Design Federation

Shirty07 was an exciting and enjoyable experience for most (maybe not for certain grumpy journalists) and definitely for Glen Martin of Plain Clothing who came away with the first prize for the one off competition on the night.

What is your name and label and where are you located?
Glen Martin, and my little label is “Plain Clothing.” Living and growing around Newtown soon to consume the planet…….hopefully.

What do you like most about designing for tshirts?
The freedom that you can design anything that pops into your head, and no matter how crappy you think it looks some one will love it (I’ve found). Just the fact that people are willing to pay money for an artwork you’ve created is pretty special.

Do you have many tshirts yourself and favourites you like to wear for special occasions?
I have a large collection of hats, helmets and random millitary jackets but strangly enough I never get too connected to my shirts. I’ve kept the first one I ever made and that’s about it. I think that’s why i keep making more, because my shirt lust is never satisfied.

Who’s tshirt work do you relate to most? Who inspires you?
I don’t really have a favorite shirt designer. That’s why I started, because I couldn’t find or afford any shirt that I liked. Though I do have a building vinyl figure collection, and Jeff Soto and Shepard Farly are my favorite artists. They kind of reflect in some of my stuff I guess.

Have you done any T-shirt Collabs yet, and if not would you like to?
Not really but a collaboration would be awesome, design is such a personal thing but teaming up with some one would be an awesome challenge. I would definatly be down for something a little out of the box. So yeah any one interested send me an email.

How do you think/want other people to respond to your shirt designs?
People are buying my shirts, which means they like them and they are funding me to make more. I obviously enjoy that response. I have two favorite responses; when I see people looking at my shirts on the rack and smiling when they get the stupid joke built into the shirt, or when me and my little spys see people we don’t know wearing my shirts around town and it’s just cool that something I designed is cool enough for some one to walk around with.

How did you create your one off tshirt for the shirty competition?
I used a pattern I designed for the lining of some hoddies which I made for my friends and I. I repeated it about 4 times moving the pattern slightly each time I printed it. Being able to print my own shirts was definately an advantage in this comp, and after trying to make a few messy shirts this one came out the best. I had no idea it would even get any where though I assumed when I got told to make sure I was at the awards ceremony that after third place was announced I was going to get an “encouragement” award and be handed a wooden spoon and a free Sunday voucher for macca’s. Instead I now have a 2 foot giant golden trophy and a killer picture for my potfolio.

What was your overall opinion on shirty and how was it winning the first prize?
Winnning was awesome. I’ve entered a few design comps and never gotten any where, so to win this was mind blowing. (The reason I probably looked like Tom Hanks out of the first scene in Saving Private Ryan when I got up on stage and collected my award.) The prizes were amazing I’ve spent many hours playing with my new tablet with my new installments to my DVD collection booming in the background and wearing my bunch of new T’s. Shirty was amazing, a big congrats to the girls for pulling of an amazing first time event. The whole time I was in the place I was pushing past eager consumers looking through some amazing T-shirts. I even bought one, a thirteen armys skull shirt ’tis so frigging sweet. It really gave the public a chance to see some amazing designs that they wouldn’t normally have seen, and gave me a chance to check out the competition. I’m scared how much I have to pick up my game now.

If someone wanted to purchase one of your designs where can they find them?
I mainly sell through Frolic (located on King st) aswel as Pidgeon Grounds. Sadly my attempts to get Plain online have met some budget restraints, though you can contact me through the Plain Clothing myspace: www.myspace.com/plainclothingdesigns and my email plainclothing@gmail.com to get the exact size and print you like. Oh and if you ask super nicely you can even get a custom seeing as I make them all myself.

Can you let us in on any trade secrets?
Learn a vector program, play with photoshop, play around with learning some screen printing and do what you like. Half the sales you make are from people who are sick of ‘california Unversity motor bike club for athletes’ T-shirts with ‘Japan 69′ printed on the back for no reason, designed by some IQ of a five year old graphic designer who probably has never even been to California, Japan or a 69.
Shirty08 is only a year away so get cracking.

Related Links

Plain Clothing on MySpace

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Tags: glen martin, Interviews, newtown, plain clothing, shirty07, tshirts