sharpshirter.com

Christmas Shipping Deadline

2011-11-28T18:29:00.001-08:00

Christmas is fast approaching and here at Sharp Shirter HQ, we want to make sure that you receive your order in time before the holiday. If you are ordering with standard shipping, please make sure to place your order by Dec 18 to ensure that it arrives on time (anywhere in the US). For those willing to cut it close, please have your order in by Dec 21 for expedited shipping. We will do our best to get the order out to you ASAP as we like to have happy customers with violent tees!

iPhone 4 cases on the way

2011-11-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

So after all the voting, we decided on making Haymaker, Cycling Fish & Cardinal Warrior iPhone 4/4S cases. They're due to arrive in about 3 weeks. Plenty of time before Christmas shopping deadlines :)

Here's a sneak peak

Help us choose iPhone 4 Cases to print

2011-10-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here are 8 choices for the iPhone 4 cases we're making. Which are your favorites? Comment/email me @ dan@sharpshirter.com

Sharp Shirter Radio

2011-07-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

We just got hooked on this new music site http://turntable.fm/sharp_shirter

Check it outtttttt!

Sharp Shirter Summer

2011-07-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

This has by far been the busiest summer in Sharp Shirter history. We've been traveling up and down the East Coast doing festivals anywhere from DC up to Rochester NY. Thanks so much to all the people that came out to show their support and buy something violent from us. If you'd like us to do an event in your area feel free to hit us up if you think we'd be a good fit - dan@sharpshirter.com

-Dan

Sweet Tea Pumpkin Pie

2011-06-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

We just recovered from the Sweet Tea Pumpkin Pie festival that we sponsored outside the 9:30 club. We had a two day blast of good vibes and good music and we want to thank all of you that came through our booth on the way in. Here's us chillin' with Dave, the show organizer and the bouncer dude (from right to left). Photo by Eddie Diego.

What a violent group of t-shirts! What'll these kids think of next? A panda slapping a tourist?

A New Champion is Born!

2011-04-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

After a heated FB battle Rachel Kiserman's Dude in Subway submission clenched the victory as "The New Face of the Haymaker"

For victory celebration, Rachel has requested our Octohug t-shirt aka When Animals Attack Part 9

In other news, we received a late submission for the Haymaker contest coming from Chris Malmberg:

I got a feeling like this one might take the cake when we re-open votes for a new champion.

A Call to Arms

2011-04-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

With the Spring season underway, we're beginning to get booked up with show dates across the East Coast. This being the case, we're looking to hire part-time workers, especially in DC.

Here's what we're looking for:

1. Must have a car (I can fit the entire setup into my Honda Fit).

2. Must be available for weekend dates. Almost all of our shows happen on Saturday/Sunday

3. Prior retail experience is a plus. You will be dealing with real people...

4. Having an iPhone is a major plus (we can set you up to take credit cards on our plan)

If you're interested, please follow up with us: sharpshirter@gmail.com with the subject title "Hiring"

Haymaker Contest Update

2011-04-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Our reining champ of the "Face of Haymaker" contest is going to get dethroned on April 28 at the crack of midnight.

This guy

We have a number of contestants that are competing for your votes on our FB page. Here are the options

Haycaker

2011-03-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's pretty cool to get fan mail. Normally they are just nice words to make us feel better BUT TODAY WE GOT A PICTURE! Check out Jason's 30th Birthday cake.

Happy birthday Jason!

From your friends @ Sharp Shirter

Sharp Shirter Profile

2011-03-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Will and I spent some time doing an interview for American University's Cara Kelly. She just finished editing the footage, and here it is:

Hello Eastern Market!

2011-02-28T11:25:00.001-08:00

For the past two years we've been waiting for the opportunity to become weekly vendors at Eastern Market located in the heart of the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood in DC. Last week we were accepted, and I'm thrilled to now be a part of this amazing show! If you get the chance, swing by and say hi

We're open 9-4 Saturdays and Sundays

xoxox

-D

Colbert Report

2011-02-09T10:28:00.001-08:00

Last week I headed up to Brooklyn to visit Morgan Lappin, the creator of the Detectives t-shirt. His cousin happens to be the producer of the Colbert Report, and Morgan was kind enough to swing us some tix for the show. I wasn't expecting anything more than to be a fan in the audience, but since Morgan's family there, we got a tour of the entire studio. We swung by Colbert's actual office and I was pretty pumped to see his Lord of the Rings pinball machine.

I left a Haymaker for Colbert on the desk, so fingers crossed for seeing it on the show sometime.

Before the filming started, we got our 15 minutes of fame in the Colbert Throne. Here's me and Morgan doing our thing

The show was hilarious and it was pretty cool to know jokes that the rest of the world wouldn't be hearing for another 4 hours. I can't wait to head up there again for another screening.

