...and to all a cheap t-shirt

happy quasi-religious festivities, world! we're entering a new year filled with a lot of uncertainty. the economy is in the toilet and the world continues to be even more unpredictable and unstable than ever.

but despite everything, there's a lot more hope around these days. people are trying to shed the bitterness and cynicism of the first decade of this century, and to think of ways we can all work together to get through these tough times. it's not about "me" anymore, people. if we're going to survive, it has to start being about "us."

this was a tough year for me. i lost 2 people who were close to me and went through a lot of physical & financial torment. this was the year that i really made a big push to try and get zbq back on the map- i printed tons of t-shirts, gave the site a dramatic overhaul, invested in some advertising and generally tried to pimp it out as much as i could. but then in october, the financial system took a nose-dive, and it suddenly became ten times harder to separate anyone from their money for anything, let alone t-shirts. i find myself facing 2009 with an apartment full of shirts and an empty bank account.

and that's where you all come in. i need to move some of these shirts, and i'm hoping that this week you can help me, and get some dirt cheap clothing in the process. and so until january 1st, every single shirt on this site has been marked down to at least $12, and many shirts have been knocked down as low as $8. what's more, shipping is now free if you order 3 shirts or more. this sale will continue until midnight pacific time, january 1st. even the zip-ups and trackjackets (view here) have been reduced to only $28 each- a steal!

there have been a lot of frustrations this year, trying to get this thing rolling again. i've come to accept that the past is the past and maybe i'll never make a living off of this one enterprise again. and i'm ok with that. it certainly doesn't mean i'm going to stop. i already tried that, remember? i could no more stop printing t-shirts than i could breathing. and i've got a lot of big things up my sleeve for the ol' q- lots of new designs, clothes, hopefully a physical store at some point. but i'm not going to try and make this the be-all and end-all of my existence any longer. i've got to diversify if i'm going to survive. in a way, it's better that way- with less pressure to sell a zillion tees just to pay the bills, maybe i can just do it because i enjoy doing it. of course, that's how it's always been- the stress wouldn't be worth it if i didn't get such a kick out of the whole thing. but doing it 24/7 makes me mental. maybe there is some wisdom to the old adage that if you love something, don't make it your profession- make it your hobby.

my sincere wish for everyone reading this blog, or for anyone else out there for that matter, is that you find your true path in this life, the reason you were put on this earth. that's all any of us are looking for. have a great new year.




p.s. just like to thank a few blogs for recent zbq posts :t-shirts around the internet, iloveyourtshirt.com and color overload. peace n' luv.

track jackets and zip-ups and rock banners, oh my

when i say i`m going to do something, i usually wind up doing it. sometimes it takes me a while though. people have been telling me to print more track jackets and zip-up hoodies for years now, and i always say the same thing: "yeah, i`m going to do that soon. real soon."
well, soon is now kids, and i hope that it's also permanent. i made up a few zips and tracks last week, and i think they look pretty good.









the track jackets, of course, are made by our good friends at american apparel, while the rugged zips are alstyle, who make excellent hoodies (double layered hood, super thick fleece, metal grommets for the hood string). i am hoping to print more in the near future, but stock is limited and what is up now will be all that's available before our christmas shipping deadline on december 15th.

i'm also happy to announce that the first batch of zbq rock banners has been created and posted! these banners are hand screened on 100% cloth and feature robin antiga's iconic 1984. the banners are hemmed along the edges to prevent fraying and the like. anyway it was a lot of fun making these, i'm really getting into bigger and bigger prints so i hope to do more intricate banners in the future. but for now i hope you like these.....







so yeah, we did a contest a couple of weeks ago, and actually got quite a few entries. alex chittock, morgan gibson and christopher wilson each picked up a free tee of their choice just for taking a few moments to drop me a line. and so how about another one? this is for anyone who's followed this site for more than 4 years, or just wants to take a wild guess. anyway, back in the dark ages we used to print all of our shirts using heat transfers. in 2003 we started selling screen printed shirts and in 2004 switched over completely, dropping the transfers. but when we did we kept 4 of the old designs. the first 2 people to name at least 1 of these will get themselves a free shirt. if you can name 3, you can have 2 shirts. and naming all 4 will get you 3 freakin' free shirts. i'll even give you a hint: one of the designs has quite a few different color variations, and is currently available in stock. send your answer to zero@zeroboutique.com and you could be on your way to free shirt xanadu. for fairness i'll ask that anyone who's won a contest with us for at least the last 6 months kindly abstain from entering (unless you're just trying to get brownie points).

more new LOVECATS art and pinup sets coming very soon.....as mentioned, CHRISTMAS SHIPPING DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15TH....here in canada, sales of prorogies have skyrocketed......undies are still on the way but will definitely be after the new year.......

***wipes sweaty brow and heaves a sigh of relief**

ok, so about 14 hours later i finally figured out the problem. if you have any familiarity with php, you'll probably empathize with me: it came down to forgetting one extra "equal" sign. for want of an equal sign did my kingdom almost fall!!!
so yeah, we're back up, the store works and if you're smart you'll check out the 11998844 track jackets and zip-ups before i even get a chance to make an official post about them later this afternoon....
there is a gawd and s/he is indeed merciful! praise allah jeebus. talk to you soon.

technical ecstasy

so i'm working away on my site today, and everything's going hunky-dory, when suddenly things just start going wrong with my database. the store, at the moment, doesn't appear to be working. there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it- i didn't change anything, but for some reason it's having a hard time making one particular connection to the database. for a while it worked again tonight, and now it appears to have decided not to co-operate any longer. so i'm hoping maybe my host is just tinkering with the SQL a bit and things will settle back down to normal tomorrow. but i'm kind of worried because this site still runs on PHP4 and i know my host is trying to move everything to 5. anyway, if anyone out there knows anything about this stuff and they want a free t-shirt for helping me, you're welcome to try: write me at snuzbq@gmail.com.
in other, better and cooler news, i have at long last posted the new zbq rock banners, and they're shmokin'. i also printed a bunch of nifty 11998844 track jackets and zip-up hoodies, and i just posted them today. for some strange stupid reason, the shopping cart links still appear to work on that page- i don't understand it at all. but if you fancy one of those, it should work. (update- only the track jackets seem to work now. for no apparent reason)

hope to have this whole mess straightened away by tomorrow at the latest. sorry for any incon.