I’m a little late to the game when it comes to posting about relief efforts for Haiti, but fortunately, it’s been well covered at many sites in the Shirt-O-Sphere. How about this great list that Coty Gonzales posted a few days ago.

As I was looking around for what was being offered, I noticed 2 things:

1) Many of the shirts seemed to value speed over style. (Not a bad thing since it’s best to get aid to the region as fast as possible.)

2) Most of the shirts were designed to be billboards for further aid. That’s great for getting relief to help Haiti, but it doesn’t give much flexibility if you want to mix fashion with your philanthropy. I know it sounds like a vanity issue, but the more you can accessorize an item, then more you will wear it, and the more you will get the message out.

So what were the results of my search?

I found a collection of shirts that provide a range of syles, yet have the same message – ALL proceeds/profits from the sale of the shirts are earmarked for Haiti relief. There’s nothing wrong with sites that are donating a portion of the proceeds, but I felt it would be good to do a list of sites that were giving all of it to charity.

Take the list for a spin, and if you’re inspired at all to add a shirt to your wardrobe, hit the link and pick one up today.

Kid Dangerous: Help Haiti

Sales of this shirt will benefit One Dome At A Time and will help them provide immediate needs. (blankets, water, food, medicine, etc.)

$35 + shipping at Kid Dangerous

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UNDRCRWN: Assist Haiti

Until Jan 27th, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this shirt and 5% of sales sitewide will be donated to Yele Haiti.

$20 + shipping at UNDRCRWN

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Aaron Ivey: Help Haiti T

Musician Aaron Ivey is donating all of the proceeds to Real Hope For Haiti, Livesay Family Ministry, and Heartline Ministries to help in providing aid.

$25 + shipping at Aaron Ivey

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HelpEndLocalPoverty: Hope For Haiti

Proceeds go to Real Hope For Haiti, Livesay Family Ministry, and Heartline Ministries to help in providing aid.

$25 + shipping at HelpEndLocalPoverty

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Hozell: Hozell For Haiti

Hozell is a leisure clothing line based out of Huntington beach, Ca. and is donating all proceeds from the sale of this shirt to the Red Cross.

$20 + shipping at Hozell

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Who Are Ya?: Haiti

This design is an homage to the Haiti National team (futbol) and proceeds will benefit UNICEF.

$17.99 + shipping at Who Are ya? Designs

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Bungie: Be A Hero

Creators of the Halo game series, all profits will be directly donated to relief organizations on the ground in Haiti.

$19.99 + shipping at Bungie

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Everlast: Andre Berto Haiti Relief Tee

Haitian boxer Andre Berto has teamed up with athletic equipment make Evelast to offer this shirt. Proceeds from the sale of this shirt will benefit the Red Cross.

$20 + shipping at Everlast

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Timberland: Earthkeepers™ Yéle Haiti Wings

This shirt is one in the series of Haiti relief shirts offered by Timberland to benefit Yele Haiti.

$35 + shipping at Timberland

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Heroics Clothing: Save Haiti

Available in styles for men and Women and the most fashion forward of all of the relief shirts I have seen. Designed by artist, Devon Almarinez, proceeds from the sale of this design will benefit the Red Cross.

$17.99 + shipping at Heroics Clothing

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It’s great to see how the Shirt-O-Sphere can mobilize to help generate support in a time of need. It may just be a shirt, but to those in need, it is a chance at survival.

For other ways to send relief to Haiti, check out the donate to Haiti page at Google.

If you would like your site or shirt featured on PopCultureTees.com, send us an email and let us know.

Hideyourarms is one of the tee-blogs we follow on a daily basis, who provides really great insight on the industry and new stuff that’s out there. But I think Andy, the guy behind the blog, is most known for his amazing t-shirt lists that put our small collection to shame.

I don’t know how many hours he spends researching these, but the latest one, 202 Star Wars T-Shirts, is a mammoth collection of the best Star Wars inspired tees out there.

It’s really hard to pull favorites, so you’ll just have to check out the whole collection (all 4 pages of it!)