We have been tattooed!

2011-01-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

Over two years ago we were contacted by a customer named Marco from Portugal. He wanted out Captain Octopus image sent to him so that he could tattoo it onto his arm. We thought he never got around to it, but we just got an email in from him today with this image.Awesome!! Now whenever I'm blue I can feel some comfort knowing that one of my images is forever tattooed to a customer.

Escaping Reality on my wall

2011-01-16T13:18:00.001-08:00

For my birthday, all I really wanted was to get Mathiole's Escaping Reality design up on my wall. My buddies @ Music Skins were kind enough to help me make it into a 5 foot vinyl sticker. Check this out

The original Natural Beauty Design

2011-01-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

It's always nice to look back on original designs and see how they changed over time. When Huebucket first showed me his Natural Beauty design it looked like this

My immediate reaction was that it could be simpler and more elegant if we toned it down to 1-color image. Then, my printers put in their two cents and suggested that we use metallic foil ink to give it a nice shimmer without looking tacky or cheap. I love how things turned out

You can grab it here

Women Can Punch Bears Too!

2011-01-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

After many request from our bear punchers-to-be, we proudly present you with the women's Haymaker Sea Blue Deep V neck printed on American Apparel 100% cotton.

A Little Something For the Big Guys...

2011-01-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Why do the big guys always have to pay more for their tees? In honor of XL men, we're knocking $10 off our signature Haymaker Tee.

Off to Africa!

2010-12-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you all know that it's been a great year here at Sharp Shirter, and we'll be spending the Christmas vacations in South Africa. I'll be checking my emails regularly and will be back on January 5th to start it all up again.

xoxo

-Dan

Richmond Handmade Holiday

2010-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the Richmond Handmade Holiday
@ Planet Zero. It was a really great show for such a rainy day. Here's a short vid of the layout

What we've been up to...

2010-12-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks at Sharp Shirter have been crazy busy and brutally cold. I was hoping for that Indian Summer thing to continue, but I guess that wasn't in the game plan upstairs. My mannequin Ralph received the brunt end of the blow so to speak. Here's a shot of his dying moments @ Eastern Market last weekend

That's a completely unstaged photo (I have John from Fuzy Ink as my witness)

Luckily, I was still able to keep up a bit of a social life in doors. After my show at the National Portrait Gallery I swung by my friend Fawna's exhibition at Maryland University. Here's her standing next to my favorite piece of hers

She's got a really awesome thing going with her screen prints. I really think she should start her own t-shirt company... You can check out all of her work here: fawnax

That's it for now. I'm staying in nice and warm packing up some last minute orders for Christmas

xoxo

-D

The Most Fearless Animal On The Planet

2010-12-03T20:38:00.001-08:00

I was just kicking back for the night, when I saw a message from my buddy 'Dre, the owner of On Us Tees. He challenged/threatened me to make a Honey Badger t-shirt (or else he would). I had never heard of the creature before, but it seems to be quite the character.

Check this video out:

The Origins of the T-shirt

2010-12-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I’ve been making t-shirts for the last 4 years, but today of all days it dawned on me, I know nothing about the history of the t-shirt. I’ve been using terms like American Apparel, tri-blend, 100% cotton and other industry jargon without ever stepping back and asking myself “What does it mean?” (Double Rainbow?)

Granted it might not be the most interesting topic, but if you’ve been doing something for a really long time and never wondered how it started, I suggest you take a moment to ponder.

I just finished doing some digging around and here are the cliff notes:

The t-shirt made its debut as an undergarment during the 1800s. During this period, minors cut what was originally a one-piece union suit into a 2-piece item. The top part (what we now call the tee), was tucked into the waist and could be conveniently removed in hot environments.

Some years later, the tee became popular as a slip on garment when the U.S. Navy issued their creation during the Spanish American War. These original tees were worn by Marines in tropical climates or down in submarines. Some have speculated that the Navy got this slip on tshirt idea from the dock crews and helping hands.

The name “T-shirt” came about due to the actual shape of the item. It’s popularity grew thanks to its easy fit, low maintenance cleaning and cheap cost. It became quite common to see young boys wearing them since they tended to get dirty on a regular basis. By the time of the Great Depression, the tee had become a regular trend and was regularly worn by ranchers and other blue collar workers.

It was only by the 1960s that the t-shirt became a medium for displaying artwork. One pioneer in this field was a psychedelic art poster designer named Warren Dayton. He became famous from his political protests shirts featuring Cesar Chavez and other iconic figures.

Today, the t-shirt is now worn as the only layer on the top half of the body. The tee is used as a medium to express oneself, advertise, or to just keep a low profile.

