Deal With It T-Shirt

ディールウィズイットTシャツ

I was confused as to why speaking out on racism was considered being racist but then I noticed that brands like Barbie, Lucasfilm, Airbnb, Marques Brownlee etc who are also using their platform to speak out have also been getting the same flak from people asking them to "stay out of politics" - apparently we should keep quiet and leave issues in the hands of others to solve - oh wait - apparently there is no issue....

You see, money is not the name of the game in Smart Doll Land - if it was then I would only make stuff that the consumer wants, let them hurl abuse at my employees (and work them to death) and keep quiet about issues that I care about. Instead, I choose to make stuff that I like (regardless of whether anybody wants it or not) and express my interpretation of issues that I care about (racism) though my product design and platform.

But this is the way it's always been with Smart Doll but what I'm discovering is that some people have been wanting to distance themselves and not have anything to do with what's going on - they feel they can't do this if the products they own are made by a brand that speaks out on issues that they don't care about and thus cry out "I'm done with your products!" where my response is as the Beauty and the Beast song goes - Be (clap) My (clap) Guest (clap).

I will continue to use Smart Doll for what it was intended - to enable me to express my ideas and speak out on issues that matter to me. For followers and customers who feel that I should keep quiet, "hire a PR company" to do my talking and just get on with making stuff they want - my condolences - this new T-shirt design is dedicated to you.

This T-shirt is also for any creatives out there who will no doubt eventually get a mob of trolls following. Troll count is actually not only a measure of how well you are doing, but also a trial to see if you easily throw in the towel. "Deal with it" is the last thing a troll would expect you to say and keeping hold on to your towel is something that they really don't want you to do. So, what's it gonna be?

I was confused as to why speaking out on racism was considered being racist but then I noticed that brands like Barbie, Lucasfilm, Airbnb, Marques Brownlee etc who are also using their platform to speak out have also been getting the same flak from people asking them to "stay out of politics" - apparently we should keep quiet and leave issues in the hands of others to solve - oh wait - apparently there is no issue....

You see, money is not the name of the game in Smart Doll Land - if it was then I would only make stuff that the consumer wants, let them hurl abuse at my employees (and work them to death) and keep quiet about issues that I care about. Instead, I choose to make stuff that I like (regardless of whether anybody wants it or not) and express my interpretation of issues that I care about (racism) though my product design and platform.

But this is the way it's always been with Smart Doll but what I'm discovering is that some people have been wanting to distance themselves and not have anything to do with what's going on - they feel they can't do this if the products they own are made by a brand that speaks out on issues that they don't care about and thus cry out "I'm done with your products!" where my response is as the Beauty and the Beast song goes - Be (clap) My (clap) Guest (clap).

I will continue to use Smart Doll for what it was intended - to enable me to express my ideas and speak out on issues that matter to me. For followers and customers who feel that I should keep quiet, "hire a PR company" to do my talking and just get on with making stuff they want - my condolences - this new T-shirt design is dedicated to you.

This T-shirt is also for any creatives out there who will no doubt eventually get a mob of trolls following. Troll count is actually not only a measure of how well you are doing, but also a trial to see if you easily throw in the towel. "Deal with it" is the last thing a troll would expect you to say and keeping hold on to your towel is something that they really don't want you to do. So, what's it gonna be?

Things to note about printed tees

T-shirts are made in Kyushu and printed in Tokyo on a Roland Versa UV printer. Printing on fabric is challenging to get the graphic as close as possible in the center as fabric loves to wiggle around - you can almost hear the tee shouting "don't print on meee!"

The last time we did a print run, 52 out of 200 tees were unusable because they looked like Back To The Future logos with a huge skew upwards!

So for some of the tees, the graphic may not be dead center but once you put the tee on your Smart Doll, you can twist the fabric slightly and it will look kushty.

Tees that can't be remedied with a bit of a twist end up going in the outlet or to staff members.

Over time, the graphic will start to look used and faded. If you wash the tee (not recommended) then the graphic will look even more faded - which is great if that is the look you are going for.

About pigment dyes

This item is pigment dyed. A pigment dyed garment is not actually dyed but instead finely ground pigments in the form of powder are attached to the surface of the fabric using a binder. The pigment doesn’t saturate the fabric and some of it falls off which gives the fabric a vintage look and feel. The tee will have dark and light patches of non uniform color by design.

We call the color of this tee "Ice Blue Gray" and is made of the same fabric as our used tees. While I liked the previous fabric used for printed tees, after a while I felt they were a bit too loose fitting and plain so decided to give them the pigment dye treatment. The color is not as dark as the other pigment dyed tees and thus I'm giving this a "low" stain rating.