This week at Relic

Urgh, my back is killing. After the arrival of the neck/hem labels on Monday, my house has pretty much been dominated by piles of shirts, labels, and cotton.

We support fair wages for our supply chain……..though technically I’m not getting paid for this.

For your neck

I have a very “give it a go” mentality, so when we were approached with the options of getting the labels sewn in or doing it ourselves, I naturally jumped at the chance to learn a new skill. However, after crouching over the old Bernina hour after hour, eyes weak from intricate unpicking, I’m having second thoughts.

…or your hem.

Still, it’s not so bad. It’s satisfying work…..it’s raining now anyway, so it’s not like I could be out climbing. Also, the upshot of this ‘ard work is that the shirts should be ready by the end of the week….providing there are no major incidents.

The fruits of my labour (my phone is colour blind)

In other news, efforts have been doubled to get the online store ready for take off, and as soon as I finish my sewing, I’m going to be heading out to get some new product and “lifestyle” shots of the shirts.

Stuff is coming together!

Werd,

Andy

 

Labels

Neck labels on the left, hem on the right

Yesterday I got a message from our friendly label supplier. The labels are ready and are whizzing their way to us as I type this. 

So, with a pinch of luck, we should be ready to ship out our first shirts NEXT WEEK! Sling it in your diary. You’ll be able to order yours from our Big Cartel store, which I’ll be sprucing up this afternoon.

 

Size?

As a predominantly mail-order company, very few of you folk will get the chance to try on our shirts before you buy. Luckily for you, I’m here to shed a bit of light on sizing and fit of our shirts.

Firstly, here is the size chart.

Not got a tape measure? One cubit (based on the length of an average forearm) is 45.72cm. The more we know!

This should give you a pretty good idea. Find a shirt from you’re collection with a good fit, measure it up, how does it compare?

Our shirts are a regular fit. This means that if you want fitted style, you’ll be better buying one size down. I, personally, wear a medium, but I could get away with a small (maybe not on cold days).

Read me here, read me there

Bloglovin, despite it’s dubious spelling, is a great way to follow ALL the blogs you like in one place.

“Can it really be that simple?” you cry, tears of joy soaking the keyboard.

YES! Yes it can!

Here is the link to our blog there, because you’ll definitely want to follow us…..right?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

THEY’RE HERE!

The shirts, that is. Unfortunately, I can’t sell them to you yet. We’re waiting on labels.

To keep you interested though, here are some seductive shots, from bizarre angles, to whhet your whhistles.

The birth of a thing…

…OK, so Relic was actually conceived a long time ago. I feel bad saying this, but it happened in a trendy coffee shop. Luckily for our baby, a certain Seattle based, caffeine merchants already had dibs on the name, so there was no danger of “Doing a Beckham”, and Doncaster Frenchgate doesn’t really have that snappy ring we were after. I was complaining about crappy t-shirts, meaningless logos/slogans, and the general state of the world. “Maybe we should do something about it?” we all chanted in unison, like the worst moment in the family film where the kids all rise up to take on “the man”, the sickly sweet lattes hot in our breath. Leaping from the sagging mass of the sofa, I stood, one foot on the coffee bean shaped table, and made a speech I don’t think any of us will forget…

The historical day, in the coffee shop (latte out of shot)

“The time is now, my brothers. Too long have these multinational conglomerates fed us by hand. We must bite the hand that feeds! Chain after chain of faceless, charmless brands, each more diluted than the last. Nursed by one giant, sickly sow, choking down the strawberries and lactating only bile from a blistered teat. A generation brought into this world to relish disposability. How can we justify the abuse of our own kind solely to produce £5 jackets and single-use chinos. I fear for the world of tomorrow!”

Well, at least it went something like that, there might have been some more about the pig, but I edited it for clarity.

So, here we are, several years later, on the cusp of hurling our creation at the world. It’s been a slow process, agonisingly slow in fact. People have moved away, friends have helped out, family have been kept in the dark to avoid confrontation over “funding”. Essentially, it’s come down to believing in our mission statement and keeping faith that “if we print it, they will support us”.

This was our first “design”, one day we might print it

“They”, by the way, are you. You lovely people, with your minds and eyes and ears and hands and feet, it’s more or less down to whether you deem our output worthy of your body, or not. We hope you like it, but unfortunately we can’t guarantee that. Firstly, none of our first run sport the words “Carpe Diem”, or any related modern vernacularism, however that doesn’t mean to say that we don’t agree with the idea, we’re just not mind achingly banal enough to print it on a shirt. We know that we stand for doing stuff, outdoors, for fun. Nothing will change that. Secondly, there is no way we can compete price-wise with your friendly local Primark. Our clothes are high quality, hand printed in Yorkshire and don’t soil the earth for their creation. We just can’t offer them at £3 each. HOWEVER, what we can offer is individuality, excellent after-sale care, and knowledge that you’re helping a local business do something they truly love.

We hope you like the shirts, we really do.

Werd,

Andy (co-founder/pencil operator)

tl:dr LOL!!1¬! BUY ARE SHERTS !!