One of the best ways of starting or expanding your clothing line is to acquire designs from outside artists. This is a great way to build a diverse collection, and help out artists too. Plus, right now is a great time to do it – with so many contest sites launching and such a limited number of official “winners”, there’s a lot of extra art out there just waiting to be picked up.

Two of the biggest sources for pre-existing art are emptees and relative new-comer, Kingstrike. If you haven’t browsed these two lately, it’s time to check them out, because alot of the unsold art is really amazing.

During a fit of browsing, we picked out 10 of our favorite designs that are up for sale right now. We hope you pick some of them up, because they really deserve to be printed.

1. Gloopy by Wotto

2. Muffin by Greg Abbott

3. Friendly Fire by Matt Bibby

4. Grinnin’ Lizard by Ray Frenden

5. Hambot Demands Ham by Omnitarian

6. Vicious Sonic Cycle by Alessandro Echevarria

7. Get a Job by RAWRoutLOWD

8. The Alphabeasts by Craig Watkins

9. Beasty by a_mar_illo

10. I Ain’t Got Glying Shoes by Johann

With the passing of Michael Jackson, it’s hard to find anyone that does not have some memory of one of his iconic songs (I have Thriller as my phone ringtone). Now comes the tributes and the memorials and for your convenience, a collection of Michael Jackson t-shirts.

Trendyshirt: Michael Jackson

Got to be there with the Jackson 5 MJ.

$12.95 + shipping at Trendyshirt

Cmegamall: MJ

Looking at this shirt and you can hear the familiar high-pitched, “Hee, Hee”

$15 + shipping at Cmegamall

BaoStudio NYC: MJ Pop Art

Billie Jean and Pepsi commercials.

$24 + shipping at BaoStudio NYC

Mosh-Pitt: MJ Face

This is the highlight look of the MJ era

$21 + shipping at Mosh-Pitt

PalmerCash: Thriller

Cuz this is, Thrillllleeeerrrrr, thri_ler night.

$17.97 + shipping at palmercash

Tshirtsville: Bad

Who’s bad?

£14.99 + shipping at Tshirtsville

Osburatti: Michael Jackson – King of Pop

Ready to moonwalk

$20.99 + shipping at MySoti

Insight: Off the Wall

Off the Wall was a great album and it was the end of the Jackson5 MJ. I’m not sure about the mature subject matter in the collage

£19.99 + shipping at Insight

James from t-shirt connoisseur here, bringing you a top ten countdown list of tees with skulls.

You don’t have to be a goth kid or a metal fan to wear tee’s with skulls. Skulls can symbolize death, and their figure can leave you pondering mortality, but the iconic image of the skull is more than that — skulls are just cool.

Difficulty: No Pirate Flags, No Punisher Logo, &  Human Skulls Only

10.  ” Suit Up? ” @ Design by Humans - $25

Make a statement about joining the corporate rank and file — or just wear it becuase it’s pretty bad ass.

9. ” Grunge Skull ” @ VanRockn – $18

Being off-centre is what makes this tee. Love the tone on black.

8. Deaths Embrace @ AkumuInk – $22.00

I assume the title should instead read “Death’s Embrace”, but who am I to pick on the grammar of such an awesome designer? Subtle dark on black with a jarring design.

7. ” Death and Tooth Decay ” @ Threadless – $18

At this point in the top ten list, I figured I would brighten things up a bit, with this delicious t-shirt. Mmmmm, gummy worms.

6.  ” Blue Velvet ” @ Teefury – $9

Available for today only — that’s the way teefury rolls.

5. ” Impaled ” @ AkumuInk – $18

The image of skulls impaled on a spear — the universal symbol of “Don’t F#&% With Me” since, well… since about the time spears were invented.

4.  ” Skulls Heart ” @ VanRockn – $18

A heart on the left side of your chest, over your heart — made of skulls for some reason or another.

3. ” Ghostly Skull ” @ Threadless – $TBD

Back to the light hearted side of things, this delightful (and colorful!) skull made of ghosts. If you read my stuff @ t-shirt connoisseur, you know I have a thing for t-shirt designs featuring things made from other things.

