THE TEE SHIRT AS GARMENT.
Examples of transforming a tee into an item of clothing and not just a ground for a printed graphic. In other words, this is the “sweating the details” side of tee design. Which meant by extension that I always had to keep abreast of the newest printing inks, wash styles, stitching options, tee fabrics, and other treatments. This tee is part of the Bowerman Story collection.
Another example, this is a reversible tee with two moods: bold and expressive vs. reserved and quiet. This was a hook to the waffle trainer shoe, the circle/square mark reflects the waffle sole. The blank we used was designed by me, two very thin tee blanks are sewn together to create the reversible style.
The rest of "bold quiet" style. These four tees reference Nike's early heritage: the waffle trainer shoe, track and field, and Oregon mountains and forests. I designed all the patterns.
I spent a year developing this vintage garment technique. Faux aged effect tees and apparel are common. I wanted a garment that looked less faux, so I studied actual super old tees to guide my exploration. Even though the graphic is only two colors, it uses five plates and three kinds of ink to achieve a truly worn look. The tee then receives a light permanganate spray to provide some uneven fade. Then the whole garment is washed and blammo–a tee that looks really old but fits like a new tee.
This previous examples show tees at higher price points, this is an example of using the same philosophy at a lower price point. What can be done with a smaller budget and still achieve some character.
Here is the full collection of tees containing the example above.