces, sweaters, winter hats, and much more. We'll create a great looking digital sample of the products and art so we can set up your cart.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

STEP TWO: GET YOUR CART LINK AND EMAIL IT TO GROUP MEMBERS

We'll get you a custom link to your organization's cart. You can email it out to all the members in the group, post it on Facebook, or send it along to anyone you think might want to buy an item. Each person can pick the products and sizes and pay for their order individually, just like any online cart site. (hint: anyone can purchase items on the site, so this would be a great time of year to email the link out to a parent or significant other who is desperately trying to figure out what to get you for the holidays!) When everyone has ordered and you're ready to close the cart, we'll total everything up, print it all, and get the items to you in just 7 business days! Don't want to deal with distributing everything? You can set the cart up so that each person gets their items shipped individually, straight to their door!

STEP THREE: WATCH YOUR LOGO DOMINATE WINTER

Take that winter! Now it seems like every coat, hoodie, and fleece in town has got your organization's logo boldy standing out against the white winter snow. Plus, your budget is intact, and everyone in the organization thinks you're a genius.

Don't let winter tank your branding. Have everybody in your group buy their own totally sweet custom winter apparel using UGPogo! It's so easy, you'll be setting up carts all the time. You can even use the cart for fundraising. Want to know how? Ask a UGP representative near you and they'll give you the 411 on all things UGPogo.

 

 

 

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/564426/whitepinwheel.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5ALCzhBQfKPD Underground Printing UGP Underground Printing Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:28:00 -0800 It pays to Recycle! http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/it-pays-to-recycle http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/it-pays-to-recycle

Underground Printing is representing American manufacturing pride the old fashioned way... we make stuff!  All screenprinting and embroidery production for our 17 locations is done in the great state of Michigan, and we couldn't be more proud to say our printing is 100% domestic. 

Just like all manufacturing we create waste (at times a LOT of waste) and although we try to use the priciples of Lean manufacturing, some things are unavoidable... like creating stacks and stacks of used  cardboard boxes.   In the old days when we were much smaller we could always just throw a couple boxes in the dumpster like most restaurants, stores and small businesses, but as we got larger we found that we were QUICKLY filling that dumpster up.   Not only was this forcing us to have additonal pick ups (not free) but it didn't seem right to be throwing away so much recyclable material.  The solution was to partner with a large scale industrial recycling company to take all of our recyclable material by the Semi truck load, including plastics, paper, scrap metal, even light bulbs!

Here's how we generate so much cardboard; every day we receive shipments of incoming shirts for orders, many times with several orders per incoming box.  In these cases orders need to be split out and reboxed.  (we do reuse incoming boxes in some cases when possible to help reduce waste)

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When reboxing the goal is to supply our customers with a strong, clean package to receive their shirts in.  During Busy times we can go through upwards of 5,000 new boxes per month. 
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The result is pallets like the one below of broken down boxes.   3 of these bad boys will fill an entire commerical dumpster!

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We also recycle a LOT of plastic, a big source of which is packaging material and the shrink wrap that trucking companies use to ship pallets. 

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Rather than throw these items in the Dumpster we keep a 53' semi truck trailer on our loading dock at all times just to fill with recyclables. 

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One Trailer can hold 52 above the above bins or pallets of recyclables, which is approximately 3,328 cubic feet of waste!  Throughout the course of the year we can go through nearly 40,000 cubic feed of plastic, paper and cardboard which is equivalent to 55 commerical dumpsters. 

So what's the point you ask? Well not only are we helping to keep all of this out of the landfill, we're also saving money.  Had we thown this amount of wate into our dumpster we would have required 55 additoinal dumpster pick ups at an additonal cost of nearly $2,400 per year!

So we say to you, what is the cost of your recycling program? Do you have one?  If not, you could be wasting more than just cardboard!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1756981/Screen_Shot_2012-01-10_at_8.17.11_AM.png http://posterous.com/users/cQyyCt0MeldBE Ryan Gregg rgregg Ryan Gregg Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:48:00 -0700 Getting creative with retail spaces http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/getting-creative-with-retail-spaces http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/getting-creative-with-retail-spaces

 

How awesome is this? Although I'd break my neck...


