Your favourite t-shirt designs?

April 15, 2009 2:55 PM

Please bombard me with links to your favourite t-shirt designs.

Im looking for funny, witty, thought-provoking, poetic, striking, obscene, blasphemous, naughty, wacky, beautiful, deep, satirical or any combination of the above t-shirt designs that youve seen and admired and to which you can post an image link. Presumably these will be designs currently available to buy online, although any image and/or text that you think would make for a great t-shirt is welcome... Im a fan of any design that makes me laugh out loud, also a fan of those molecular designs (caffeine, nicotine etc). Basically anything 'cool' will do.

posted by stumpyolegmcnoleg to clothing, beauty, & fashion (55 comments total)

The entire Threadless line.
posted by scarykarrey at 2:56 PM on April 15 [2 favorites has favorites]

And God said [Maxwell's Equations] and then there was light.
posted by Chan at 2:57 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

I check Shirt.woot.com every day at 10PM PST. Their designs range from awful to brilliant, but with a new one every day, there's something for everyone.

For their previous designs in a list, check their Forums.
posted by meowzilla at 3:01 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

Here's looking at Euclid and lots of tees in this thread.
posted by hoppytoad at 3:02 PM on April 15

Seconding shirt.woot.com. They've got some great stuff, and unlike regular woot, shirts are avalible for a week or two.
posted by mollymayhem at 3:08 PM on April 15

From Metafilter Projects, Sir Critter. Also Science!, Teach the controversy, and random other stuff.
posted by Paragon at 3:14 PM on April 15

scarykarrey is all over it. threadless has the best designs and the best overall business concept with user-submitted designs and the ability of customers to influence reprints of sold-out shirts.

I also like palmercash, squidfire, the toothpaste for dinner shirts at sharing machine, and for band tees: cinder block.
posted by ashabanapal at 3:16 PM on April 15

I laughed hysterically at this one.
posted by gregr at 3:17 PM on April 15 [2 favorites has favorites]

Eat right. Get lots of sleep. Drink plenty of fluids...

In the late 80s, Nike did a version of this shirt's quote, but I can't find a link. In the Nike version, the lettering is all caps, a Helvetica-ish font, and starts huge (several inches high) and descends in size. EAT RIGHT. GET LOTS OF SLEEP. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:21 PM on April 15

I've always LOL'd this one.

But mostly because I prefer to have bear arms to guns.
posted by jabberjaw at 3:23 PM on April 15

Thanks much Paragon!

Among my fellow shirt designers there is one that I just can't even bear to look at due to their sheer awesomeness making me ashamed of my own work: Glennz
posted by Jezztek at 3:29 PM on April 15

I've liked a lot of things from Yellow Ibis, and online shop that specializes in science-related shirts. I personally own the one with the skull and cross pipets as well as the glow in the dark benzene.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:33 PM on April 15

Philosophy + football.
posted by jan murray at 3:35 PM on April 15

ThinkGeek has a lot of fun ones. I especially like
this one (there's no place like 127.0.0.1).
posted by wiskunde at 3:37 PM on April 15

new HTML tags
posted by netbros at 3:40 PM on April 15

I like Spike's "Science Will Save Me from Myself" design (via her Templar Arizona webcomic...)
posted by nanojath at 3:44 PM on April 15

Many good designs at Topatoco, which carries t-shirts from a whole slew o' webcomics. (Many shirts are not related to the webcomics per se, but are just by the artists in question.)
posted by pemberkins at 3:56 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

Grrr, sorry about the extra return in there. Ferrous Wheel is another good one from Think Geek.
posted by wiskunde at 4:11 PM on April 15

I'm a fan of diesel sweeties.
posted by benzenedream at 4:13 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

Threadless and TypeTees!

This is such a dangerous thread. I just ordered 5 shirts from various sites linked here.
posted by phatkitten at 4:15 PM on April 15

Mine!
posted by mattdidthat at 4:20 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

This thread will not be complete without t-shirts from XKCD, particularly the one of this comic. Furthermore, thinkgeek is a superb collection of witty apparel with a slightly(!) nerdy slant.
posted by fearnothing at 4:27 PM on April 15

One more, which I've never actually seen an online stock but was spotted wandering around my local mall, read "Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult"
posted by fearnothing at 4:29 PM on April 15

Boy #7 Kuninobu Dead. 40 To Go.
Girl #3 Kanai Dead. 33 To Go.
posted by permafrost at 4:37 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

Although I've never bought tshirts from them, I've bought a hoodie & two prints from the Imaginary Foundation, and I love their designs. The hoodie is really comfortable, and the prints are great, so I would assume their tees are also good.
posted by Lemurrhea at 4:52 PM on April 15

Drawstorm.
posted by Rykey at 5:04 PM on April 15

I love my weRobot shirt from Chop Shop.
posted by DakotaPaul at 5:08 PM on April 15 [1 favorite has favorites]

I enjoyed some on this site.
posted by kprincehouse at 6:12 PM on April 15

Mental Floss, including There's no right way to eat a Rhesus, I love Lucy, and Fibonacci, It's as Easy as 1, 1, 2, 3.
posted by BlooPen at 6:12 PM on April 15

unamerican.com has great stickers and some cool shirts.
posted by Redhush at 6:27 PM on April 15

Another from Mental Floss: Why the long face? [Easter Island]. I laughed so hard at this I cried, and then bought it (in green).
posted by thebazilist at 6:30 PM on April 15

