Here are a couple of innovations that recently caught my eye:

Pull this shirt over your head to become a zombie (and help promote Resident Evil):

How fun and smart is that? If only there were little eyeholes there so you could see through… I can think of tons of other funny faces/masks to print on the inside… This concept is actually screaming out for more innovation and for someone to take the idea and push it further.
from Capcom’s Clever Resident Evil Promo Tees

Mos Def Album Launches on TShirts…

There was a story I geeked about a couple years ago – these tshirts getting sold at Target that came with video games. It flipped my lid because all of a sudden the thing that takes the most work – programming a video game – becomes something that’s given away and the shirt is what’s making money. Mos Def must have noticed those shirts ;P Or not, but he or his business managers certainly recognized that music is increasingly “free” and you’ve got to sell something physical to get paid. Very interesting!
Mos Def launches New Album on a T-shirt

More innovative tshirt stuff:
TShirt Animation
Interactive Shirt Ideas – Burbling Concepts in the Stewpot

Wootini website
Wootini MySpace

He has a past in miniatures/toys that you can play games with. I really want to bring shirts in this direction. Somehow (haven’t gotten this part down yet). Like some kind of wearable "paper rock scissors" game where you’re wearing adorable robotic bunny warriors. And there are random numbers printed in your armpits and if your pit scores are higher then you beat the contenders? Yeesh – the mechanics are a damn mess, but I can’t shake the concept.

Anyways, Mike suggested 2 awesome ideas for interactive shirts…
One is printing GPS coordinates on a shirt and then hiding a companion shirt at that location. So when you buy the shirt you’re actually buying a ticket to a treasure hunt. Pretty f-ing sweet idea. Plus you could hide toys/merchandise out there instead of a companion shirt.

The other concept was a development of the first idea. Basically you take 2 of the same sized shirts, same designs. The shirts are different colors. You cut out and switch the design element on both shirts. For example on this toad bone design:

…you’d cut out the heart and sew it onto the other.

I stocked up on some back issues of Juxtapose while Brandy fliered the shop for the upcoming CRG vs. Tucson bout… Thanks Mike! Also we randomly met Ian while fliering on the streets of Chapel Hill… so now we’re definitely going to the Hi Mom film fest !

Here they are, for my future reference:
First and most important is the making of video…

Oh yeah, and here’s their final product:

For me it doesn’t work. I mean, why tshirts? What do shirts have to do with sandwiches? Did they do shirts just because it hasn’t been done before? That’s not a good enough reason!! (jk – I’m just jealous. but shirts don’t actually make sense)

update: according to the originators, Colle + McAvoy, they were targeting college kids. That’s why the tshirts. Plus they wanted it to spread on YouTube so it had to be a fresh, sparkly concept.

And here’s a video that I played over and over because it’s so catchy:

While printing that night I thought of flipping the stencil and using 2 different colors. Every time you flip the stencil you’ll get the ink pressed on from the side you just printed. Make sense? So here’s an inky bear (my newest little critter) printed using this method:

Obviously the print right before that I did a red inky bear.

So… the night I printed the inkybears I got so excited I ended up printing a whole shirt. Here’s one row:

Here’s the front of the shirt:

Here’s the back:

I’m not sure I’ll wear it that much – it’s a little busy, even for me. But still, it was a blast making it and I can’t remember having more fun printing! I’m normally so concerned about smudges and spills and what not but this method lets me lean the other way into happy smudgery.

For the DIYers out there, here’s the stencil and the little trim roller that I used for printing. That little roller works sweet, and it comes in its own little plastic tray at HomeDepot. They’re way too expensive for what they are but they work perfect.

Here’s a closer view of the roller I used:

I haven’t made shirts for “fun” in a long time… I mean, it’s my hobby and everything and I love the process I’ve developed over the years but this process allowed for spur of the moment decisions and an engagement with the medium that I haven’t felt for a long time. Yay for stencil flipping!

Let me know if you’d like more detailed process info – I may write up an instructable. G. Also – sorry for the weird blueness of the photos. Not sure why that happened, by photogurphy isn’t my thing ;P

Biro Battles and Bat Beasts:

What I love about it is the strange otherworldliness. Um, I mean it’s suggestive of a wider, broader and completely populated world. It’s something I aimed for with the Eliza and Bankman design, though without the sort of sketchy realism next to the sketchy fabulous.

They make some amazing dolls as well that certainly seem to fit this world. For example:

And Ghost Patrol’s graffiti is amazing, like this one drawn on the side of an abandoned appliance:

Again, check out the strange world that seems to be lurking behind that kid with antlers. Like Miyazaki forced to tell a story on a postage stamp. Amazing stuff, definitely an inspiration. Check them out at GhostPatrol.net. And damn it they got me trying to think of something more evocative than “Garrett Shirts.”