I came across this article in the WSJ the other day entitled "New Tricks for Old Malls". First off, I'm going on the record as saying that I am sad that Malls have become "Old" and that I really want them to succeed. Its hard for my generation (early 30's) not to be nostalgic about malls - thats where we grew up.

That being said, this article was an interesting read about how prototypical retail spaces are being repurposed for businesses you would never expect in a mall. Gun Ranges, Jungle Gyms, Go-Carts...the massive space malls have to offer lends itself to concepts that need a lot of room and would generally be located further away from these higher traffic areas. One company, Jumpstreet, is putting indoor trampoline facilities in malls.

I love this trend. When UGP first started trying to find great campus locations, part of our appeal to landlords was our ability to conform to small, unique spaces. Everyone knows these spots, the small, oddly shaped space on the main campus drag that usually has a long term tenant. Typical chain restaurants and retail shops hate these spaces. They don't have the square footage required, or else they need extensive buildouts. Underground Printing, however, only needed space for a couple desks and some samples.  We would swoop in and offer to take these weird spaces as-is, with little to no build out required, and landlords loved us for it. 

This conversion of mall retail space to other uses is another example of alternate utlization of space. I'm excited to see how else these endangered retail locations will change. Just don't ask me to explain the movie "Mallrats" to my grandkids.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1218235/rishirockingout.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hesfOslcoYYYO Rishi Narayan ugprishi Rishi Narayan Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:09:52 -0700 It Only Works If You Do Laundry Though... http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/it-only-works-if-you-do-laundry-though http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/it-only-works-if-you-do-laundry-though
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More often than I like to admit, my shirts come out of the laundry fitting a bit differently than they did when they went in. I just have some magical skill that I can shrink just about anything. But some festival-goes in Germany recently found a completely different shirt in the machine after gettin' their clean on.

About 250 T-shirts were handed out last week at the "Rock for Germany" festival, a festival sponsored by the National Democratic Party (shortened to NPD... it's a different language, guys), Germany's right-wing extremist party. It featured right-wing rock bands and speakers from the NPD, and sources say around 600 neo-Nazis attended.

The T-shirts originally said "Hardcore Rebel - National and Free" but after a trip through the bubbles, the message had changed to one for people considering, but having a hard time exiting the neo-Nazi scene: “If your T-shirt can do it, so can you. We’ll help to free you from right-wing extremism."

The shirts were provided anonymously by EXIT Deutschland (that means Germany), a group founded in 2000 to help people escape the extremist lifestyle, especially those who are younger and possibly less committed.

Gordon Richter is a member of the NPD, and was an organizer of the festival. In a quote to Reuters, he said, "It's kind of pathetic that anyone spent money for something like that," (obviously, make sure you read in your best fake German accent) but was also noted as saying that many people who got the T-shirts thought it was creative. Sounds to me like someone's just jealous that he didn't get a cool slogan-changing T-shirt.

In all honesty, I can't see many other uses for this kind of shirt technology (or printing technology, I suppose) besides pranking people. Just staying on the concert route, maybe someone can print T-shirts for really hardcore rockers that change to say "N*SYNC" or something like that. Or hand them out to hipsters with some really obscure band on them (if it's a fake band, even better... the less known, the more they'll claim to like it), which when washed changes to the name of a band that totally isn't cool anymore, because they sold out and are too mainstream.

Of course, the next phase of this tech has to be that the shirt eventually changes messages while you're wearing it. Pulling a shirt out of the wash that reads something different is a small 'Gotcha!' moment, but one that you don't have to admit to your friends. Imagine if it changed right on your chest and you didn't even know it. Oh man that would be great. But I should just stop talking about it... If it catches on and people start pranking their friends with T-Shirts, I'm going to be paranoid day in and day out.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:36:17 -0700 The Joy of Thrifting. The Ease of the Internet. Sleevecandy! http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/the-joy-of-thrifting-the-ease-of-the-internet http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/the-joy-of-thrifting-the-ease-of-the-internet
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I don't know about you, but I love thrift/second hand stores. It's hard to beat the feeling of satisfaction when you find that hidden gem that has been passed over by countless other customers. Sometimes it just seems like they don't make clothes like they used to.

