7 Classic T-shirt Designs Now Available

We have revived seven of our favorite T-shirt designs – including our first shirt with the slogan “Rude Mechanicks Since 1678” – and they are now available in a wide variety of sizes and colors.

During the last 13 years, I don’t think we’ve made a profit on T-shirts, but they are fun and we end up with some high-fashion rags in the end.

We’re making these new shirts through a print-on-demand service, which is why we can offer so many colors and sizes from XS to 4XL. But because of the way the shirts are made, here are some important details:

• We cannot accept returns on these shirts unless they are defective. So please check the sizes and colors with care. These shirts are cut slimmer than some other brands. The sizing is similar to the American Apparel shirts we used to sell.
• The logos and wording are in black on all the shirts. So the contrast will be low if you put a black logo on a dark blue shirt. We like this effect, which is why we offer it. We couldn’t offer both white and black logos because of the technical limits of the print-on-demand service. Apologies.

During the last 13 years we’ve had many requests to bring back old designs. Getting these shirts back in the store took a shirtload of technical work from Megan Fitzpatrick and John Hoffman. We had to find old files, rebuild certain images and then clear a bunch of technical hurdles to integrate the print-on-demand service with our store. Fingers crossed it all works.

The seven designs we brought back are:

• Cutting Deals Since 1678
• Rude Mechanicks Since 1678
• Boring Since 1678
• The Anarchist’s Tool Chest
• Trying Stuff Since 1678
• Divide & Conquer
• I Shall Die Trying

There were a few designs we didn’t revive (“Stop Staring at My Chest,” for one) because the sales were so miserable we didn’t see the point.

— Christopher Schwarz