Had the misfortune to have gone Christmas shopping once again last night, hell  on the High Street is a more accurate term for it. Also made the slight error of accidentally leaving one of my carrier bags in a previously visited store, queue to me pegging it down the high street trying to work out which shop I’d left it in. Leaving my friends behind with the rest of the shopping laughing their heads off. Oh the humiliation! Nice kind shop assistant lady had noticed my mistake however and put it to one side for me; you know who you are so thank you!

Unfortunately didn’t get much chance to scout out any interesting prints or new trends so a bit of a quiet blog entry today I’m afraid. It was all aftershaves and lady things (scary).

Very amused by recent addition to my “notes to self” board near my desk this morning, boss has kindly put on my list of things to do; ”sell 1 million t-shirts by 1^st Jan 2009”; Now where do I start? Answers on a postcard please. Waiting by the phone.

Lots of retro t-shirts doing the rounds at the moment, as most of you know, Copyright is huge too right now so please don’t try too hard to copy the designs, we unfortunately won’t be able to assist you. I’m sure with a little wandering around the likes of Topman, River Island and Next however, you will find what you are looking for; great range of restro 80’s and 90’s t-shirts available for those students among us and for those such as myself whom unfortunately remember both decades and want a little souvenir of the past. I myself still love my Super Mario T-Shirt circa 1993, still fits if I stop eating for two weeks and don’t move my arms.

On the other hand, if you think you have a fun original design or, if you fancy having a go at creating your own retro feel t-shirt, I say go for it.

Merry Christmas everyone! See you in 2009!

For all you bargain hunters out there, we have a special offer currently available.

Our suppliers have recently given us an amazing deal on a range of Jerzees 330M V-Neck Fitted T-Shirts and we are passing the discount on to you lucky people (aren’t we lovely?), for details see link to our website or go to “Special Offers”.

Fantastic high quality V Neck Black t-shirts, perfect for a range of uses, be it work, leisure, fitness, you name it. Take a look and let us know if you’d like to take advantage of this great limited time only deal of the season.

 

Got to thinking about T-Shirts (amazing what you can think about randomly whilst wandering around doing your usual routine. I was walking the dog in the cold and rain…lovely!).

When I got in I decided to do a little bit of research! (For those of you who bore easily! Skip to the end!).

Apparently the earliest recorded t-shirt or item of clothing similar was seen around 1919! Shocking I thought! Seriously thought everything fashion related started in the 80’s (yes I’m being sarcastic).

In late twentieth-century American culture T-shirts got their start as a humble item of men’s underwear (GASP) and got its name because when spread flat it formed a stubby letter T. Its little sleeves and round collar distinguished the T-shirt from the standard sleeveless undershirt of the day (otherwise known as old man shirts! You know the type? Some of you may be wearing them now! If so, I apologise profusely for any insult this comment may have caused…(!). The sleeves may also have helped bring the T-shirt out of hiding in the 1930s and 1940s, since they offered a gesture toward modesty as well as a cache for a pack of cigarettes (Tut tut).

Once T-Shirts were on general view, and more and more people started to see them wandering around the city streets and countryside, T-shirts became somewhat like a canvas for images and messages. First came a basic white, then eventually they soon came in all shades; one of the first establishments to find an actual official purpose for them were schools and sports teams, and then every design or slogan imaginable, which obviously we see every day in society today.

Today no public event is complete without its accompanying T-shirt. Cold weather doesn’t slow us down; we just cover the T-shirt with a sweatshirt, a 1925 American invention (see, and I thought I’d invented that look, dammit!)

Though it must have been around at least a year earlier (hence the reference to earlier to 1919), the first official mention of the T-shirt is featured in a book called “This Side of Paradise”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the novel, a wealthy, VERY self-absorbed 15-year-old boy from Middle America heads off to prep school (what is prep school anyway? Does anyone know? Must find out that sometime) in Connecticut with a wardrobe including “six suits summer underwear, six suits winter underwear, one sweater or T shirt(!), one jersey….” in time mention of the garment became very popular for use in writing and media in the fashionable and unpredictable roaring twenties! Obviously these historical (perhaps an exaggeration!) references have faded in time, but the two informal garments we began to wear in those times, the T-shirt and the sweatshirt, hang in our regular vocabulary and attire more prominently than ever before. And as usual, we have the Americans to thank for, well let’s face it, a staple in everyone’s wardrobe, not to mention the reason why I can go Christmas shopping at present! Thank you people!

Right…asleep yet?

