GRAPHIC TEES Compendium
Various Clients
DAVE PARMLEY / KUSTOM KULT STUDIO
The Perfect Storm
Great apparel graphics are so crucial in any industry where brand loyalty is demonstrated by devout followers who "represent" their favorite brand logos, product logos, team rider and event identities or any variation and mutation thereof. As a T-shirt screen print, a garment label, or an ink/embroidery/applique on fabric, the need to "feed the machine" with the insatiable appetite lives on!
Designing for apparel can be an art in itself. Most people don't realize the amount of effort & skill that is required to make a single successful graphic T-shirt for retail. A very talented and good friend Yvette @ ELEMENT put it best when she described a successful apparel graphic as the "Perfect Storm." So many variables can make even a great design die in apparel sales, and a mediocre design sell surprisingly well.
Anatomy Of The Storm
Great apparel graphics are so crucial in any industry where brand loyalty is demonstrated by devout followers who "represent" their favorite brand logos, product logos, team rider and event identities or any variation and mutation thereof. As a T-shirt screen print, a garment label, or an ink/embroidery/applique on fabric, the need to "feed the machine" with the insatiable appetite lives on!
Designing for apparel can be an art in itself. Most people don't realize the amount of effort & skill that is required to make a single successful graphic T-shirt for retail. A very talented and good friend Yvette @ ELEMENT put it best when she described a successful apparel graphic as the "Perfect Storm." So many variables can make even a great design die in apparel sales, and a mediocre design sell surprisingly well.
Anatomy Of The Storm
Example: A simple graphic T: What silhouette (your customer knows what they want- do you?,) what fabric, what fabric colors, what fabric treatment, what sizing, what kind of printing process (which affects what fabric used,) what color ink or combination of inks work on what colors of fabric, what is the design trend, what design works in what collection, what size is the design- is it contained or does it bleed off the garment, where is the design placed on the garment, front or back of shirt- or both, additional sleeve prints, and now how does ALL of this fit into your shirt being the right price point? And then sometimes a T with little or no external branding at all can be the trend for a seasonal hero!
Not so simple, was it?
Not so simple, was it?
Storm Watch
Having spent years in heavy combat as Creative Director for O'NEILL Wetsuits and Sportswear in Santa Cruz, CA, I have both designed and art directed a plethora of apparel graphics at the Big O' alone. Since then the demand for our hand drawn apparel graphics while at 13THFLOOR and now KUSTOM KULT STUDIO either as a part of the bigger project or even a project in and of itself is ongoing.
Having spent years in heavy combat as Creative Director for O'NEILL Wetsuits and Sportswear in Santa Cruz, CA, I have both designed and art directed a plethora of apparel graphics at the Big O' alone. Since then the demand for our hand drawn apparel graphics while at 13THFLOOR and now KUSTOM KULT STUDIO either as a part of the bigger project or even a project in and of itself is ongoing.
I qualify my apparel graphics as being something I'd want to wear myself. It's gotta be right. Whatever part of the "Perfect Storm" I can muster for my client, I will.
Brand Relevant Art
Brand Relevant Art
Here are some select examples of successful apparel graphics for a variety of my favorite clients and a range of designs, from focused seasonal themes, brand mark executions and even seemingly random yet always brand relevant art.
Almost every single design shown here began as hand-drawn art. As in "Kustom..."