The Origins of the Haymaker

2010-11-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

When we first printed our bear punch t-shirt back in 2008, we had no idea of the epic following that it would gain. I remember receiving my first order of the Haymaker t-shirts in the mail and showing them to my friends and family. Everyone in my immediate circle thought that it was just your average bear punch t-shirt, but luckily they don’t make up my bear vs. lumberjack enthused customers.

Once the lumberjack punching bear t-shirt made its debut at a local craft show in DC, things started picking up. It’s been the leading item in my company for two years straight. One part of me feels like “Ok guys, I’ve got a lot of new stuff that doesn’t feature a dude punching a bear…” but the other part of me is like “Woohoo!”

So what does this bear punching tee mean? Some have speculated that the lumberjack character is Paul Bunyon, Chuck Norris or maybe someone they know like a grandfather, brother or boyfriend. Others notice the Russian script on the bear’s body and think that since it’s an American looking dude punching the bear, it represents the Cold War in a t-shirt image (American kicking Russia’s ass). Since we kept the facial details really abstract, there’s no straight answer to any of these questions…

My favorite moment with the haymaker t-shirt has to be when a guy named Voltaire Casino swung by my booth in Eastern Market rocking the haymaker hoodie. He asked me “Are you the bear punch dude?” and I answered yes. He then whipped out his iPhone and flipped to his photo section. He had over 100+ photos of friends and other random people that he met on his trip across America all wearing the bear punch hoodie. I was blown away and felt compelled to give away a free Haymaker iPhone case on the spot for such random dedication.

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me going through the week when I’m stuck in my man cave working on new designs to release. One of these designs happens to be a potential sequel to the man punching bear phenomenon. I can only hope for it to be 1/2 as good as the original...

If you don't know Bas Rutten...

2010-11-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was hanging out with my best buds Will & Ben watching some good ol’ UFC at the bar. While waiting around for the UCF 123 to kick off the topic of pre-UFC fighting came up. I’m definitely all caught up on my facts about modern day mixed martial arts, but I had only seen a couple of clips of the old school Japanese leagues. This is when Ben spoke two golden words: Bas Rutten.

He’s a Deutch Thai Boxing champion from the Pancrase league that was way before my time. You have to check out this Best of Bas youtube clip:

My initial reaction was that this stuff was as fake as WWF but after some heavy Wikipedia-ing I found out that it’s the real deal. The best sentence in the article has to be:

“During his MMA career he became known for two particular things: his fondness of liver shots and his habit of doing a jumping split after winning a fight."

Oh man, I’m so inspired to get another Haymaker epic t-shirt going…

Do you know the Jesus Lizard?

2010-11-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

My biggest inspiration for making new t-shirts has to be National Geographic. I love kicking back with a brew and letting my mind wander as I learn about new creatures and their strange abilities. I recently bumped into a lizard with the ability to run on water. Check this video out:

I don’t think I’ll be able to use it on a t-shirt since the religious theme would definitely mess with sales, but I’m really glad I found it nonetheless!

Struggling or Next Best Creation?

2010-11-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

Each week when I go shopping down Temptation Lane (aka the candy aisle), I like to play one of my favorite games “Struggling or Next Best Creation?”

The rules are pretty straightforward. A candy company releases a new product and I take on the self-appointed role as candy critique.

Take Reese’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup for example

You see, dark chocolate is much more of an adult choice, and combining it with rich creamy peanut butter is a winning recipe. I like the subtle remodeling of a household candy so I gotta give it a “Next Best Creation” status.

On the other hand, our good friends over @ Willy Wonka tried to drop Nerd’s Rope on us way back in the 00’s. I’m not quite sure why they decided to take us down a gummy path, which is totally out of their element, but it was one of the worst oral experiences that I can remember. Definitely a “Struggling” status on that one.

If you have any new candies for me to critique, drop me a comment and I’ll be sure to give it a go.

Trick Winter!!

2010-11-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but here in DC we've been blessed with an Indian Winter. With temperatures staying a lot warmer than last year, we'd like to continue the trend by offering 4 of our tees at $15 a piece through Friday.

We're also throwing our Cycling Fish Dress into the sale!

Hope to fill your closet soon.....

xoxo
-Dan
sharpshirter.com

Detectives Release

2010-11-15T14:55:00.001-08:00

We just got in our newest men’s t-shirt “Detectives” and it’s making a run for taking on our all-time best seller “The Haymaker.”

The Detectives tee was created by Morgan Lappin, a crazy-cool dude hailing from Brooklyn NY. I’ve spent a couple of nights crashing on his couch, and let me tell you, this guy is never at a lost for inspiration. His speciality is taking different pieces of artwork from various encyclopedias or VHS covers and melding them together into iconic pieces of art.