Has anyone linked to TShirtHell yet??? Wearing one of their shirts right now, in fact... Not gonna say which one ;)

Seriously, though, it's hard to get more offensive than some of the shirts at that wonderful site!
posted by newfers at 6:48 PM on April 15

Here's Kermit on Glennz Tees
posted by cwarmy at 6:49 PM on April 15

Seconding Topatoco, specifically, the Questionable Content shirts and the Dinosaur Comic shirts.
posted by firei at 6:59 PM on April 15

Stop Plate Tectonics.
posted by anthy at 7:34 PM on April 15

The McSweeney's Store has some funny shirts, like this.
posted by foxinthesnow at 7:39 PM on April 15

there's no place like 127.0.0.1

There's no place like localhost? There's no place like the loopback? I don't get it.
posted by popechunk at 8:45 PM on April 15

Dump-truck Giraffe | ZBQ
posted by boost ventilator at 8:54 PM on April 15

Saturday Morning Tees
posted by TimTypeZed at 8:57 PM on April 15

anything from uneetee
posted by nokry56 at 9:15 PM on April 15

Some good ones in this thread.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:55 PM on April 15

I've never seen these online, but "Norton detected a virus. Would you like to remove Windows?" and "Your village called. They want their idiot back." always made me LOL. Ditto the t-shirt with the "smash head on keyboard to continue" dialogue box.
posted by Tamanna at 1:48 AM on April 16

http://www.cafepress.com/NoObamaTees
Pass the blame along to your Obama loving friends. "Blame me I voted for Obama" shirts pins stickers
posted by Gungho at 5:21 AM on April 16

Best t-shirt ever from Threadless Mister Mittens' Big Adventure
posted by joydrop at 8:19 AM on April 16

Lots of shirts that I discover through this site.

Today I am enjoying this one!
posted by finitejest at 8:51 AM on April 16

Threadless is really the leader here. But there is a lot going on other places.

Teefury is really cool - very, very small runs of curated shirts that are available for one day only.
Design By Humans works basically like Threadless with a different aesthetic.
Shirt.woot was mentioned above but is worth explaining in detail. Each day a new shirt appears. At any given time there are around 25 shirts available. Each Monday the least selling shirts are 'reckoned', never to be seen again. Most interesting about shirt.woot, I think, is the derby. Each Thursday at noon a new them is announced. Friday at noon you can start submitting designs and voting on them. The following Friday, Saturday and Sunday's shirts are the first second and third place vote getters. Unlike Threadless, or DBH or really any of the others, the Derby is interesting because it is completely transparent. Sure, at Threadless you vote, but the staff decides what to print and what not to, and they just use votes as a factor. At the derby the three top vote getters print, and that's that. It's fun to enter, and it is just as fun to vote and watch the horse race.

Another interesting site is Cameesa. I'm not crazy about the designs that are available now, frankly, but the way THEY choose what to print is based on crowdfunding. You commit ten bucks to buy a design you like, sort of like a pre-order. You can support as many designs as you want with the same ten bucks, but the first one to reach $500 worth of support gets printed and gets your money. It's neat.

side note: I actively participate at Shirt.Woot, and had one shirt printed over there, but I don't have entries in the current derby. I have a shirt printing at Teefury on the 23rd, but I am not allowed to link to it until then, so, uh, check back if you want. Heh.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:41 AM on April 16

Ugh. the link is Cameesa.

To clarify about Shirt.Woot - Fri, Sat, Sun are the Derby winners, the rest of the week are chosen by the staff. Most shirts are only available for a week and quickly fall off the charts but there are a few shirts that have been around for more than a year. Shirts are $10 the first day they print, and $15 each day thereafter, with free shipping.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:44 AM on April 16

Oh, and my vote for best Threadless shirt ever is this one.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:46 AM on April 16

Plastered T-Shirts
posted by sharkfu at 1:23 PM on April 16

my own, for what that's worth. I rather enjoy these English Curses in Russian Letters.
posted by pyro979 at 1:32 PM on April 16

I like Rotten Cotton for all your Cult/Horror/Exploitation film needs.
posted by Demogorgon at 8:48 PM on April 16

Rumplo aggregates tshirts from many sites for your browsing pleasure.
posted by aint broke at 10:18 PM on April 16

C'mon! At At Boo Boo.
posted by amanda at 11:41 AM on April 17

Hmmm, sorry no links - but here's a few good or noticeable ones I've seen on T shirts:

"Was it love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?"

"Just because I slept with you last night..... (on the back)-> "...doesn't mean I'll ski with you today!"

Another skiing one - bright orange "If you can read this tshirt, pull me out of the snow" (it's upside down)

A third skiing one - from Whistler, where Buffalo Bill's is the over 30 crowd's bar " I survived a cougar attack at Buffalo Bill's, Whistler, BC" with claw marks down the back of the tshirt

(This one was worn by a huge bearded gay guy?)-> "I don't smoke crack, I lick it" (I must be in Vancouver area, huh? LOL)

There are tons of tshirts at cafepress - you can make your own - grab a logo, add the saying, and away you go

I just opened a free cafepress store in about five minutes

You can do the same, and design tshirts there and have them printed, even sell them to others!

Good Luck
posted by portmoodyguy at 8:37 AM on April 19

I've bought a couple shirts from here in the past. Ships from Canada ... I think.
posted by prufrock at 11:58 AM on April 21