"What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been"

So yeah. A year. Actually, over a year. Since I last put anything on this web site, that is. Well, I could give you a song and dance about why Zero Boutique has been in limbo for such a long time, but the long and the short of it is this: I basically lost interest in running a t-shirt company. Pretty much. Oh, I didn't lose interest in printing or designing or working with amazing talented artists or screen printing, I didn't stop having more ideas than I knew what to do with, I didn't even stop liking t-shirts (in fact I'm still quite fond of them). I did, however, lose interest in being one of thousands of t-shirt companies out there all basically doing the exact same thing, in a kind of race to the bottom. I was feeling lost in a sea of sameness, and I knew Zero Boutique didn't fit into that world, and that it was destined for more than that.

The answer, I decided a couple of years ago, was to actually move in the direction of following an even older dream, a dream I had abandoned in my younger years as impractical: that of making my own clothing. But not just a bit of cut and sew. I really wanted to do it with much bigger prints, using lots of different, softer inks and techniques than I was used to. Once I got my print shop moved out into my garage last year, I started slowly moving in that direction. It took a long time to build up some new skills and acquire the different machinery and materials I would need in order to do the things I wanted to do, and that's still an ongoing (probably endless) process. But I feel like I've finally reached the first of hopefully many more stages towards bringing the clothing I see in my mind to life. And that's exciting.

These 21 shirts I have posted today represent the first results of these early experiments. I hope you like them as much as I do. Not only are the styles new, much of the art is new as well. There's a new piece from our old friend James Kirkpatrick (Thesis). 2 new amazing pieces from a French artist named Vallois Loic. Tons of eye candy from resident screwball Thom Phoenix. A classic collage piece by Steven Charles Schmidt. And a lot more! I'm also very excited because with these new shirts I have implemented another old dream: the individual numbering of each and every shirt, with permanent serial codes printed under the collar on the inside. Each Zero Boutique shirt will henceforth be much like a numbered print, with its production information traceable online.*

So it might be hard to tell, but I'm pretty amped up right about now. This is the beginning of a new day for Zero Boutique. There are already many more shirts where these came from, and I will be posting more in the days and weeks ahead. I would like to acknowledge Mary Hoopey, the seamstress who put these shirts together for me, for her amazing talent and skill. She is incredible and I hope to work with her for many years to come.

For now, please enjoy the show. I will post some pics soon. Cheerio!

*not live yet, but will be soon