Well Sleevecandy understands, and they're working to do that taxing job of shirt hunting for you and me. Sleevecandy goes out to find the coolest tees–all used, no new–and then offers them to you. All the shirts are of the best quality too; you're not going to end up with a stained or holey tee.

They get their stock from Salvation Army stores, and 30% of every sale goes to support the Salvation Army's adult rehabilitation programs. So you get the pleasure of buying a sweet new shirt, and the pleasure of knowing that you're doing something good. It's a win-win! (and you didn't have to flip through a hundred clothing racks to find it.... win-win-win!)

One of my favorite things about this site is their search function. Since all of these tees are one of a kind, you can't simply pick your favorite and buy it in any size you want. But Sleevecandy allows you to search by certain criteria, like size, color, price range, and category. Want a large, green, pop culture shirt for $16? Awesome! There just happen to be 3 of those, including a Paddy's Pub tee and a Dunder Mifflin Paper Company tee. Their whole collection is worth a browse, but if you're looking to buy, it's better to hide what you can't have (size-wise... or if you have an irrational fear of the color orange, or whatever) because it'll just make you sad.

So mosey on over to sleevecandy.com, and check out their selection. It's not the same as rummaging through the racks at the thrift store, but they've already found all the good stuff for you, so it's worth it.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:01:40 -0700 I Liked the Space Shuttle When it Was Underground http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/i-liked-the-space-shuttle-when-it-was-undergr http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/i-liked-the-space-shuttle-when-it-was-undergr
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NASA's shuttle program is over... mostly. All that's left is for Atlantis to land, and then the 30 year program will finally come to a close. And what better way to honor the past than with a T-shirt?!

NASA is hosting a design contest through Threadless to come up with the best shuttle-related design, focused around the theme 'final frontier,' to commemorate the efforts and achievements of the shuttle program. It ends in two days, but I'm sure there will be no shortage of shuttle tees in the future.

With the end of the program, the space shuttle is gaining instant vintage status, going straight to museums to gain some dust (real dust, not space dust). And seeing as it all started in the 80's, I'm envisioning some great retro designs. I know UGPClassics is dedicated to defunct sports teams, but the team of astronauts that flew into space is pretty close right?

If you have any great ideas and can work fast, you can submit designs to the contest here, or you can just go to vote on your favorites!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:44:00 -0700 Pockets Are So Last Millenium http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/pockets-are-so-last-millenium http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/pockets-are-so-last-millenium

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We posted a while back about a T-shirt that featured a pocket in which you could keep your iPad, allowing you to "flash your apps" at anyone on the street. Well apparently some iPhone owners got a little jealous, and now there is a similar project underway over at kickstarter.

It's called 'The Move,' but it isn't a piece of clothing at all, it's simply a holder. The piece goes on the inside of whatever shirt you're wearing, and your iPhone goes on the outside. With the extra fabric surrounding it, the iPhone simply clicks (maybe...) in and stays without any clips, velcro, or anything! The only thing that is visible on the outside is the screen, making it a lot cleaner looking than the plastic-bag look of the iPad shirt.

I would be a little hesitant about running around with my iPhone (this is, if I had an iPhone...) simply stuck into my shirt. I'm sure they wouldn't take this project off the ground without being pretty safe and secure, but still. And I wonder if the use of the extra fabric would make your shirts fit strangely. As someone who is really bad at laundry, I can manage to shrink just about anything which means I don't always have a lot of extra wiggle room when it comes to the length of those well-loved Tees. As cool as it would be to show off my (hypothetical) iPhone on my chest, I wouldn't do it if it meant also showing off my midriff.

The project isn't officially off the ground yet, hence the kickstarter. For those that don't know about kickstarter, it's a site where you can list your project and ask the world for funding. If you make it to your goal in the allotted time period, you get your money. If you don't... you don't. I've been meaning to start a kickstarter for things like 'paying Eric's rent' or 'getting Eric a nice TV,' but unfortunately I haven't had the time because I've been too busy working to attain those goals instead. Lame.

To check out the Move's kickstarter page and maybe even donate a few bucks, mosey on over here.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Wed, 06 Jul 2011 09:27:48 -0700 Beer + Counting = Confusion http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/beer-counting-confusion http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/beer-counting-confusion
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My July 4th was spent almost entirely in Wash Park in Denver with a big group of people (and puppies), grilling, relaxing, and playing all kinds of games from volleyball to a homemade giant Jenga set.