This one's one of my favs:

I first saw the Detectives design as a one color tee that Morgan was selling on his Etsy site under the name Grand Wazoo. As soon as he showed me the original collage that he was selling as a print, I immediately knew that this was the way the t-shirt was meant to be.

Since I’ve got a team of experienced printers, I had the capability of making the Detectives collage into a full colored tee print. Morgan & I are both thrilled with the result and are joyfully basking in sales.

I can’t wait to do another tshirt with this guy!

UFC saved my life (but I’m sure it will take plenty of others)

2010-11-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

Before I found UFC, I was never really hooked on a sport. Sure I’d watch the first couple games of the Deadskins each season before they would break my heart yet again, and the World Cup’s a good time when it comes around, but four years is a long time to wait!Then one lazy couch potato night a couple years back, I found UFC and everything changed.

I must admit that it was a bit like watching road kill at first. With each punch knocking out a good chunk of a rivaling alpha male’s 2nd grade math skills, I couldn’t help but feel sick as I would vicariously take the same punch on the couch. But I just couldn’t take my eyes of the screen. This is true natural selection at its finest! 2 bros in a cage with close to no rules, fighting for survival until the other submits to his brute dominance.

Just to clear things up, the UFC is not fake. Sure I said the same thing about WWF when I was 8, but back then I believed in a lot of other crazy things... (For the record, I still believe in David Blaine, so please do not attempt to disprove his hovering powers in my presence).

Let’s just say that there’s no faking a broken orbital (see the Brandon Vera v. Jon Jones knockout if you don’t believe me).

So what makes a well-educated suburban kid fall in love with such a primitive sport? you may ask yourself. I’m not really quite sure when I made the switch to UFC fanatic, but something just snapped in me after I witnessed enough brain poundage. It’s a bit like Stanly Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange. After enough exposure to freaky violence, you just start craving more.

Each month I have the pleasure of gearing up for yet another UFC bout with some extreme title like “Relentless” or “Unforgiving”. “YESS!!!” I declare as I pound my fist on the nearest object. This is what I’ve been waiting for! I like to label my UFC watching time as work time. As elbows and knees are raining down on helpless victims, I’m sitting back, daydreaming about t-shirt ideas and how I can apply this violence to a t-shirt.

That’s how we got to designs such as The Haymaker aka Bear Punch, or the Rhino Hunter (When Animals Attack! Part 6). I’m lucky to say that my favorite pastime has now become a source of my livelihood. I can’t wait to clock in again tonight as Marquardt takes on Okami. Showtime baby.

5 albums to take to a desert island?

2010-11-12T11:14:00.001-08:00

If someone put a gun to your head and said "You're going to a desert island and you can pack 5 full length CDs (no various compilations allowed)" What would you bring?

Here's my list (In no particular order):

1. Radiohead - Kid A

I know, I know...No brainer right? Radiohead is almost mandatory for any kid of my generation to call their favorite band. But the truth is...they are. I can't fight being lumped in with the crowd on this one. When the first chords from "Everything in it's Right Place" come on, I always get a chill down my spine. This album will never get old no matter how many times I listen to it.

2. M.I.A - Arular

I'd consider M.I.A my second celebrity girlfriend. Bjork had been starting to get a bit too strange with the Swan Dress & her full on attack of the reporter at the airport, so I had to call it quits and switch over to Maya... I used to blast Bucky Dun Gun in the photo lab @ school in DC, and I remember all the girls would gang up on me and say "What are we listening to??" They flipped the stereo back to hot 99.5 as soon as I stepped out of the dark room to check out a developed photo. All I got to say to these girls is "Look who's on hot 99.5 now suckers!" (I am not saying that I like XXXO. I'm simply stating that I had her blasting before the mainstream stations did). Arular isn't a cohesive album necessarily. It just happens to be a hit after hit record with no need to skip tracks like most one hit wonder albums I listen to. Additionally there's a hypnotic quality in listening to Maya's childish sounding voice talking about murder, ransom and gun shots. I hope Maya gets her mojo back for the next album she does...

3. Sneaker Pimps- Becoming X

The Sneaker Pimps are wayy too underrated. Every review I've read says that SP came to the trip hop scene long after the path had been paved by Massive Attack & Tricky. Granted, there's chronological truth to this statement, but SP shouldn't have to be compared to the originators of a genre. What the Sneaker Pimps brought to the sound happens to be my all time favorite female vocalist: Kelli Ali.

The combination between Chris Corner's soundscape and Kelli's vocals are killer. 6 Underground is probably my all time favorite song period. Too bad, Chris pulled the carpet from under Kelli's feeet and kicked her out of the band after the first album. Chris's vocals are very good, but nowhere near Kelli's.

