Elaine Blakely from Bite Mark Clothing, which specializes in zombie chic wear, sent over her work for scrutiny. Let's see how it holds up.
First off, you know you're in for a treat when the package it comes in looks like this.
Blakely calls it a "body bag" - a black envelope and honest-to-gosh stamps of the Queen. A quick flip over...
... and you get a sense of the effort gone into designing the exterior (how did this ever got through customs, I would never know.)
Notice the blood smears? Those are Blakely's own fingers.
Every Bite Mark Clothing package is unique, a snowflake.
I should delve into Blakely's working habit and environment.
This is where she works the size of the room. It's a one-woman operation. She does the designs, the packaging, the postage, the marketing...
She even does her own screenprinting, something which she had to learn from scratch. She details her process from designing to screenprinting and just reading it made me tired. It's laborious.
Back to the package.
Here are the contents: an ominous red packet and a nice letter from Blakely telling me to produce a prompt review or she'll stretch out my foreskin and make me wear it like a little hat. While I file the letter away for my lawyers, let's take a look at the red packet.
Here's a closeup.
As I peeled open the packet. The inside spilled forth like a ritualistic disemboweling. This is a very rare instance where I thoroughly enjoy the process of unwrapping something. It's very amusing to me.
Here's a closeup of the promo card (very catchy slogan)...
... and the back of it.
I think this is a sticker.
I was expecting a t-shirt with a zombie muttering "braaains" or something but this is is a nice surprise. No undead. It's just the city under a sinister full moon.
A city scene in the night should invoke a sense of midnight tranquility...
... yet Blakely manages to instill a certain dread in it. Well-done! Gives a whole new turn to the term, "moon-face."
Just as you think that this is as good as it gets, there's one more surprise. At the back of the t-shirt...
... holy jumping Moses! What is that? It's a shirt tag! On the outside! There are even instructions on how to wash and care for your t-shirt. The kick-ass part of this is that...
... the tag is sewn on by hand. That's right, good readers, Elaine Blakely sews the tags at the back of each and every damn t-shirts by hand!
Which would explain the pic of the bloody fingers.
I love shit like this! The whole, D-I-Y operation in making a t-shirt, you can really see the work Blakely put into her lineup and package. Judging by the current design, Blakely knows what she's doing and she's always honing her skills.
Designs aside, remember, she does everything herself and that alone should count for something. I'm a big proponent for small companies that offer that personal touch big companies seem to lack. If Blakely continues her current work ethic, I envisioned we'll be seeing more of her stuff in the long run.
Labels: american apparel, movie, not made in america, review
It seem like a trend for t-shirt companies to send their shirts in a ziplock. I know it's not to keep the freshness in. I'm just bemused by this method of packaging.
It says "FREE YOUR INNER MONKEY." This can be taken wrongly. Yes, that's the monkey from Monkeys in a Barrel. The shirt is printed on an AA ringer.
It's off-beat and it works in tandem with the image.
