Dreaming Grape Tee Contest!

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Tecknicolor

I don’t do contests too often, but due to the response I’ve gotten about the Grape tee I’ve decided to give everyone a shot and getting one for free. The contest is already in progress, but the winner won’t be announced until May 13th so there’s plenty of time to enter.

Rules: Complete ALL 3 steps

1. Follow me on Instagram: @Tecknicolor or Tumblr

2. Repost the contest post and tag me @Tecknicolor with the hashtag #dreaminggrape and your Facebook name and t-shirt size.

3. Like the Facebook page

That’s it, the winner will be announced on the 13th.

Brand: Quality VS Quantity & Convenience

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Tecknicolor

I got a message on my ebay site today asking why shipping was so high for the Tecknicolor X Breezy Hampton bracelets. First off, I don’t think $5 is high for shipping, so I’m not exactly sure what the real basis behind the question is. However, I’m always open to constructive criticism and I like when challenges arise, because I see them as opportunities to get better and work smarter.

I responded and after I did I realized that the reason I gave was one that needs to be emphasized more in my branding/marketing/advertising efforts. I’ve blogged about it and featured pics on social networks about my packaging, but I don’t know if I’ve actually ever explained why the amount of energy I put into the small details are so important.

It’s pretty simple really. You can buy a shirt (a bracelet in this guys case) from anyone. So, why choose to buy mine? What makes my product better than any other persons? I believe the answers to those questions cane make or break a brand. I don’t want to just have random customers who liked a design once upon a time, that’s not conducive with a lasting brand or brand loyalty. I want people to know that I’m always thinking of ways to give them a better product and the best experience with Tecknicolor.

To show the appreciation I have for people believing in Tecknicolor enough to spend their hard earned cash on it I go the extra mile in my packaging and presentation. Everybody loves getting gifts and I want my customers to feel like it’s Christmas every time they open up a package from Tecknicolor. Most often each shirt comes in packaging that matches the theme of the shirt and usually includes some sort of gift or souvenir. Impersonal business is old school and not very relevant in this day and age. So, I also include hand written letters to each and every person that purchases something from the brand. I run this business with little to no help from anyone else. It’s just me investing the time, money and effort into making Tecknicolor a success. So, this seemingly elaborate form of packaging is a lot of work and takes more time to get shipped out than if I just threw a shirt in an envelope, but it’s worth it. The response I get back from customers is astounding and has allowed me to gain loyal customers who keep coming back for the high quality service that is missing in a lot of today’s businesses.

So, to answer that question about the $5 shipping cost, the value encased with the shirts I ship out is much grater than the actual price of the shirt or shipping. Purchasing from Tecknicolor is more than just paying for a shirt, it’s paying for a brand experience like no other and I hope that you all appreciate the extra effort.

A Dreaming Grape – Jordan “Grape” 5′s

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Tecknicolor

I’m doing much better at keeping up with release dates these days and that includes the Jordan 5′s coming out on the 4th, known as the grapes. These shoes are definitely a hyped shoe, with one their most notable appearances being on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I was so glad the young kids weren’t successful at renaming them the Fresh Prince’s. They tend to not know the origin of the sneakers they seek after, which is another topic entirely. However, it’s always cool to watch one one of your favorite shows and see some of your favorite sneakers in OG form.

I absolutely LOVE this design. You may or may not have noticed that I kind of have a thing for design parodies and when the concept arose to parodize (yes, that’s a word now) Bape, I got excited. As you can see Sheepy has become Shape? Baby Shilo? I don’t think any of those names are clever, but he’s been redesigned in Bape like form. He’s rocking the 5′s and is joined by his friend Grape. There really isn’t much more to it than that. It’s simple, to the point, and up for presale in the store right now.