4. Blur- 13

Other than the track Coffee & TV, this album flew under most listener's radars. Coming from some suburban Brits, the decision to make an album themed on cowboys is definitely a curveball. This being said, the boys completely pulled it off and made the album into a 13 track masterpiece. Starting off with the gospel love ballad Tender and then switching right into the staticy rock song Bugman the listener gets pulled every which way and is never sure of what to expect in terms of musical genre and sheer velocity. Definitely a trippy album to your hands on.

5. NIN- The Fragile

If you didn't already know this, my Honda Fit runs on NIN. I have every single Halo album and the entire collection takes up a solid 10% of my iPhone's music space. I have yet to miss death-gripping my car wheel and rocking out to this 2 disk masterpiece on any one of my many road trips.

You see, locking yourself up in a house in New Orleans for five years to write an album can lead to a number of things (insanity, madness, confusion, anger, fear...). In this case, Trent's destination happens to be all of the above!

This album bleeds emotional distress, but with such a solid vocalist and steadily grinding industrial instruments, you can't help but feel that you can relate to where Trent's coming from. If I had to chose the best track to rep the album, I'd go with

Into The Void

To make things more awe-inspiring, the entire NIN ensemble consists of....well...just Trent Reznor. He's a one man band in the studio, and when on tour he brings instrumentalists along with the criteria that he is able to physically push them around (this was something he said in an interview during the Downward Spiral tour).

I developed a late stage Trent Reznor man crush at the end of high school, and I still find myself trolling youtube many a late night to track down unreleased NIN footage and the like. I sure hope Trent puts together something half-way decent with his new band and wife-team Mariqueen How To Destroy Angels...

The Haymaker t-shirt is now a trademark definition?

2010-11-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

I was just stumbling around on the internet and ran into an entire definition about the Haymaker t-shirt:

The Bear Punch Shirt (tm). broadly speaking, it’s a type of t-shirt displaying subject matter that for some reason or another attracts men like a bug zapper on a louisiana swamp. it’s typically showcases a graphic that is somewhat polarizing in that there are people that “get it” and “don’t get it,” which makes it easy to weed out uninteresting, unfunny, and unlikely candidates. it’s a t-shirt that makes friends, turns heads, and ellicits an upward facing thumb from strangers. it’s your new go-to, going-out, outfit. it should be a staple of any female’s wardrobe - regarded with the same reverence as the little black dress. in fact, i will venture to say that it could be the most important article of clothing you ever own. why search endlessly for the perfect, monotone frock and bear the blisters of a pair of slingback pumps when all you really need is a man punching a bear to pique the interest of the opposite sex?

It’s important to establish some ground rules to purchasing The Bear Punch Shirt (tm). if you go too far down the path of irony, you could risk being taken seriously. the wrong subject matter could put you in danger of attracting boys with eyeliner or men with grey matter that rivals the size of their belt buckle. it takes a few tries to get it right, but once you do, you too can be high fived by whole foods’ employees, receive flirtacious custom latte-art and approached by painfully shy cashiers of independent bookstores.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BUYING YOUR VERY OWN BEAR PUNCH SHIRT

it should not contain rainbows, unless they are being vomitted by a wild animal.
anything with a beard or elaborate mustache will receive high marks.
bands should generally be avoided.
metallica and guns and roses are exceptionally poor choices.
choose bears over polar bears. wolves over coyotes. technics over atari.

there should not be any danger of running into another woman wearing your same Bear Punch Shirt (tm) on the street, let alone in a bar.
it should not boast a city.
it needs to be a plain, no bullshit tee.
it should be a t-shirt that your target wishes he owned.
upon first wear, if you don’t receive three comments, you’ve failed to purchase an adequateBear Punch Shirt (tm).

if the pressure of finding a Bear Punch Shirt (tm) of your own is simply overwhelming, i suggest just buying The Bear Punch Shirt (tm) that’s linked above. just don’t let me see you walking down my street with it on.

Hot Air Bubbles- A or B?

2010-10-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Having a tough time deciding how to print this new design and would love some input!

Haymaker Obsession!

2010-09-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

I bumped into an awesome fan last week named Voltaire Casino (that's his real name!) and he was like "You're the guy with the bear punch shirt?" I said "Yup" and then he pulled out his iPhone and showed me 104 photos of people that he had met wearing my hoodie.

That made my week!

Artscape 2010

2010-07-19T17:08:00.001-07:00

Check us out! We upgraded to an in-house dj!

How Should I print this??

2010-01-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Mathiole just finished a new design for us. I'm trying to figure out if we should just print it as a men's tee or do men's & women's. Here's a mockup:

Real World DC Sharp Shirter spotting

2009-12-31T12:43:00.001-08:00

Andrew on The Real World DC was spotted wearing my African Animal Alliance tee last night. Hooahhh!!

Thanks for the write up Coty!

