When I met Katie, the owner of the beautiful Solid Gold boutique in Austin, Texas, I mentioned I did custom design & she asked about a tee for her shop. I was on board immediately.
When I'm designing for a band or a brand, I spend a good amount of time thinking about the feel of what they're putting out. If it's a band, I'll listen to their latest album over & over. In this case, I'd been to Katie's shop a few times and had taken in the overall feel of it and the items she carries. It's super stylish but not overly trendy, cutting edge but not avant garde, high-end but approachable.
I strive to design tees that people would want to wear regardless of whether they know or like the band or brand (yet).
Her customers are very stylish, and I pictured a tee that would look good alone or as a layering piece under jackets; as its own accessory or popping off with gold jewelry. Gold foil came to mind, as I had designed a Featherweight tee in gold foil in the past. I thought about what kind of tee a stylish girl with a big wardrobe would want, and I knew it could be nicer than your average tee but it would also have to be able to be styled with different looks. (Or LEWKS).
I made some custom tags for her with special washing instructions.
This design popped in to my head and I instantly knew I'd want to wear it. I wasn't sure how the gold foil would behave with thick lines though. Gold foil is a delicate specialty ink and it will decay fairly quickly. It's normally not used for large solid coverage, but why not try it? I mentioned to Katie that it was a bit risky because the gold will flake. She was on board with the ephemeral nature of it, making the astute point that it'll look even better as it breaks down (she's got great style). Katie wanted a muscle tee silhouette so we worked together to find the best option, and then she chose to go with black and white versions. The design will work well with any color, and is flexible enough to work on other products in the future (totes, long sleeved tees, etc.)
This tee feels premium and cool, and instantly makes me think of outfits I want to build around it. I'm excited to wear it. This was a fantastic collaboration & I'm so grateful to get to design with such creative, open-minded clients.
These tees will be available at Solid Gold (1601 E. 5th Street) in Austin soon & in the meantime I'll be wearing mine in California proudly.