Keep Calm and… WHAT???

Here we have two articles concerning the same story, both of which involved a company offering T-shirts which appear to be promoting domestic abuse.  No no!  That's not good.

Amazon in the UK, having received criticism from customers pointing out offensive T-shirts with slogans promoting domestic abuse, continued to sell the T-shirts for several more hours from the merchant Solid Gold Bomb.

The offensive slogans, to name a few, were "Keep Calm and Rape Her", "Keep Calm and Knife Her" and others as based on England's famous World War II slogan of "Keep Calm and Carry On".  When Solid Gold Bomb was questioned about these slogans they indicated they were the result of an errant automated process which creates content for T-shirts.  Word substitution inadvertently generated slogans promoting violence against women.  Yeah, oops.

Let's hope Solid Gold Bomb fixes their automated word substitution process.  This is not good.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/02/amazon-removes-keep-calm-rape-t-shirt_n_2798682.html?utm_hp_ref=business

http://www.theverge.com/culture/2013/3/4/4062452/automatically-generated-products-history-violent-tshirts

Updated 03/25/2013:  Another article on the subject.  This has been very hot subject.

http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=19965

Eighth Grader Sells T-shirts to Generate Support, Acceptance for Autism

Here's a great story of eighth-grader Cassidy Gaddie who has created tye die T-shirts in support and acceptance of autism.  With the help of family and teachers at Whittier Middle School, she launched Show Your Colors for Autism by selling T-shirts.

http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x2109939294/Eighth-grader-sells-T-shirts-to-generate-support-acceptance

Prompted by personal experiences of bullying and ridicule against friends and loved ones with ASD, she worked worked with the school PTA to sell T-shirts as a fundraiser for Whittier's special education classrooms.  I'd say she's done well.  As of March 11, 2013 she's sold about 70 shirts.  

“I hope that those with autism can feel more comfortable with who they are and be more accepted and understood,” Gaddie said.

Well done, Cassidy.

Teachers ban 'vile' Odd Future T-shirts in US School

The teachers at the Tyrrell Middle School have now moved to outlaw T-shirts of the band OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) worn by students.  Teachers initially thought the students were wearing T-shirts which sported a cat's face with an upside down crucifix on its forehead, were in support of the animals, but soon learned the T-shirts actually were from the band Odd Future.  In response to this knowledge the T-shirts were banned because the band "stands for something vile".

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/School-Bans-Shirts-With-Band-Logo--199379051.html

Updated 03/27/2013:  Another article on this story.
http://exclaim.ca/News/connecticut_school_reportedly_bans_vile_odd_future_shirts

My question is… how did the teachers come across this knowledge and what do they deem "vile".  My guess, its the anti-gay lyrics of the Off Future songs.  When pressed about the anti-gay lyrics in an interview Tyler the Creator, member of Odd Future, indicated it was a joke.

Joke or not, its not apparent from the article if wearing an Odd Future T-shirt indicates you're anti-gay, or just like their music.  That said, just a week earlier in the same school district, a different student was challenged when trying to sell anti-gay T-shirts.  The ACLU stepped in and got the school district to allow the student to wear the T-shirt in school.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Wolcott-Teen-Now-Selling-T-Shirts-With-Anti-Gay-Message-194029841.html

Wolcott school district certainly is a hotbed of activity concerning gays in school.  These two articles are a clear example of how powerful a T-shirt can be.  With just an image, it can parlay a powerful message spanning the nation into debate.  

Want to be seen and make a statement for your cause and/or belief - wear a T-shirt with a powerful message.

What's your message?

Lots of T-shirts Lots of Money

You've heard of the Kickstarter for a Veronica Mars project?  Well, guitar enthusiast S.T. VanAirsdale calculated just the T-shirt rewards to the backers of this project.  For 34,000 T-shirts at $3.90 each, that's a healthy $132,600.  Nice!

http://thebillfold.com/2013/03/lots-of-tshirts-lots-of-money/

Pennies add up.  Dollars add up.  All those tiny amounts can add up to serious coin of the realm.  When you consider doing T-shirts, and you worry about the low dollar amount you could earn, recognize those sales do add up.  They may not be the main dish of what you're serving, but as a side dish, very nice indeed.

A Girl's Guide To Looking Good In Old T-Shirts

Here's a short video from the people at BuzzFeed, "3 Ways To Overhaul Your Oversized T-Shirts".  In just a couple minutes they show three easy hacks for T-shirts.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zdljW-YSdU

The hacks are easy enough and looks really good. Hard to imagine people paying voguish prices for such things when you can do it yourself.

And, the music for the video is good, too.  Its "Keep Yourself" by Coatse Beats.

TShirt Laundry

The crew over at TShirt Laundry have a sale on some funny STAR WARS related designs.

http://www.tshirtlaundry.com/zombie-yoda-tshirt.html

My personal favorite is "Storm Troopers Can't Aim".  

News: Black Score By Simeon Farrar T-Shirts At ASOS

Coming from the Marie Claire website over in the UK, we have Rita Ora wearing the 'Queen Delevingne' T-shirt from the Black Score by Simeon Farrar collection.  

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/541593/fashion-fix-black-score-by-simeon-farrar-at-asos.html

At first, I wasn't interested.  The simple hand drawn art and text just wasn't calling to me.  But, looking at the design more I'm now quite taken by them.  Black art on white T-shirt; brilliant.  Too often our eyes and minds are trained to react to overly complicated art designs.  Art doesn't have to be complicated.  Its doesn't have to look like it came from powerful graphics art software.  Sometimes, simple is better.

My personal favorite is the 'PUSS' design.  With the facial art resembling the face paint of Gene Simmons from the band KISS, I like the choice the 'demon' character (Gene) to place on a cat. Those cats have such attitudes that sometimes we wonder if they are possessed by a demon.  I joke though.  I like cats.  But, the next time my cats look me straight in the eye, I'll see this T-shirt design.

What's your favorite Black Score design?