My ragged geeky orange shirt - where to get a replacement for this loved Mars gear?

August 3, 2009 9:29 PM

I don't normally wear orange, but my favorite shirt is an orange (soon to be an orange rag) that I cannot find a replacement of. SGI - Mars - sold at SIGGRAPH '98. A year or so later, I tried to get one from SGI by searching their store and writing the company, to no avail. Anyone know where I can find one that didn't get the tons of wear my holey one did?

Not much of a logo on it, just the small cube and SGI logo, made for and sold by Silicone Graphics. It had a rover and rocks on it, and the phrase "it's what you do with it" emblazoned across the main body. The neck was ringed with orange rib, though the sleeves and main hem were simple double-fold knit fabric edges of the finished garment.

posted by tilde to clothing, beauty, & fashion (7 comments total)

It was probably a one-off for that conference. Printing up 1,000 (or even 10 or 100) t-shirts isn't a big deal, and one-offs are printed all the time.
posted by delmoi at 9:49 PM on August 3

why not search eBay? it's surprising what people put on there
posted by Wilder at 3:26 AM on August 4

Huh, in my self-editing, I lost the line about eBay. I've had a 'search bot' running on it for years.
posted by tilde at 5:03 AM on August 4

Well, a big part of the specialness of that favorite t-shirt is that it's the only one, unique and not easily replaceable. But, of course, it doesn't last forever and you can use it as a reminder of the impermanence of man's creations, as you use the remains to dust your television screen or wipe your hands, oily from the car.

Or if that answer doesn't satisfy I can think of two other possibilities. If the shirt was from a conference you attended think up anyone you know who might possibly have been in attendance and send them an email, asking if they still have a t-shirt from the event. If that's not an option, take the shirt to a local shop and see if they can duplicate it. A search for "t-shirt printing [my city]" turns up about a dozen seemingly likely places on Google maps.
posted by 6550 at 8:13 AM on August 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

The obvious solution here is to stop being so helpless and reproduce the shirt yourself. It's not that hard. Just find a local screen printing shop and explain your problem. I'm sure they have designers who can recreate the logo and print it on a standard orange shirt.
posted by delmoi at 2:51 PM on August 4

I don't know of a professional shop who will, without permission from the copyright owner outright replicate a shirt, or a logo without permission from the trade mark holder as well.

Next time it comes through the wash I'll post a picture, but while the color of the shirt is orange, it is screened all over with the image of rocks on Mars sent from a lander. Imagine a photo from the Mars Landers printed directly onto cloth and sewn into a bit of clothing. The only part of the shirt not printed in this way is the sewn-in collar.

There's a line drawing of a lander, and the phrase "it's what you do with it" as a slogan.

But I could reproduce it on my own - step one, fly to Mars. Pack the camera ...
posted by tilde at 9:37 AM on August 27

Forgot to add, I'm related to the other four people I attended with. I'm not in the industry and am just a fanboi; they've gotten nowhere in their network.

Maybe I simply need to post a bounty online somewhere.
posted by tilde at 9:38 AM on August 27