7 Sleeps to go. Wonder if Santa wears a t-shirt?!

 

 

 

On my way to work this morning, fighting the tide of students coming in the opposite direction (really need to start leaving a little earlier! Unlike Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, more like a scene from “The Day After Tomorrow”!), I saw a very amusing t-shirt being worn by one student in particular…nothing out of this world, a simple (though slightly grubby looking!) plain white t-shirt with “I Love Your Mum” a la I Heart NY design…and I have to say it did raise a smirk on my usually furrowed brow that’s usually the norm before the caffeine kicks in…and it occurred to me that fashion and clothing in general can be an amazing way of making a statement, telling people how you feel, or just generally showing the world your ideas and personality…albeit I’m not sure that his friends or their mums would be too impressed but hats off to him or whomever created it for originality anyway! Sure perked up my commute!

Any ideas for original designs? Want to say something? Want to tell the world what you think of it or perhaps you just fancy something fun to wear at a New Years party, have a go at designing something yourself, it can’t be that hard. 

Recently had a new roll of Vinyl come in from our suppliers, Silver Sparkle, very effective and well…sparkly! So if anyone wants something fun and glitzy printed for the holiday season, let us know! Sure we can glam up any text or logo with a festive edge!

Remember, 8 sleeps to go!

Well, it would be if you had it Vinyl or Screen printed!

I’ve learned a lot since working with Joe here at Reinspire towers, one big huge important fact being that T-Shirts don’t just appear in the stores as if by magic (a very disappointing and shocking experience for me as you can imagine! Like the time I was told Santa didn’t exist and that Mum wraps them! Thought I recognised the paper folding technique!), they are in fact made by someone! Yes I know, mind boggling isn’t it!

Be it a single t-shirt printer or a large scale printing warehouse, they’ve all come from somewhere and from experience, I can tell you it’s NOT THAT EASY!! You’ve got heat to deal with, too much or too little can ruin a garment, and once that’s done, there isn’t much you can do to rectify it! Making sure that someone’s poor grandmother’s head is positioned straight and at the right height on the t-shirt (queue trembling hands trying to make sure that granny’s head doesn’t end up in someone’s armpit!), is the image too big or too small, is it straight? Is the t-shirt the correct size? am I printing on the correct side? These are all questions that will crop up during a normal day of printing t-shirts! And unfortunately as all newbies do, I have had to learn the hard way and learn from my mistakes…luckily nothing too horrifying but there is always that element of disappointment when you extract the shirt from the heat press (all very technical!) and you realise that (GASP), the print is still attached to the heat press, or the image is reversed and the text doesn’t make sense or…the worst of them all…there’s a ridiculous spelling error, resulting in Scotland being spelt with an “X” (which for me coming from 10 years of being a Personal Assistant, a role that prides itself on grammar and spelling abilities, is a liiiiittle bit of a shocker!)…

Anyway, the fact is people, when you buy and wear these t-shirts, just take moment to remember where they came from, who made them and perhaps take another moment to think about all those poor lonely little t-shirts that are just waiting, unprinted, unloved, hoping that one day some lovely person will see them and buy them and wear them with pride…

AWWWWW, just makes you tingle doesn’t it?

Hi! and welcome to our blog. As you can see we’ve recently re-launched our website and added a few extras just to keep it interesting, including a fabulous and informative blog (obviously), which hopefully we’ll be updating every day with news, ideas and hopefully not too many pointless ramblings!

Well, unless you are a complete hermit, don’t watch TV or have left the planet, as you will no doubt know, it’s Christmas!! Countdown stands at 10 days, so I’m racking my brain and stressing out trying desperately to get the perfect gifts for my friends and family, which in this time of the dreaded Credit Crunch/Recession(GULP!) is all the more terrifying when you make that brave journey into the unknown (also known as the High Street) we at Reinspire.co.uk have been pleasantly surprised to learn that a few of you have decided to go a little further this year and actually have something made for your loved ones, mainly in the form of something to wear! In the last few weeks we’re produced a few t-shirts and hoodies with various puns and well wishing slogan’s along with some pretty embarrassing photographs! This novel approach is a sweet and personal touch that let’s face it, as embarrassing or “naff” as it could be, is a great gesture and it is pretty nice to know that someone made the effort, that you have a one of a kind present that no one else has

(oh and that you have an extra t-shirt to add to your wardrobe to wear around the house that no one else will ever see on those days when the laundry is being done and there’s nout much left to wear!) unless of course the gift giver has particularly gone to some lengths to make your t-shirt something fun, funky and wearable in public!

I have seen some amazing designs cropping up recently on t-shirts, whilst searching for presents of course (no harm in looking for things for yourselves now is there?!). A new range recently hyped at Republic aptly named “Money”, nice, simple and fun range of t’s with a metallic and edgy finish on them, some literally with MONEY written across the front in various funky fonts and colours…whether they’re trying to be ironic or perhaps referring to the price of the garments is anyone’s guess but according to the site, a number of celebs seem to have cottoned on to the label and are loving it…and it occurred to me, that pretty much anyone with an idea could potentially have the next trendy label on their hands…Criminal, G Star, Superdry.. they all started somewhere and now look at them…so come on guys, get designing and let us know if Reinspire.co.uk can be of any help!?! Hint hint!