2009-12-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

CO-Tee-TV: Rhino Hunter

Downtown Holiday Market DC

2009-12-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

Just finished detoxing from a 5 day straight show outside the National Portrait Gallery in DC. Thanks to help of the lovely ladies of Sharp Shirter (including my mom), we were able to get it done throughout rain, snow and a rescheduled final exam for my Negotiations class. This video here with Sasha pretty much sums up our experience

25 % OFF EVERYTHING!!!

2009-11-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

We're knocking 25% off everything we got, Fri-Mon. No need for a code, just shop away!

Photo Reshoot for Beautiful Day Dress

2009-11-22T21:47:00.001-08:00

Today the gang went out to reshoot the Beautiful Day dress down in Rock Creek Park. Here's proof!

MacWorld Write Up!

2009-10-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just got an update from my buddy Vince over @ Music Skins. Our Flowers design got a write up in MacWorld Australia!!

Bad Hare Day

2009-10-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Huebucket & I just finished a new Sharp Shirter design, and we'd love your vote on style. Take a look and shoot us an email: sharpshirter@gmail.com with #1-4

Thanks!

-D

Burrow Lola Burrow!

2009-09-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

When I got home tonight, I couldn't stop laughing at my hedgehog Lola

Shout out from Cyberspace!

2009-09-23T13:46:00.001-07:00

Just got a nice little write up from Adam over @ iamthetrend.com on our Haymaker Tee

here's the link: sharpshirter

Haymaker Success Story

2009-09-23T12:40:00.001-07:00

Just got an email from one of our customers that was rocking the Haymaker skin @ coffee shop in Queens

He got free coffee because the waiter thought the laptop was too awesome.

oh yeah!!

-D

10% OFF EVERTHING!!!!

2009-09-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Sharpies,

We've just launched our new site and are offering 10% off all our items!!!

Thanks for all your support. We couldn't have done it without you.

Dan

Arts on Foot & Adam's Morgan Day!!

2009-09-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Sharpies!

First off, I would like to give big props to everyone that came out and showed their support @ AOF & AM Day! Both events were a huge success and the compliments really meant a lot.

Here's the cliff-notes version for those of you that had better things to do

1. The parking lot for vendors @ AOF was incredible! I have been telling stories to all my friends about how the new UHAUL trucks are the coolest thing ever, but so far everyone has given me weird looks and made me feel awkward. I now have evidence!

Check out how sweet these animals are! Plus they have facts to go with them!! This all takes me back to the Bill Nye/Snapple bottle days (minus the time that I popped a bottle and read that 1/3 of the Snapple facts were not true...mega party foul).

2. I got a prime time spot @ AOF and AM day. AOF literally had an ATM machine 10 feet away from my booth.

It was pretty hard for people to give me the "I'll go get some money and be back" run-around. BUSTED!!

3. I got a little help from a friend. Big shout out to Will & mom for helping me to live the Sharp Shirter dream. Here's a shot of Will rocking the Bear Knuckles while closing the books on a Mrs.:

Bro bro also stopped by, but he was still in Pentagon mode...(still thanks for coming out)

4. AM day was too busy to get any photos in. I was literally swamp non-stop by the locals. However, I did get a chance to take a shot of a lovely lady that had recently purchased the Keep in Touch dress which we weren't selling at our booth that day.

She was more than happy to hang out by the booth and gloat.

5. Monday was miserable.

Cleaning up was not in this job profile...

Thanks again everyone for swinging by, and catch us again October 3rd @ Arts on the Avenue.

Peace,

Haymaker Spotting

2009-09-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Dave from Seibei just sent me over a Haymaker spotting.

Turns out that Mike Krahulik, one of the creators of Penny Arcade, digs our gear. Always nice to know you're loved in higher places.

Here's a link to the full article: Mike Didn't Like Making the Video Games, but Jerry Did

A Young Captain Octopus

2009-08-25T12:53:00.001-07:00

Just got an email from a happy customer who purchased a Captain Octopus tee from us in the smallest size we offer which happens to be an adult small:

If you are interested in getting sizes that are perfect fits for your kids, email us @ sharpshirter@gmail.com and once we get enough demand, we will make it happen :)

xoxo

-D

OOOOOWWWWWWWWEEEEEE!!!!

2009-08-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Yes!! We just got in the new Petal Girl tee drawn by Shadow Chen:

The fist thing we decided to do was go out in the beautiful weather to take some shots for the site.

Unfortunately, just as Will and Verity showed up to head out, it started to pour!! My mom recommended that we go out to the Botanical Gardens by the Mall because it's a nice bright indoor area. We got there with about 5 mins till closing, so my first instinct was to grab some fallen petals from the ground and head out with the kids to another location.

