New Jersey, also known as the Garden State, for some odd reason, gets a bad wrap in pop culture. There’s always those jokes about Jersey Girls being trash, dirty beaches, and New Jersey being the “armpit of the U.S.A.” Now some of those jokes are pretty funny, and even us Jerseyites say them, but it’s a little annoying to have our state laughed at all the time. New Jersey is a great state that’s home to the Statue of Liberty (which is in technically in Jersey City waters, but is claimed by New York) and sports teams, New York Giants, New York Jets, and New York Red Bulls (all in East Rutherford, NJ). With the New Jersey Nets possibly moving to Brooklyn, NY, Jersey at least has the New Jersey Devils as a team to actually really call it’s own (but who watches hockey?). Also, New Jersey has these awesome t-shirt brands to call it’s own.
T-Shirt Magazine
Brothers Moustapha and AJ Camara, from Jersey City, NJ, founded T-Shirt Magazine back in March 2008, with the goal of creating a cool online magazine about…t-shirts. Published weekly as a free online magazine, T-Shirt Magazine features indie t-shirt labels and some of the top labels in the industry. T-Mag is also comprised of a social network for t-shirt fans and collectors as well as designers and entrepreneurs. Simply put, T-Shirt Magazine is the e-zine for t-shirt junkies everywhere and serves as a source for collectors and creators.
Award Tour
The Award Tour is a streetwear brand that represents “success in it’s simplest form” according to founder, Philip Annand. Their t-shirt designs are mainly text based and some of the designs use vibrant neon-ish colors. The Award Tour crew looks like a fun bunch of characters who live life to the fullest (as can be seen in their Youtube videos, like this one where their taking a road trip to Antilogy Design).
Burn Tees was the second brand to have a feature interview on T-Shirt Magazine and one of the earliest supporters. Matthew of Burn Tees used to give us some tips on our online site, back when we were selling tees on Cafepress (thanks, Matt!). Burn Tees sells funny t-shirts, with a section in their shop dedicated to “Dirty Jersey” as well.
PleaseDressMe
PleaseDressMe is a t-shirt search engine that’s dedicated to helping people find cool t-shirts. AJ Vaynerchuck, Chris Henslin, and internet superstars Gary Vaynerchuk and Joe Stump, teamed up to create PleaeDressMe in summer of 2008. You can search by color, price, and tag on PleaeDressMe to make for easier search.
Universitee Apparel
Universitee Apparel was founded in summer of 2007, by siblings Rachael and Taylor Smith in an effort to drastically change the college apparel industry. The Smiths are looking to stop the boring college look and create clothing that college students would love to wear while still representing their school. They’re tees are currently sold in just a couple of college bookstores such as Rutgers’, but expect to see their tees in a college near you (or your college).
Killbrand Apparel
“Killbrand apparel is a company that seeks to provide a unified creative response to a new generation who let their passions determine the way they live their lives.“ Pop punk drummer Jonathan Smith, started Killbrand in 2000, while on tour with Tokyo Rose. Today, Killbrand continues to create handrawn t-shirt designs, which can be found in Tilly’s, Virgin Megastore, and select boutiques across the U.S. and Europe.