2. ” 88 Ghosts ” @ Funk Rush – ~$10

Yes, I know the last tee was also a skull made from colorful ghosts, big whoop, wanna fight about it? Also, am I obsesive is I counted to be sure there was 88 ghosts? (fyi, there was)

1. ” Ashes To Ashes ” @ Tenbills – $10

Easily topping the list is this great tee from ten bills. Its design is both beautiful and engaging, and if they didn’t charge $19 to ship to Canada, I’d buy several.

That wraps up the top ten — I’m a top 10 purist, no bonus 11th tee (sorry, Andy) 

kthxbi.

Top 11 Space Invaders T-Shirts (Because 10 just isn’t enough)

If the background of our site wasn’t a huge tip off, then let me tell you that we’re some huge fans of space invaders of here. So when Andy over at Thunderfrogs said he was putting together a list of space invader t-shirts and offered to let us publish it, we responded with a resounding “HELLZ YEAH!” (Check out his full bio at the end of the article.)

1. Space Invaders Attack from Bytelove – €22. Bytelove specialises in catering to the geeky crowd, with WoW, Mario, and other classic gamer tees. [Via Militant Geek]

2. Space Invader t-shirt from Bytelove – €22. Simple and effective; and recognizable over a light-year away.

3. The Space Invaders Tee by Kiser from Karmaloop – $35. It’s the oversized front printing that makes this one so cool – though I’m not fond of the crossed-guns motif. [Via Militant Geek]

4. Invasion t-shirt by msuber, from MySoti – £11.65. Msuber repeats the ranked geometric space invaders, for a pleasing pattern print.

5. I Space Invade NY t-shirt by James Lillis at MySoti – £16.48. The first of two space invaders t-shirts from James Lillis; this one a parody of the famous New York advertising campaign.

6. Space Invade No Evil by James Lillis from Red Bubble – from $24.94. Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil. Space Invade no Evil. Check out my interview with James here.

7. Ground Defenses, by Glennz – $19.95. If you look up ‘pop culture inspired parody’ in the dictionary, there’s a picture of Glenn Jones. Or there would be, if pop culture inspired parody was in the dictionary, and was defined by a photo of it’s greatest champion.

8. Bug Spray space invaders t-shirt by crazydays from Red Bubble – from $27.93 Rather than killing bugs, this spray can seems to be unleashing hordes of the alien insects on an unsuspecting world. I think a liberal splash of color would brighten up this design no end.

9. Hikiko Invaders space invaders shirt from Tolky Monkys – €22.  Tolky Monkys is a Spanish shop with cute character tees. In this one, a mime artist called Hikiko finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time (but is there ever a right time and place for mime?).

10. A Simple Plan, Space invader t-shirt by Neil Gregory – $18 If ever evidence of the gaming gender bias were needed, it’s that this t-shirt is sold out in all mens sizes, but still readily available for the ladies. Being blogged by Wil Wheaton can’t have hurt sales either.

11. Space Arcade from Goodie Two Sleeves – $21.98. These guys have broken formation! They’ve completely ignored the battle plans the space-general laid out in the briefing!

T-shirt designers are not the only ones to be inspired by the seminal seventies arcade game; musicians (and their video directors) also enjoy paying tribute. Check out this stunning video from Royksopp. [via BoingBoing]

If you’ve ever played waaaay too much space invaders (and who hasn’t?), eaten cheese and then gone straight to bed, your dreams were probably something like this next video from Hexstatic & Kris Menace. [via BoingBoing]

If these delights have failed to slake your thirst for 8-bit goodness, keep an eye out in your local city center, as an anonymous graffiti artist known only as “Invader” has been installing mosaic space invaders in cities across the globe for the last decade.

About Andy/Thunderfrogs:

Thunderfrogs delivers the best of the t-shirt world (sales, discount codes, store and tee reviews, interviews and t-shirt news), updated on a near-daily basis. I love t-shirts with pop-culture references, especially 80s film, cartoon, and computer game nostalgia.

Andy also recently published another interview with James Lillis, a PopCultureTees favorite; read the whole thing here.

Space invaders t-shirts

Threadless is in the midst of their holiday sale where not only are they offering discounts, but they also have a bunch of tees priced at $5, $10, and $15. Some of them are newly released designs, too.