During a rather rousing game of Ladder Golf, we were approached by a guy who introduced himself and handed us a present. He said, "since you guys are playing a game, here's a free sample of our new product." He took off before we had the chance to fully understand just how awesome this thing was, but to that mystery man, I say thank you.

What he handed us was a beer coozie (or cozy... everyone has their opinion). What made this product so amazing is the fact that it not only keeps your beer (or other beverage if you prefer) cold, it also keeps score. Yes, this was a Scorzie. The body features 2 rings around the outside, one in red and one in blue, that click around to numbers from 0 to 21. I scored the rest of our ladder golf game with the Scorzie, and ended up refereeing 4 games of volleyball throughout the day, all with the assistance of the Scorzie.

I think one of the reasons this product attracted me like it did is because it's such a perfect example of finding a niche, and answering a specific question. Keeping score while playing recreational sports (especially when beer is involved) can be a real hassle. It's far too easy to get engrossed in the action of the game and forget the score. The Scorzie solves that. The beer was there, the games were there. Putting my beer in a coozie wasn't a hassle or something else to remember, it was nice, and almost necessary in the summer heat. I didn't have to go out of my way to justify using the product. It quickly became a staple of our day in the park, and if there were ever questions about the score, the decision was deferred to the Scorzie because, as we all soon found out, "The beer don't lie."

So to all you inventors out there, or even you UGP customers hoping to one day start T-shirt lines of your own, take note. Anyone can make a cool product or design, but if your prospective customers have to change their normal lives to justify using your product, it's going to take a lot more effort to get off the ground, if at all. So find that niche, and happy inventing. And if anyone has that next great idea but needs some help getting rich... call me. I think I could fit that into my schedule.

If you wanna check out the Scorzie, you can find it here.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:33:00 -0700 'MERICA! http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/merica http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/merica

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Happy 4th of July from Underground Printing!

235 years ago, some old dudes decided that they wanted to take a day off work and make all the hot dogs they wanted, and even blow some stuff up. Other old dudes from England didn't think that was a very proper holiday, so they ended up fighting about it for a while. Eventually we won, and hence, the 4th of July was born.
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That's not the exact story... It happened so long ago that no one really knows all the details anymore. That was just the version that was passed down to me by my father and to him by his father. The point is that America is awesome.

So head outside today and celebrate America's birthday the way our Founding Fathers intended: grilling meat and washing it down with cheap beer.

And remember: whether you live in one of the states that actually sells cool fireworks or not, be careful with 'em. Fireworks love America too, but they also love hurting people who are being dumb.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:48:39 -0700 "Can You Hear Me Now?" "No. I'm Charging." http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/can-you-hear-me-now-no-im-charging http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/can-you-hear-me-now-no-im-charging
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It happens all the time: you go off for a weekend trip and either forget to pack your phone charger, or just can't find a good place to use it.

Now, thanks to UK phone company Orange, if you're destination happens to be a music festival (or anywhere that's loud), you're in luck. All it takes is a T-Shirt.

The shirts are still just prototypes, but they'll be getting test runs at this years Glastonbury Festival. Vibrations from the music, specifically the bass, will produce electricity to charge mobile phones. It's technical, so that's about as far as I can go...

They may be extremely ugly at this point, but they'll also stand out in a crowd, which is definitely something you want your new prototype T-Shirt to do. The only problem I foresee is that if you hang out in front of the speakers too many times to charge your phone, you may lose the ability to hear the person on the other end of the line.

The testing will be happening around one particular stage at the festival, and they'll be looking to find out which acts are the "best to charge to."

I'll have to find more on this story for a later date, but I also heard a quick piece on NPR this morning (that's right I listen to NPR on my way into work) on a New York-based designer who has made a bikini that uses little solar panels to charge a phone, and is working on men's swimwear with a pocket to chill a beer. And yes, you can still use it to actually swim... just don't try to charge before you dry off.