Remember when the Bape characters were everywhere beginning with Pharrell’s first solo project, In My Mind? Well I found a Bape character generator if you would like to relive that time in honor of the new tee. Go get Baped here

Looney Dreams: Retro Jordan 8 Bugs Bunny’s

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Tecknicolor

On April 20th the Retro Jordan 8′s known as the “Bugs Bunny’s” or the “Hares” are dropping. These are actually one of of the very first Jordans I remember and believe it or not, I didn’t like them. However, I didn’t like very many Jordan’s at all back then. It was 1993, I was like 8 years old and my cousins bought them, but I wasn’t interested. I believe I was actually rocking some Diamond Turfs at the time. Things have changed since then, not only do I like this shoe I believe it’s a staple in sneaker history.

The one thing that keeps bothering me is that everyone keeps saying Bugs Bunny wore these in Space Jam, but I don’t remember that. I’m not saying they’re wrong, I just don’t remember it. I remember this commercial with the Looney Tunes in it in 93 and I know that the movie, Space Jam, came out in 96 back when Mike was wearing number 45. I’m not sure how those two separate events intertwined or if they ever did, but I feel like there’s a mix up somewhere. Either way, Bugs Bunny did wear them in the 90′s so the name is accurate.

I feel like I’ve missed the purpose of the post…..So, above is the newest tee from Tecknicolor which is a compliment to the Bugs Bunny 8′s. It features Sheepy, the Tecknicolor mascot re-designed as a Bugs Bunny look-a-like, teeth and all. The text reads “Looney Dreams”, keeping in line with the always consistent dream theme of Tecknicolor and “That’s a Tecknicolor Story Folks” at the bottom of the tee. You will get more news about the re-branding “story” theme that has been oozing it’s way throughout the site and designs in a later post.

It’s currently up for presale in the online store right now.

Sheep Haring: Keith Haring Tribute (Retro Jordan He Got Game 13′s)

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Tecknicolor

Ok, so I know I’m super late with this release, but I have had a few set backs in trying to get it out. My apologies. The design for this shirt was inspired by an art loving friend of mine. It made me realize that I also enjoy art and wanted to do a design related to that love for art. The design is a tribute to the infamous New York based graffiti and visual artist, Keith Haring. In recent years Swiss Beatz, among others, have begun to revitalize the pop culture interest and influence in and of his work in the late 80′s and 90′s. I was most familiarized with his work through Sesame Street, which goes to show you just how popular his work had become.

The shirt features the Haring-esk character holding the Sheepy mascot and wearing the Jordan He Got Game 13′s which were released today (3/16). While the idea was to keep it cultural and art related, I also wanted to stick to my sneaker loving roots, not only becuase it’s a personal preference but becuase I think it might be a good way to introduce some young (or old) sneaker loving person to appreciate good and influential art. So, I hope you enjoy it, it’s up for presale here.

Jordan 11 BRED Presale: 12.1.12

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Tecknicolor

Well it’s the special time of year again. Yes, the time of year when Nike releases some colorway of the ever so sought after Jordan 11′s (oh and it’s getting close to Christmas too). This time they’ll be released on December 21st in Black and red, which is why they are affectionately knowm as the BRED’s to those of us within sneaker culture. That is why I chose to do a bakery theme for this tee. If the concept of the shirt isn’t already clear…….Sheepy is the head baker at the underground Tecknicolor Dreamer’s Market, where we bake BRED and dreams fresh daily, but only in limited amounts. The shirt goes up for presale on December 1st and will be shipped within the same week as the Jordan release date (the 21st).

Black Friday T-shirt Sale!

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Tecknicolor

I don’t do sales too often so, this is a great opportunity to pick up some of the tees you may have missed througout the year.

All Gold Everydream in White

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Tecknicolor

I’ve had more than a few people request the All Gold Every Dream shirt in white. This is probably due to the fact that I originally designed it in white and posted that version on the site as the color I didn’t use. Well, now it’s really being printed. Aside from the requests, and the fact that the navy color sold out much faster than expected (there’s only one left at the time of this post), there are also several Gold themed shoes releasing on September 29th.

