[Illustration]: 2013

Fire Label Merchandising

So after searching for ages what method we should go about printing our shirts we finally found this website fire label merchandising! after looking through all the things they could offer we set up a meeting as we realized they offered everything we needed! We had a look at all the physical samples they had and really had a feel of all materials that were on offer and picked our favorite garments. We really had found the right place to create our clothes as they were awesome to speak to and we really had all our questions answered about not only the process in which they make the clothes, but how strong the communication between the clients and Fire labels offices are. They have a team of artists and an entire department dedicated to the designers to help position and clean up all your prints and art work before they're even printed onto the garments to maximize the quality of each and every product created! This is extremely reassuring as filtering all the work through not just me, but a group of professional artists really makes sure there is no room for any errors to be made!

Their clientel is also quite impressive working with producers like one direction, macklemore e.t.c Again this was very reassuring. Professionalism is what we wanted and it really seems like Fire label merchandising offer that in truck loads!

http://www.firelabel.co.uk/

Manna

Manna's site really had a great feel to it. It was clean and fresh which is what we wan't in our clothes and website! This guy also uses the exact same clothes that we're going to use! Everything he prints on are the same garments we will be using for our prints! Funnily enough he is also a client of firelabel merchandising! He is rather successful in his sales which is giving me and my friend real hopes for our clothes!

http://www.manna.bigcartel.com/

http://mannaclothing.tumblr.com/

http://www.manna.bigcartel.com/blog

Hype

"HYPE. began in Summer of 2011, when the UK weather, for once, was good!

Two friends, both on summer breaks from University, decided they wanted to spend their holiday doing something more than just kicking back and relaxing.

With an understanding of retail and business from previous jobs and a fascination with independent clothing companies, creating a brand was high on the cards.

After a week of late nights, copious amounts of Monster Energy and the odd bottle of rum; these two friends had created the beginning of HYPE.

They set to work on the foundations of the company, quickly and efficiently building a powerful string of social networks with nothing more than word of mouth.

HYPE. launched its first designs; a lighter inscribed with the statement: ‘Get Your Own Fucking Lighter’ and a range of ‘alternative’ designs; a modified Einstein, Monroe and Elvis on separate t-shirts.

With the initial idea of investing £200 each into the first range, the lads were shocked, when after entering a competition with just minutes to spare they won 100 free t-shirts to be printed. This was thanks to the help of their current following, by choosing their design to win an online merchandise competition.

This happened twice more…

With three designs printed and fully stocked and a unique lighter design bought with the initial investment, the boys were on a roll.

The drop was announced for a Sunday at 8 PM and was well anticipated by their following. By midnight all t-shirts were sold out. They couldn't believe it.

With a response so rapid and overwhelming; the lads spent day and night sending out orders, restocking products, responding to their online following and creating new designs.

The HYPE. had begun.

Fast forward 3 months and HYPE. has moved out of the bedroom and taken up premises in Leicester, to house the expansion of the fresh, growing company.

Now whilst able to look over production closely, house more products, create an office space for friends to come and help, they knew they were on the right track.

With their Autumn/Winter '11 collection primed, photographed and laid out on a brand new website, the next drop hit bigger and better.

A successful first night made sure the following month was filled with promise; a key stockist 'FootAsylum' came on board, the A/W '11 collection sold fast and they took the chance to exhibit at festivals around the UK.

With the first few months a distant, but close, memory; these two friends continue to push the boundaries and venture ever higher.

HYPE. is now stocked in Independent stores across the UK, within Europe and further internationally!

Topman, Topshop, FootAsylum, Two Seasons and (soon to be) ASOS all support the brand, stocking up and down the United Kingdom.

With a handful of friends now helping out at the office, the lads are able to make meetings, look over production and participating in events their priority."

http://hypeclothinguk.bigcartel.com/

http://justhype.co.uk/blog/

https://www.facebook.com/HYPE.CLOTHING

Merchandise

RATCHET CLOTHING

Ratchet clothing are an individual clothing producer that creates colorful and interesting garments! It's targeted at the younger generation of teenagers and seems to be doing extremely well for itself! their trademark is their tye-dye clothes covered in their logos and other interesting prints. Having famous people cameo have obviously helped towards their popularity. They also don't take themselves to seriously which is nice and refreshing. The wrecking ball spoof is proof of that definateley! Their facebook is ideal for keeping up with their releases but if you wan't even more connection they have a twitter which is perfect!

Description:

Ratchet Clothing brings you the latest in urban street wear.

We create t shirts using the highest quality fabrics and add our own unique spin with a fusion

of colours for a design that is tailor made for you.http://ratchetclothing.bigcartel.com/

Let us know what colour and size you require and we will have you looking Ratchet in no

time...

https://www.facebook.com/RatchetClothing/photos_stream

http://ratchetclothing.bigcartel.com/

https://twitter.com/RatchetClothing

THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING.

Luke Dixon

This print has to be one of my favorites, and it's not just because i love skulls. The level of detail in this piece is fantastic, the direction and flow of each line adds more and more to the shape of the body till it looks entirely 3D. If you squint at this piece it looks real! I love the fine line between graphics and illustration being pushed as far as it can go and it's really pushed here! the varying thickness of each line is what makes up this image. It's pieced together like a puzzle! I also like the fact that this has blatant elements of cartoony style shading which i was always told at school was the wrong way to go. The fact that this image and others like it are being created with this level of artistic professionalism in spite of what art teachers have told me in the past is brilliant. I also like this because it's not an obvious image like the others he's created, the breaking bad prints for example. I like to see different and new prints as much as my favorite TV shows, if not more!

Artist - Luke Dixon

Luke Dixon is one of the best artists that creates prints for clothes. All his pieces are awesomely detailed and you can a hell of alot of work has been put in. Some of his pieces relate to famous people and pop culture icons while the rest are weird bear / wolf people, all made with nice fine liners and biro's. His work was so inspiring and really contributes to alot of the inspiration for my body of work. He sells his pieces on shirts and jumpers and even has his own beanies! His website for all his purchasable clothes is called "The bear hug co." and he sells all his gear at really low prices! I have him on facebook were he regularly posts pictures of his work and designs in process! This is a really good way to be involved with his followers and is really cool to see in my news feed rather than all the other spammy crap. Seeing this guy make all these clothes on his own just from his designs was really motivating and is the main inspiration behind me and my friends summer project to create our clothing line!

Main websites - Facebook

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=149723594&authType=name&authToken=cRUe&goback=

http://lukedixonart.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/lukedixonartist?fref=ts

http://www.dukelixon.co.uk/

http://www.thebearhug.com/

http://instagram.com/thebearhugco

Tag Designs, Shirt Prints and photos...

One of the tag designs that i was most of proud of!

This "Doob hand" Print is one of the more

successful pieces and is ready for print!

Character designs, this dudes needs diamonds in his tree

After searching for ages we finally found a font to suit our needs!
It's called Lighthouse and it's all ours!

these are some early design ideas for the text onto white shirts with nice colors in the back!
Hawaiian print and watercolors being personal favorites

More shirt ideas with photo's involved!
The white text should fit nicely over these images!

These were perfect! We needed images to go behind the logo that would be British and have lush colors! The more colors and the more variety in the logo the better!

First drafts of the logo with the lush countryside!

More ideas

Hawaiian print ready to be colored and go behind the logo!

More character designs, started introducing this box around our pictures to keep things centered and it makes each piece look like it belongs in a boxed collection!