I’m not a fashionable person, I wear t-shirts and hoodies about 98% of the year. I can’t handle dealing with all the fancy outfits and whatnot that you’d find in the average fashion store. Usually they are uncomfortable, unpractical, cold, or all of the above. Regular shaped women’s shirts with a comfy zipper hoodie are the only thing I’m really comfortable in, even though in summer when it’s really hot, I will also occasionally wear v-neck shirts, and even the occasional dress.

Let’s get back to t-shirts though. I like funny and nerdy shirts, and had lots and lots of them over the years. And that’s where the rant comes in: t-shirts have significantly declined in quality in the last 15 years, and it makes me sad and mad.

Back in the day, in the mystical and marvelous time known as the 00’s and the very early 10’s, I jumped on the Threadless 10$ bandwagon a few times, and got some really cool t-shirts there. Most of these lasted me a long time until their eventual demise due to disintegrating seams. Of all the shirts I ever ordered there between 2008 and 2022, which was roughly 20-25 shirts, there are only about 4 which I still have, and out of those only one that is still in great condition. Let me introduce you to my Kiwi shirt:

That is me, much younger and less wrinkly than I am now, in the year 2012 in New York City on Times Square. I distinctly remember wearing this t-shirt not only because of this photo, because while I was walking around midtown Manhattan, than a random stranger from halfway across the street shouted at me “That’s an amazing shirt!”, and after I awkwardly answered, she said “I’m from Australia!” (I think she thought I was from New Zealand, I did not bother to correct her). And it was really cute that me, a German, made some random Aussie lady excited about a Kiwi t-shirt on the other side of the world from New Zealand.

I don’t know why, perhaps this t-shirt is imbued with the magical powers of flightless birds, but this is one of my oldest surviving shirts. Today, it looks like this:

It definitely has some wear and tear (and a hole I fixed), but the Kiwi still like fresh and new. And after almost 15 years, I’m amazed at how long this print has lasted, because almost all of the t-shirts I acquired afterwards, have not lasted longer than a few years.

I’m talking about the quality of the print here. Threadless, as well as Redbubble and other vendors, seem to have switched their printing process from what I assume was silkscreen printing to on-demand print. These new processes are absolutely abysmal, because the print just completely disappears after a while, no matter how gently and carefully you treat your shirts. I always wash my t-shirts cold, and still, this is what happens to them (vendor image, and a photo of my shirt today):

As you can see on the second picture, you can barely see anything. The sloth has almost disappeared, and the css joke is completely gone. What’s the point of this nerdy shirt then if you can’t even read or see it anymore?

Almost all of my t-shirts have this problem, no matter how carefully I wash them. I hate it. I want awesome, high quality shirts where you read and recognize the print, and which have great colors. Last year, I tried out a few different vendors, but I have yet to find one where either I’m happy with the print, or I’m happy with the size. Some shirts absolutely don’t fit me. So, if you have any ideas where to get high quality, silkscreen-printed nerdy shirts in women’s sizes, please let me know!

I hate how everything has become about making more money, making people dependent on products, increasing the prices, and making the quality worse and worse so that you buy more. This video by the Norwegian Consumer Council summarizes this trend perfectly.