I’ve been making t-shirts. Although, I think of them as publications.
How did I end up doing this? It seemed to be a natural progression somehow, from writing my short texts and essays, to drawing out lists of the named content, making up postcards and posters, then putting the lists onto t-shirts. It seemed logical, and I now see that they make an interesting conversation starter when out and about.
It has been a learning curve, and I now have a rail of various t-shirts which are of three different qualities and types.
S, M, L and XL sizes
Valueweight, 100% cotton and 100% organic cotton.
White, mustard, olive, pink shirts
Black, purple, orange, blue text
In my enthusiasm I tested out a variety of commercial producers, and I learnt a lot in determining quality, such as how well the lists are printed onto the front, the feel and weight of the fabric, intensity of colour in the text and shirt – all good quality control monitoring.
Initially, I thought of just drawing my lists onto the plain t-shirt, like a one-off drawing or publication (which I might still do) but I got carried along with the online methods I could use to make them. They are my prototypes. They are not so much clothing but an extension of the texts, and I realised I could complete the circle by attaching a QR code card to the t-shirt, so that the wearer can scan it and read the related text to their particular list of names that is on their t-shirt, on their phone.
Iain Irving 