The Graphic Tee- It's Doe, Dear

Now that Doe has gotten more and more popular, this page will continuously be updated whenever I find a new vendor.

The graphic tee is prevalent in everyone's closet. It's common, it's everywhere. When you just want to haphazardly put on a top, you reach for the Graphic Tee. It's just that there are loads and loads and loads of Graphic Tees out there. And it figures, since a Graphic Tee is just a plain t-shirt with some sort of graphic on it. So how do you pick the perfect graphic tees amongst the millions of graphic tees in stores? What makes a Graphic Tee truly special that you'll pick it out amongst those millions of other tees? What makes a shirt so special that you'll keep coming back to the same brand to purchase another one?

A special or resonating graphic, of course. Along with the fit and the quality.

There are those tees at Abercrombie and Aeropostale- some measly (or sometimes in Abercrombie's case- racy/insulting) picture with a boring logo, and then there's the rest of the tees that exist that... have a design similar to those. Last year, just when I was becoming tired of every ho-hum graphic tee out there, I stumbled across Doe. At the time it was referred to more under the name of "Mighty Fine" and came within the vessel of Hello Kitty T-shirts as it was written on the tags- "Used Under License of Mighty Fine".

This led me to delve into who the heck it was who came up with these adorable Hello Kitty t-shirts and slogans- and consequently, exactly who "Mighty Fine" was. It also came under other aliases and progressed under names like "Mighty Fine by Doe", "Doe Designs", and then simply, "Doe". Later on it had Alice in Wonderland tees and popped up in places under the name Bambi Couture, then after that success, expanding into Disney Couture- featuring iconic Disney characters. I like to say I have stayed with this line since the beginning.




I fell even more in love with Doe last fall after I saw their line of Dr. Suess t-shirts at Loehmann's for about 13-15 bucks a pop- my first real-life encounter with the shirts that were not like the clean cut and crisp shirts sold at the Hello Kitty stores. It was then that the feel of the materials, the vintage washes, and the graphics completely seduced me. It was then that (for me) Doe reinvented and rejuvenated the graphic tee, breathing new life and meaning into it.

The Doe website (www.doeworld.com) says this:

"Doe is a collaboration of our own art and favorite icons. Each Doe garment is made with love and innovative washes and processes. We search the globe and use our own in-house product development team, located in Los Angeles, to deliver a truly superior product that is much more than a t-shirt rather a continuous documentation of popular culture.

For each Doe collection, famous icons and brands are included among the original Doe artwork but redrawn to fit within a theme. Local & international artists create the original Doe artwork, which gives each collection a unique flavor & twist. The end result is a fashion forward graphic knit top collection combined with our favorite icons & brands, re-interpreted to a new generation of electro-punk hipsters fashion savvy women who demand the most current styling, fabrics & treatments.

The brand was born in the mid 90’s out of pure frustration at just how screwed up the American rag trade had become. Other apparel companies were producing ill-fitting, cardboard constructed garments. American youth were buying these t-shirts like robots but Mighty Fine were sure they could rescue the youth of America from these apathetic garments called fashion and appeal to a much more mature & savvy market."

Doe shirts are pure fun. They're like the counter at an ice cream shop- so many different flavors (designs) that you're bound to find ones you adore (including non-sanrio and disney stuff). A Doe tee isn't like any other Graphic Tee- you can tug it on, and not only feel comfortable, but look fashionable. Personally, I have 6 Doe tees.

My most recent Doe Tee:




Now, I have researched a whole lotta places to find these DOE tees. Offline, I've seen them at college campus stores (UCLA gift shop), Loehmann's, Burlington Coat Factory, Hot Topic (though goth and punk Hello Kitty scare me), Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, JC Penney, Sears, Macy's and Delia's. Speaking of Delia's- nevermind if you think it's a young teen sort of place- they have the absolute best selection of Graphic Tees (not just Doe) anywhere.

Online Stores:
Revolve Clothing, Delias, Hot Topic, Plasticland Clothing, Planet Funk, Lisa Kline, 80s Purple (items located under Disney Couture, DOE, Mighty Fine, and Hello Kitty), Bazaaradriatic, Kera's Boutique, Pop Collective, Lindsay Lou, Babygirl Boutique, Tons Of T-shirts (type in "Doe" in the searchbox), Wicked Cool Stuff (type in "Doe" in the searchbox), Ron Herman, Buckle (type in Doe and Disney), Shop Intuition, Madam Soho UK, Europe Moda UK, Disney Shopping

80s Purple

Upper Left, Clockwise: Kera's Boutique, Tons Of T-shirts, Kera's Boutique, Tons of T-shirts


Delias




Other Tees at Delia's (not Doe)




Ron Herman $35



Lisa Kline href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/647/2362/1600/G31263MPOOH_DIRTYWHITE.3.jpg">

Another T-shirt line I've come to like is called Heavy Rotation (thanks Iz)- and I just found out it actually sells at Delia's too which really shouldn't come as any surprise to me.

www.heavytees.com

I love these because of their beautiful illustrations:





And that concludes my Graphic Tee piece. Nope, no lectures today on animal welfare. Just take a few minutes to check out the links on the left.