Apr 20
Bluelefant is proud to announce the opening of the Bluelefant Shop on Spreadshirt.
Spreadshirt’s service allows printing not only on the front, but also the back and the sleeves of a variety of T-shirts, in addition to offering multiple ink options. I’ve long wanted to create shirts with designs printed on different parts of the shirt and Spreadshirt has provided the means for me to finally begin to realize many of the T-shirts designs I’ve imagined over the years.
Nov 27
When I first started noticing people wearing Under Armour shirts and hoodies a few years back, the first thing I thought was, “What does the X stand for?” And when someone finally told me it was a brand called ’Under Armour’, I thought, “Okay, but isn’t that outerwear?”
Under Armour epitomizes everything I dislike in a major brand. I’m sure their products—at least their core products—are good quality, but as far as branding goes, they’ve completely jumped the shark. The company started off making high-tech moisture-wicking shirts to be worn under football uniforms to keep the players cooler than traditional cotton T-shirts. So the name Under Armour, protecting you under your jersey, was appropriate. While I have a problem with the weird H/X looking logo, I can’t argue with the name. It sounds cool—until you start also making sweatshirts, hats, shoes and backpacks. Armor, maybe; under, no. Companies naturally want to grow their business, but there has to be a limit. It’s got to make sense. I wouldn’t wear a Hanes baseball cap, eat Reebok cereal, or drive a Nike car. Brand integrity is important. When you slap your logo on anything and everything you think will sell, it cheapens the brand. It may even be good for short-term profits, but when the trend is over, your image may no longer be strong enough to sustain the business.
Is it an X? Is it an H? To me, it looks like a U and an upside-down U.
If the bottom part is an A, then the top part is an upside-down A, right?
Oh, I see, the bottom part of the U was hiding the middle line in the A…or is the middle line of the A hiding the bottom part of the U?
Jul 13
I like the idea of Polo Ralph Lauren, but I don’t like the Polo Ralph Lauren company.
The original polo shirt is a classic look. But in the last few years, Polo has taken their design to unseemly extremes. They started with the ‘big pony,’ which in contrast to the more smaller, more subtle design is garish, in-your-face and honestly looks like a hobby embroidery project your friend’s grandmother bought at the craft store in the mall and worked on in her spare time.
The US Polo Association took this trend one step further, with two horse-and-rider teams. Not to be outdone, Ralph Lauren put an entire polo match on his shirts! Even more strangely, both companies have the same number 3 on the right sleeve.
My real problem with Polo Ralph Lauren is their brand and business model. They market their products as hearkening back to a classic era, symbolizing a tradition of Americana while manufacturing their products overseas where labor is cheap so they can sell them at huge margins. If they were truly patriotic, they would find a way to justify their exorbitant prices by including the cost of paying a living wage to American workers.
A big spotlight has been shone on this practice in the recent controversy over their Chinese-made US Olympic Team outfits for the opening ceremony. I, for one, want to wear a genuinely American-made polo/golf shirt.
Jun 22
Of course they won! No other team in NBA history has had 3 of the top 5 draft picks from the same draft year. It would be like having Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley on the same team!
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2003 NBA Draft
#1 LeBron James
#2 Darko Milicic
#3 Carmelo Anthony
#4 Chris Bosh
#5 Dwayne Wade
Jun 09
When the Seattle Supersonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008 the franchise’s jerseys changed from a color scheme of green and yellow with a fairly unique device for displaying the name to become just one of the many uniforms in the NBA to use blue with yellow or orange trim. And to make matters worse, the Thunder chose a small and uninspired font to adorn the front of their jersey. I think it would be nice if the Thunder jerseys stood out a bit more. They should go with a primary color no other team uses – OKC orange:
Splitting ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘City’ around the number cleans up the crowded lettering at the top. The arrangement worked well when the Hornets did it that way on their jerseys for the final home game of their two-year stint away from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina (though the font suited ‘New Orleans’ better). And while Thunder management in the past said that no one knows what ‘OKC’ stands for–something I don’t think was true then and certainly isn’t now–Phoenix and Atlanta have used three-letter abbreviations without causing any confusion, and no one ever calls these cities P-H-X or A-T-L. Oklahoma City is a mouthful and most basketball fans already say O-K-C. It just makes sense!
May 25
This is an idea I drew up about five years ago. I loved Transformers when I was a kid, so naturally I wanted to be one. Of course that’s impossible, but put on a shirt like this and you can walk around all day feeling like you could change into a car at any moment!
I’m not the only person to have had this idea, but I think my simpler design based on the cartoon character works better. The shirt here uses the artwork from the toy which is incongruous with the standard T-shirt crew neckline.
There’s a similar T-shirt for Tracks, using the flame design on the hood of his Corvette vehicle mode. Unlike Hot Rod, the flames are not present on his chest when he’s in robot mode. I still think it’s a decent idea, but I think Hot Rod makes for a much better shirt.
Here are two more Transformers chest design shirts I’ve found. I don’t think I’d ever wear these; they’re too busy and too much like Halloween costumes.
May 18
The Brooklyn Nets recently debuted their logos and color schemes, but the jerseys won’t be revealed until later this year. They’re keeping things simple with a sans serif font and a black and white motif. Here’s how I’d design the jersey:
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Apr 27
My submission for the Obama campaign’s design contest reminded me of another I took part in a few years ago when I was on the JET Programme. This was my idea for the Osaka AJET T-shirt, incorporating Osaka Castle and a Japanese-style rising sun with elements from the A-Team. The text at the bottom pokes fun at the ‘Engrish’ one so often sees on shirts in Japan; had the design been selected, I would have been open to better suggestions.
Apr 20
I just submitted this design for Runway to Win, the Obama re-election campaign’s fashion design contest:
Some say politics is a team sport. But Barack Obama isn’t just the leader of the Democrats; he’s the captain of Team America. Show your national pride by wearing our team colors and support the re-election of our 44th president!
Jersey number and lettering are an homage to President Obama’s favorite basketball team (and mine), the Chicago Bulls, with an American color scheme. Obama logo on the left (obviously) sleeve.
