The latest T-shirt from Lost Art Press is a little different than the five generations before it. Emblazoned on the front of the shirt is the silhouette of the English square in the shape of an “A” – the motif throughout “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” book that resembles the symbol used by anarchists. This “A,” however, has 19th-century style.
The rear of the shirt is printed with the title of the book, which I made with one of those crappy plastic label-making gizmos popular in the 1970s. I scanned the labels at a high resolution, then enlarged and distorted them in Photoshop.
All in all (and I rarely say this), I am pleased with this design.
So here’s the bad news. You know we won’t lie to you. For this run, we switched back to the 50-percent cotton, 50-percent polyester shirts made in Central America. It didn’t have to do with money — we are happy to pay for quality. It had to do with customer feedback. Customers were split on whether they liked the American-made shirts, which were more lightweight, or the Central American ones, which are beefier.
In the end, I made the call. I like the way the foreign-made shirts feel and age. My design, my choice. I am continuing to look for a good domestic supplier and have a line on a company that even grows its own cotton. I have high hopes.
The shirts are $15 plus $4 shipping. As always, we have to charge an extra $2 for the XXL size. If we do another run of these shirts, we will be sure to get a few medium and small sizes – another customer request.
Click here to order a shirt from our store.
— Christopher Schwarz
Small and medium? How about adding a couple more Xs?
John,
We offer XXL now. How large should we go?
As big as you can get. If your advertising explains what anarchist means, you can market them to gangstas. Expand your market. Think big. literally.
How about hemp (seriously)?
Canvas (or hemp) shop aprons?
But, most of all, don’t give up on finding a domestic supplier.
I like the new shirt, however is the prior design shirts (American apparel divide and conquer) still available? I have one (along with a copy of the anarchists toolchest and now probably this new shirt design) in my cart on my pc from the beginning of May.
By the way, have you considered putting your shirt designs up on something like Society6 or cafepress?
Five previous generations? I only have four!
You need a resource page / type study for collectors.
(That’s only sort of a joke.)
Chuck
1. Rude Mechanics Since 1678 (If you have one of these in red you are LUCKY. I don’t even have one in red)
2. Boring Since 1678
3. Trying Stuff Since 1678
4. Divided We Stand
5. Divide & Conquer
Whew. Now I won’t forget.