Nike Zoom KD IV “Gold”

Nike LeBron X+ Sports Pack “Gold Medal”

Nike Kobe Zoom VII “Gold”

Nike Hyper Dunk “Gold”

If you love any of these shoes, America, or gold this is the shirt for you. The shirt is up for presale right now in the store and ships the week of October 4th.

The shirts are in……FINALLLY!

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Tecknicolor

I know you have all been waiting patiently. The day has finally come the All Gold Every Dream tees are finally finished being reprinted and are in my possession. My printing company was super cooperative with me and the whole process. They made sure all of the details were attended to correctly. I’m EXTREMELY particular when it comes to my designs. I want everything to come out perfectly and I’m sure that gets annoying, but it’s how I am about my designs and a few other things in my life that bring out the obsessive compulsive part of my personality.

I actually almost didn’t keep these shirts do to a terrible lighting situation. I never check the coloring of my tees indoors, only in the daylight. Apparently the trees in my neighborhood make for terrible lighting. Me and my overly particular self, decided they weren’t the right color gold and had started the return process, when my dad suggested I take the tees out to the mall to check them against some other shirts as well as the Olympic sneakers. I never actually made it to the mall, once I got in the car and saw the shirt in the light as we went along I realized and called back to resend my refund decision.

So from this point forward the presale is over. All of these shirts that are purchases will be shipped out the same week they’re ordered. So continue to support the Olympics or USA or your sneaker obsession with this commemorative tee.

Thanks for you guys patience and shout out to VGKids for making it all better Support Local Business.

The Wait Continues: All Gold Every Dream Misprint

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Tecknicolor

The All Gold Every Dream shirts were supposed to have been shipped out this week. However, yesterday when I got the shirts in my hands I discovered that they had been misprinted. By that I mean the all of the metallic colors were printed incorrectly. To be more precise the quality of the printing is very poor. Although I had asked many questions and had been assured that the printing would be done according to specific standards, the shirts I received were not printed to that standard. This first picture shows the one and only shirt that had the gold portion of the design printed correctly.

As I sifted through the box of shirts the printing got worse and worse with each size. There are many photos of several examples of just how bad the printing got, but these pics give a pretty good example of what was expected vs. what I got. As you can see in the photo above, on this shirt the gold is broken up and faded. You can also see that there was ink that had run over onto the white portion of the logo and had been wiped off.

Here is more of the same broken up and faded inks as in the previous photo, as well as the the overlapping of the colors that should’ve remained separate. The issues were mainly in the metallic colors, but there were a few other issues.

Needless to say this mishap has caused me to have to push back the the shipping date what I’m going to assume will be another week, although I do not have a definite shipping date to give at the moment. I have already replied back to all of the emails, informed most of you who prepaid for your shirts of the delay, and begun to issue refunds to those of you who requested it.

There are a few issues that stand out within this ordeal:

1 – I have been dealing with this printing company for 3 or 4 years now. I have had issues but never with the quality of printing. So, for this to happen now means someone has shown neglect in their position and that is totally unacceptable. Who would look at these shirts and think they should go out?

2 – I have lost money in having to issue out refunds to those who preordered. I would never try to keep anyone’s money when they have not gotten what they paid for in the way it was originally described. In this case that would be the shipping date. Now there is no guarantee they will reorder the shirt after I have the newly printed ones in stock.

3 – This can and probably has greatly affected the customer service aspect of my business and therefore my reputation. I work hard at making every attempt to provide customers with the best service and quality product that I can. It’s not fair to me that this printing companies mistake could possibly make that hard work a waste of effort.

I have issued many apologies to those of you who have already contacted me, and I really do mean them. I do not take lightly the handling of people’s trust or money or my reputation as a brand. I’m working on getting this situation rectified as soon as possible. I hope those of you who have decided to wait understand the predicament I’m in and I thank you for your current and continued patience. I will be updating everyone as the the situation evolves.

TECKNICOLOR

How t-shirts Make Dreams Come True.

Tag Archives: Jordan