Is there nothing our clothing can't do?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:02:35 -0700 Cubs, Tigers and Goats... Oh My! http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/cubs-tigers-and-goats-oh-my http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/cubs-tigers-and-goats-oh-my
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In 1945, Billy Sainis was asked to leave Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was against the Detroit Tigers, and it happened to be game 4 of the World Series, the Cubs up 2-1 in the series. Sainis was asked to leave the game because the fans around him were being bothered, not by Sainis himself, but by his pet goat's odor. Billy Sainis was the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, so while the fact that he brought his goat to the baseball game is still strange, at least it makes a little sense...

Billy was mad, and as legend has it, he proclaimed "Them Cubs, they aren't gonna win no more."

The Cubs went on to lose game four, and then the series, 4 games to 3. Being from Michigan I'll just reiterate: the Tigers won.

Since that time, the Cubs have not seen another World Series. People are hazy on the specifics of the curse; some believe that the Cubs will not win a World Series game at Wrigley, while others believe they'll never make it that far. But either way, the Curse of the Billy Goat is a sensitive subjects to Cubbies everywhere.

That's why it was surprising for many people when the team themselves came out on the field sporting T-shirts featuring a goat with a red line through it on the front, and the words "F**k the Goat" on the back. Many in the media, who had been chastised in the past for referring to the curse, wondered why it was now suddenly acceptable for the team to acknowledge it. I'm wondering how it's okay for a team of professional athletes to take the field in shirts featuring everyone's favorite four-letter word.

As someone who is well experienced in swearing like a sailor, I have no problem with it... simply surprised that that point hasn't been brought up yet. I will say, however, that I think they're going about it all wrong. Being rude to the goat is what got the Cubs in this mess in the first place (if you believe in that stuff), and I don't think say "Hey, eff you Goat!" is going to help relations. Maybe if they replaced "goat" with "curse" it would do some good. But why stop there? Maybe something like "Hey Goat, we're really sorry. Come see a game, on us," would do better to appease it.

I've always kinda liked the Cubs, but that could merely be because I hate the White Sox. As a fan of the 1945 World Series-against-the-Cubs-winning Detroit Tigers, I find it much easier to 'like' National League teams over the AL teams we play year-in and year-out.

That having been said, I wish the Cubs the best of luck, and hope they can manage to break the curse sometime. Because being held back from greatness by a simple goat is just kinda embarrassing.


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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:23:00 -0700 Macy's Messed Up. Maybe It Was The Heat... http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/macys-messed-up-maybe-it-was-the-heat http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/macys-messed-up-maybe-it-was-the-heat

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Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks for eliminating the Miami Heat and winning the NBA Championship last night! And congratulations to Macy's for completely missing it.

Now I don't pretend that I pay attention to professional basketball... Anyone who is close to me will know that I follow hockey, a bit of baseball, and college basketball and football. But that's OK, because I'm just one dude, not a major national chain of department stores.

Today in the Miami Herald, Macy's ran an ad that congratulated the Heat on their championship win and featured photos of the hat and shirt, available now at alternate reality Macy's everywhere.

To make it even better, the ad was run on the same page as a blurb about how badly the Heat played, and a headline in all caps that read: DALLAS WINS BEST OF 7 SERIES 4-2.

This makes so little sense on multiple levels. I've posted before about companies producing championship apparel for the wrong team, but that usually happens most in a game-7 situation when either team has an immediate shot at the title. Not only did the ad somehow make it through (presumably) multiple people to end up in the paper after the other team won, but the Heat couldn't even have won the championship, even if they had won last night. The Heat were down in the series 3-2 going into last night's game, meaning that a game 7 would still have been required to determine the champion.

Like I said, I'm not a huge pro basketball fan, but I was pulling for the Mavs to win it all. I have no reason to like them, more so I have one big reason to hate the Heat. And that's LeBron James. He just makes it so easy to hate him. There was (and still is) so much hype surrounding him, and it's great to see it all come down around him, year after year. I'm sure one day he'll win a championship, but the guy personally promised the city of Miami something like 8 championships, and still hasn't been able to produce, despite leaving Cleveland to join Wade and Bosh.

Nothing new yet on lebronjones.com, but who knows. maybe we can just print the Miami Herald ad on shirts. It'll sell like crazy in Cleveland and Dallas.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:43:43 -0700 That There's A Big Ol' T-Shirt http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/that-theres-a-big-ol-t-shirt http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/that-theres-a-big-ol-t-shirt
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160 feet by 300 feet. Not including the end zones, that's that size of your regulation football field (unless you play in the CFL). That's also roughly the size of the world's largest T-shirt, which will be unveiled this Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.