We combed through all the discounted designs and pulled out some of our top picks to share with you. The five dollar tees are going super quick, so now is the time to order!

**UPDATED: Sweet, you can save an addition $3 on your purchase with this coupon, that the folks over at Threadless blog were nice enough to let us know about.

$15 Favorites

Spoilt

When The Sun Explodes

Hey Let’s Go Do Fun Stuff!

Bye Bye Apocalypse

$10 Favorites

As Day Is Swallowed Up By Night

I’m Not Bitter, I’m Just Unsweetened

Technology Ruins Nature

The Skyscrapers

$5 Favorites

They’re, Their, There

We Are Made of Carbon

One Lump, Or Two?

Since we did our first post about awesome Obama shirts, we’ve found even more great designs and had a bunch of submissions to the site.

So here’s part II, with five more outstanding designs!

1. There’s Something About Berry

Super-clever concept that’s been well executed. Lots of different designs available around the same theme. $25.00 BUY NOW

2. Hope

We really dig the clean simplicity of both the designs offered through this shop, but this one is our favorite of the two (and not just because they’re one of our advertisers). $19.95 BUY NOW.

3. “Yes We Can” Around the World

It’s no secret that the rest of the world heavily supports Obama. Now, no matter where you are you can wear your support. Through cafepress and spreadshirt (if you’re in europe) you can pick up one of these shirts in one of 10 different languages. BUY in the US or EUROPE.

4. “Yes We Can”

Most of the shirts on this site are only so-so, but this one fits the bill for being cleanly designed and straight to the point. Tons of different styles available.

5. Restore America (vintage)

One of the more expensive designs out there, we still really dig this one because it’s printed on a cool baseball tee and has a great vintage feel. Plus, the site says a portion of all proceeds will go to the Official Barack Obama Campaign. $35.95 BUY NOW

“Nearly everyone is getting used to seeing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s official message on TV. But some people are seeing him on unofficial wares. Obama’s face is emblazoned on thousands of graphic T-shirts sold online, on street corners and in chain stores. For some, the icon is all about Obama’s message, for others it’s simply a hip fashion statement.”

The excerpt above is from a Chicago Public Radio story about Obama’s transition from political candidate to pop culture icon, with his likeness appearing on everything from t-shirts to trinkets.

The wildfire spread of unofficial goods can partly be attributed to the popularity of Obama’s message, but not entirely; we’ve had popular candidates before.

What we haven’t had before, though, is a candidate with such a strong brand right out of the gate. Obama’s camp is also the first to completely grasp the potential of the internet as a vehicle for campaigning and have done a better job harnessing it’s viral and social natures than any of it’s competitors.

The result? Well, enough shirts for us to do a round-up of awesome Obama tees (in no particular order, of course):

1. Obey Obama Progress Tee

From the OBEY Giant folks, this tee is imprinted with Shepard Fairey’s “Progress” design. $28.00 BUY NOW Also available for women.

2. Barak Obama is my Homeboy

These guys are the self-proclaimed “largest online grassroots campaign supporting Barack Obama”. They certainly have one of the most popular tees out there. You can buy it, and others, from their site, as well as setup your own blog to talk about the presidential race. $18.45 BUY NOW

3. The Obama-Bama Tee

Originally just for kids (because really, what’s cuter than kids with a political opinion?), lowercase tee now offers these for grown-ups too. $17.00 BUY NOW

4. Audacity To Hope

Looks like shirts from apb have been selling out… they’re the most urban designs we’ve found and clearly popular. This design, and the other designs they have available, are still available in a few sizes. $24.99 BUY NOW

5. Captain Obama

This is probably our favorite of the all the tees we found while doing research for this article. Designed by AJ Dimarucot for Thriving Ink, it’s just one of the different shirts created for their Hope is Dope line of shirts. Part of the proceeds for sales of the shirts will go to charity. $21.95 BUY NOW

So there you have it, our wrap-up of our favorite obama shirts out there right now.

This post was so popular, we had to do a second one! Check out Part 2 for 5 more really great tees.