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Discussion of the Mopez
Corp. T-shirt Design Process - An
Interview with David Lu. |
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What was your reason for going into t-shirt design? One cynic once said "Its a terrible market out there, everyone's wearing t-shirts!" Another, more optimistic bloke said "Its a wonderful market out there, everyone's wearing t-shirts!" And thats really how we've approached it. Only eskimos don't wear t-shirts. We do this because we love it. T-shirts are just the start though, next are sweaters, caps, shoes, hoodies, boardies and even your grandma's mumu! No-one is safe!  What do you think is the appeal of the t-shirt to the designer? Most designers I know wear t-shirts more than suits. And as one design site put it, "everyday can be a weekend" (when you're in your favourite tee). Its universal it really is. Who doesn't own a t-shirt? Its also undoubtedly a backlash against the big labels. People are not content to pay for mass-produced, off-the-shelf anymore. I see the whole world as gradually becoming very anti-label, anti-consumerism, self-deprecating and turning more towards individual styles and ideals. Some big brands have recognised this, and "got" it. Like Diesel, Mooks and Stussy for instance. In my opinion, these guys seem to have kept their nice design, and avoided contrived looks and the constant chase for the "current" trend. They're still "manufactured" their look is still tailored to meet commercial constraints first and foremost, but they thats reality. The big brands will never die, but they've just had to slightly edge over in to appease the little guys.  Why do you think it has become so popular in the industry? It really has hasn't. It seems like every link you see these days shows some vectored, muscle-car drivin, afro-wearin dude on a teeshirt. And sure, like any aspect of 'the design community' a lot of it is fame whoring, or "me-too" designing, but its great to see! And people are doing it because they can. Simple as that. Almost anybody has the tools they need to start creating t-shirts. If you've got a copy of Illustrator of Freehand, then you're set! Even if not, if you've got a plain t-shirt and some paint, you're on your way. Do you see the t-shirt as a walking billboard or blank canvas? Its all that and more. We got into this after realising that we can not only CONSUME fashion and clothing, but also CREATE it. Thats the power a tee designer has. It is a blank canvas to begin with, but once you've created it, it becomes a product. But a product in the creative, DIY hands-on sense, not in the capitalistic marketing sense. And thats great, 'cos we're sick of purchasing products for other people's benefit.  Do you have a philosophy behind your t-shirts? (or what do you hope to achieve) We like to take the piss out of ourselves, and not take it all too seriously. We're not sewing people's limbs back on here! We don't see ourselves as bein in the fashion industry but more the design industry. We know we're not the only designers out there printing t-shirts but we hope we can add a bit of originality and fun to that. That being said, we pride ourselves on extremely fine quality products and making our customers very happy. We hope to launch officially towards the end of this year, and get picked up by a few bigger Australian stockists like General Pants and Glue. We're going to be satisfied when one of us is down the local bar, and we see somebody wearing one of our t-shirts. Even better if that somebody is a cute chick and looking our way. If that doesn't hook us in then nothing will. We also are soon to launch a Design Contest across the design community promoting some local illustrators and supported through the wonderful aussie portals like DiK and INFront. What methods do you use to apply your designs? We went down to our local materials and fabrics store, had a good perve on all the yummy mummies and then bought some fabric paint and application brushes and thats how we first got started. We of course progressed to becoming friendly with the local screenprinting store and making them look sweet. Do you do any other design work besides t-shirts? We are into the corporate whore web design scene, selling our souls to the man and all that. But we always crave our spare time work which involves a lot of club flyers, vinyl covers, sketching and other fashion related material such as skate shoes and caps. As long as we're designing, we're having fun! For more info regarding the label, check out Mopez Corp. |