The shirt was produced by Gildan Activewear (if you own any cotton shirt, there's a good chance you own a Gildan) and comes in at 170 feet wide by 262 feet long. All in all, it weighs over 3 tons, and took six weeks to make. Gildan also donated an equal amount of fabric to Keep the Music Playing, which supports music education in Nashville Public Schools. That amount of fabric is enough to make 12,000 'regular' shirts. No word on what will become of the big t-shirt itself...

Danny Gokey will be helping to unveil the shirt as part of the CMA Music Festival going on in Nashville. Gokey, if you didn't know (I didn't) is a country music artist, whose music no doubt sounds as silly as his name. I'm really not sure where the connection between country music and oversized t-shirts was made, but it should be cool to see nonetheless.

The record for the world's largest T-shirt has been made and broken five times to date, the first attempt being only 20 years ago in 1991. Until that point, anyone wearing a Big Dog 6XL tee probably could have made the claim themselves.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:40:47 -0700 As If Prom Wasn't Enough Drama... http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/as-if-prom-wasnt-enough-drama http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/as-if-prom-wasnt-enough-drama
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A bunch of students in Ontario got in trouble recently by printing T-shirts that promoted an after prom party. The big problem? It had the school's name on it.

As any UGP customer knows, due to collegiate licensing, groups not affiliated with the school can't use any trademarked names, images or words. But even if you are a student group, referencing drinking along with the school is way out of the question.

Now high schools (or 'secondary schools' as they call them in Canada) don't have the same licensing issues, but they still don't like being associated with drinking. The shirts were printed by students at the John Paul II secondary school and featured the school's name on the front, with "Drink triple, See double, Act Single" (not a bad slogan... you're welcome sorority bar crawl).

Even in Canada where the drinking age is a mere 19, most of the students who participated would still be underage by the time the prom rolled around. The school gave the students an ultimatum: turn in your shirts, or you don't get to go to prom.

Seems harsh right? Well don't forget, this is Canada, so they're actually being really nice about it. The students that turn in their shirts are given $12 by the administration, the cost of the shirts. Those that decide they'd rather miss out on prom for the sake of protest get $60 back for their unused prom ticket. I can only imagine that my high school administration would have acted much more harshly, and kept all the money on top of it.

The school must be losing a lot of money, repaying all of the students for their shirts. The shirts are clearly marked 'PROM 2011' so there's not much they can do with them post-prom. Since they didn't want the school's name associated with 'drinking and promiscuity,' they won't donate them... that would defeat the purpose of collecting them in the first place. The only solutions I could see would be to sell them back to the students after the prom (not gonna happen) or they just eat all that cost.

Maybe someone will catch the principal wearing one down the road.

You can read the full story from the Toronto Sun here:

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:31:15 -0700 iPantone, uPantone. We All Pantone! http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/ipantone-upantone-we-all-pantone http://blog.undergroundshirts.com/ipantone-upantone-we-all-pantone
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Stick around the House of Tees long enough and you'll learn that there's a strange obsession with Pantone around here. (Hotel, Shoes, Mugs.) But when everything you do depends on color, it's hard not to be a little obsessed. And lucky for us, there's something new to go crazy for!

Thanks to a collaboration between Pantone and Case Scenario, you can now outfit your iPhone or iPad with your favorite Pantone color. (as long as it is 1 of the 9 colors that are featured in the set) There are other cases out there that feature specific Pantone colors, but these babies are made to look specifically like the iconic Pantone swatches themselves, complete with the color name/number.

If you're into design or color, this is the case for you. If you're like me and still have a phone that only does boring phone things though, there's still hope. For us, there are the Pantone notebooks, featuring the same design as the cases. Granted it's not an iPhone, and you'll have to use a pen to write notes instead of your finger, but you'll look just as cool.

To check out the iPod/iPad cases here, or the notebooks here.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/618274/UGP_Twiter.png http://posterous.com/users/5BhwbZPpsgIF Eric Palmer epalmer Eric Palmer