We settled for the Reflecting Pond and decided to create a photo of the image in the design by blowing the petals into the water. Since we only had 2 handfuls of petals, we had two chances to get this thing right.

Oh yea, Verity delivered!!!

We are super psyched about getting the tee up on our new site which is due out next week!

Until then

-D

Atlantic City Trade Show

2009-08-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

I just got back from doing a show out in Atlantic City on Monday. I went out with my best bud Will, and we got a good taste of the night life....Sunday night life that is.

Not much was really going on, but does it ever in Atlantic City? Not quite sure really, but it seemed like a watered-down version of Las Vegas. A little taste for East Coasters that don't have the energy to make it out to the real thing. Anyways, I hate gambling, and don't do much in terms of clubs, so Will and I settled for a heated 1 on 1 @ the mini-golf course by the boardwalk:

The bet was "loser puts a quarter in the meter @ 8 am" I cleaned up on the course, but come 8 the next day I was already good to go, so Will didn't feel the full burn of defeat.

I wanted to treat Will to a good time since he was coming out with me to the show, so I made sure to book a 3-star hotel. Turns out that The Chelsea Hotel puts the winners of "name your own price" on priceline.com in the crap complex. Honestly, the elevator was chalked up as hell with what looked like bullet holes in the door (Will was convinced it was just a BB gun).

When we called up about the air condition and the Wifi, the concierge told us that they worked in the other complex of the hotel but not in ours. Go figure...

The show itself wasn't a huge hit, but we got to make some decent connections and some new wholesale orders. We made sure to keep our both extra SHARP since we were in the Trump hotel:

All in all it was a fun weekend and Will and I had a seriously bromantic time.

New Photoshoot with local ladies man- Jesse Spiegel

2009-08-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a shoot with new model and rising star Jesse Spiegel in Dupont. Now if you don't know Jesse (you probably don't...), he is up for anything. And by anything, I mean ANYTHING. We were taking some reshoots of classic designs like Haymaker and Banana Split, and for the Haymaker shot, I had to talk Jessie out of tracking down a police car so that he could get handcuffed for fun by a cop while we took photos.

I've had my fair share of cops (and by cops, I mean "Cops" the tv show), so I was very reluctant to be involved with this stunt despite how Haymaker-esque it was.

We settled for shooting him bench pressing a hot dog vending machine, but we couldn't get a good shot in before it drove off with him hanging on:

We also got some sweet shots of our newest design: THE ROCKASAURUS, and we will be offering that our new sit which will be going up this Monday!!

New Designer Vid!

2009-08-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

Darren Pearson, a Sharp Shirter veteran designer from the early years has just put together a short vid about himself. Check it out!

AIR GUITAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

2009-08-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

I just had a killer weekend! On Friday night, DC hosted the National Air Guitar Championships @ the 9:30 club. I've been to a lot of shows @ 9:30, but this was the first time I've had to wait in a line around the block with a ticket. Man was it packed!! Here's a shot of the DC legend "The Shred":

He's 45 and still rocking his air guitar socks off. Last year he leaped off a 15 foot speaker and broke his ankle. He did a similar leap this year, but landed safely to finish off the rest of the Queens of the Stone Age riff during round 2.

Here's a look at all the patriotic air guitar lovers getting rained on by balloons:

The show was so sick, that I was inspired to create a Rockasaurus tee in commemoration of all the animals that rock.

Unfortunately, the two DC heros: The Shred & STD (Saygar the Destroyer) were eliminated in the 2nd round, as William Ocean won the title for best air guitarist in DC.

Good luck to Will in Finland as he goes up against the international champions!!

Goodbye babies!

2009-08-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

So after 7 wonderful weeks with my beautiful baby hedgehogs, it is time to find them some lovely new homes. Here's one of the males having a last cuddle on my hand:

If you're living in the DC/MD area and are looking for a new best friend in your life, hit me up: danlachman@gmail.com

First Video Monologue with Alex Cherry

2009-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Alex Cherry, the artist of Eleanor Rigby and Hunter, just sent in his video monologue. Check him out here:

When Animals Attack live! Lola vs. Her Babies

2009-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

So I decided to let Lola & co have a little play time in the giant tub I got for them. They'd been spending their entire lives together in a cage, so I thought some exercise would be the healthy solution....I had no clue that this would ensue:

Artscape 09 baby!

2009-07-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Sharpies!

So I just got back from Artscape in Baltimore, which is our biggest show of the year. 3 days of sales, booze and fun. It was awesome seeing all the hometown support, and I got a chance to sport some of my newest styles like my Rhino Hunter tee. I also made plenty of new friends. Here's a quick vid I made from Saturday madness with some fun customers:

Thanks to everyone that came out!

xoxo

-D

photo shoot

2009-07-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

just came back from a photo shoot for our new cycling fish dress which will be getting released some time in the next two weeks. this is a shot of how we roll.

