I have a favourite new t-shirt store and its the thoroughly excellent Headline Shirts. I’ve only just discovered them and their provocative range of current news story inspired satire. I took some time to talk with Headlines Jake Ginsky about the brand and the recently relaunched site.

“Headlines were founded in 2004 and based in San Francisco. the brand is not afraid to take sides or stir controversy. Its satirical designs take aim at politically sensitive issues such as foreign attitudes towards the U.S., racial inequality”

I bet the designs are real conversation starters. I found it really hard to pick just a few favourites, but here goes:

Noahs Dilemma

Sciences whipping boy, Creationism. The butt of so many jokes I like that in this tee the joke is more subtle. Each Tee has an accompanying news story or background information about the design. Excerpt from this one’s is
“Dinosaurs - or ‘Creation Lizards’ as they will henceforth be known - did not predate humans by some 200 million years. Rather, they walked with Adam and Eve and may have even had a hand in the Jesus’ crucifixion.” Brilliant!

Read the full post which has the interview and other designs from the collection.

US Media Monkey

Any t-shirt that involves chimps I’ll always have an affinity for. Combining that with a dig at the USA’s world renowned unbiased media coverage is a masterstroke.

“So as you certify your patriotism by wallowing in blissful, muted ignorance, do it in style. This all-American top features our friendly media monkey and closed captioning for the truth-impaired.”

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The CEO

I spend most of days dreaming about running Fletchycorp my future evil multinational corporation. For that reason this tee really strikes a cord with me. Its all there apart from the cooked books and third world exploitation.

Excerpt from the blurb

“Lest you should ever feel even a tinge of guilt, remember the words of Gekko: “Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works. If you need a friend, get a dog. ”

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Interview with Jake from Headlines

What gave you the idea for Headline Shirts?
The company — or what would become the company — was founded by Chris Gorog while he was studying at Stanford Business School. He was on the beach in Venezuela and saw kids spray painting “DIESEL” t-shirts, and thought, “that looks fun!” The original idea was to pitch DIESEL to do ads using knock off shirts, that didn’t really get anywhere. But he stuck with the t-shirt/fashion concept and came up with the idea to do provocative shirts based on themes in the news.

There are a huge number of online t-shirt sites on the net these days, what do you think Headline Shirts has to offer over its rivals?
Basically a better shirt all the way around. A lot of what you find on the Web — particularly with Web-only brands — is a really cheap product. You’re basically talking about shirts that are made with the cheapest materials possible and plastisol inks that sit heavy on the fabric. And who knows what sweatshop it came from. In contrast, we go all-out in every step of the design and production process. Our shirts are made with the softest cotton, produced with sweat-free labor in the USA. We print with custom, water-based inks, and each shirt is given a vintage softening wash. So you end up with basically the softest, most comfortable shirt possible. And from a design standpoint, I think our brand of social and political satire is a lot smarter than 99% of what you see out there.

Headlines Shirts are more expensive than other sites (Oddica, Threadless etc), how do you justify this difference in price?
For all the reasons I listed in the answer to the last question. Just try one of our shirts on, then try one of theirs on. You’ll have your answer.

I see that Virgin has recently stocked these, is that just in the USA or are they available in the UK as well?
Just the USA for now. I don’t believe we’re in any UK stores at the moment, but we do ship internationally so people can purchase online at headlineshirts.net.

What are the future plans for Headline Shirts?
To keep making cool shirts. Because our line is based on what’s going on in the world, there’s never a shortage of ideas. We release new designs more frequently than a lot of brands, which I think stores and consumers alike tend to appreciate. Also, we’re going to continue to explore funny and innovative ways to use our website. Part of what we’d like to do is “hold a mirror” to some of the more ridiculous elements of the fashion industry — whether that be the “kiddie porn” American Apparel ads or the fact that you can’t walk into a boutique in the states without seeing 400 schmaltzy bird-themed t-shirts.

I should also mention that we also launched a separate line last February called REVL, which is our high-end line of nightlife-inspired apparel. Unlike Headline Shirts, REVL is nonpolitical, focusing instead on cool and innovative design and production. The current season of REVL features an international “metro” theme, with shirt designs inspired by metro stations from some of the best party cities in the world. (REVL is not available online — only in boutiques and stores.)

Do you have any current promotions or discount codes for HipHip readers

We don’t have sales or discounts. We feel our products are a good value on their own (you get what you pay for!)

How much is international shipping and how much does it increase per tee?

International shipping varies by location. We generally ship with USPS, which has reasonable rates. The best way to get value on shipping is order more than one shirt, the first shirt costs more and after that it only goes up by a dollar or two (US).