Haymaker Family

2009-04-08T22:30:00.001-07:00

Check out all my boys back from when I was AU sporting the Haymaker:

Attila & Lola Inc.

2009-03-31T14:19:00.001-07:00

If you haven't figured it out yet from my sharpshirter.com site, I'm a HUGE animal lover. Most of my time is spent either thinking about new animal designs, watching the nature channel, or taking care of my hedgehogs. As of recently, my two little guys had a great date and are now proud parents of three little munchkins. Here's a photo compilation of the great times:

Atilla:

Lola:

Lola & baby:

Babies all lined up:

Lady baby:

Runt baby:

Upcoming items

2009-03-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

Now that spring's in session (or so it should be!), I'm getting ready to drop some major items on sharpshirter.com. Here are some things to look forward to:

The Keys Scarf:

Rhino Hunter tee:

I'll keep you guys posted for the new gear, but do keep checking in!

-Dan

I skinned my fridge!

2009-03-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yo Sharpshirters,

I know...I broke my New Year's resolution but hey, most people do and that's what next year's for!

Anyways, I wanted to show you all my fridge at college which I just finished skinning:

Now it's a Zebra Frog thanks to the amazing work of my friend Jan oliehoek.

If you're interested in getting a specific item skinned, feel free to shoot me an email at: sharpshirter@gmail.com

Best,

Dan

I'm back!

2008-08-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

hey sharpies!

sorry for the delay in posts. i've been mourning M.I.A's concert retirement for the last couple months...

actually, i've been super busy gearing up for my upcoming show @ POOL in Vegas next week, and forgot to keep you guy in the loop.

well, here are the updates:

1. over the summer we hit tons of shows on the east coast: Renegade Craft Brooklyn, Big Art Show, Pile of Craft Punk Rock Flea Market. all of them were great, but Artscape took the cake size-wise, being the largest free public art show in the nation: Artscape

i gotta admit that i felt like a total drug dealer walking in to Wachovia with a black bag filled with $20s and $10s...it's hard out here for a t-guy

2. we launched a rockin' new site that now features dresses, tank tops, and of course more tees and skins! it's got a much cleaner feel thanks to the lovely work of Nate Welch.

we also wanted to feature all 21 of our amazing designers that do the incredible work that keeps us running. definitely check out their work if you get a chance: Artists.

3. we're on the move, and are about to drop the Hawkeye Hoodie in under 2 weeks. here are some photos to wet your appetite *roll "The Price Is Right" music*:

i'm gonna make an early new year's resolution, and pledge to update this blog more regularly.
-d

Great things to come

2008-05-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

I've always been a good sharer. Ever since I won 5000+ M&Ms because I guessed the closest amount inside the jar, and then was forced to share them with 1st-4th grade by my mom, I've had a keen understanding of what true sharing is. Anyways, here's some voluntary sharing of new Sharp Shirter stuff that will be coming out in the next month or so:

Please let me know if you like it, because we'll make extras if there's a huge demand

My First blog!

2008-05-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hey Sharpies!

So here's my first blog ever after 2 years of procrastination. First of all, I'd like to thank Dave Murray from Seibei for being my inspiration for blogging. I always gravitate to his site when I'm looking for a good read, so if this one isn't doing it for you, definitely give it a look.

Anyhoo, I just finished my first run of summer tradeshows. The first one was "The Big Art Show" in Philly. Although I braced myself for disaster, and used the trip from DC as an excuse to get out of the house, the show turned out to be a blast! I sold way more than I had expected, and I had a chance to show off my new line of laptop skins which have been doing really well (just got picked up by Urban Outfitters!!).

This weekend I had "The Punk Rock Flea Market" show in Lancaster, PA. Unfortunately the tables turned on this one, and my expectations were not met. There was a pretty so-so turnout, and on top of that, a lot of punk rock kids that thought spending wasn't too cool and just came to check things out. Regardless of the disappointing sales, I must say that I single handedly created the best booth I've ever made. Here's a shot of my masterpiece:

In case you're wondering why it's so bright, I brought my depresso-light for Seasonal Affective Disorder (I may or may not suffer from it, but I sure do like bright things), and it worked out really well.

In case you want to come out and show some support, here's my schedule for the the upcoming weeks:

Renegade Craft in Brooklyn June 14-15
Pile of Craft in Baltimore June 21
DIY in Maryland July 18-21 (biggest public outdoor event in the nation)
POOL in Vegas August 25-27 (buyers only show)

Well, that's a wrap on the first blog. I'll leave this inspirational photo for all you gamers out there:

That's my granny of 91 playing Wii tennis. If she can do it, so can you!