Any city street is like a live gallery, graphic shirts abound, yelling stories, inside jokes, band allegiances, and cryptic art. A shirt saying, “I’m not just another face in the crowd” has a certain kind of enchantment. Pixel pulse fashion are wearable mood boards, billboards, therapy sessions, and inside jokes all sewn into a soft cotton rectangle. Nothing else in your wardrobe allows a total stranger to engage in quite the same kind of conversation.

Visualize this: You pour coffee down your plain white t-shirt. Lesson acquired. When you can wear your thoughts, favorite memes, or zany graphics, why suffer boring shirts? One friend rode a skateboard wearing a top covered with a slice of pizza. People stopped her days to find out where she acquired her pure icebreaker. To people who “get it,” these designs might serve as icebreakers, prideful affirmations, or covert winks.

Though there is chaos as well, there is creativity in color and picture mixing. Old-school screen printing (hey, 70s rock band nostalgia) to digital printing with photo-quality detail are among the printing methods available. Some people swear by bright, pure prints; others enjoy the crackle and fading of a well-loved work. Preferences vary greatly.

Custom tees are created for a variety of reasons—school fundraisers, bachelor parties, birthdays, protest marches, sarcastic gifts, or just a spur-of- the- moment notion. Once, on his birthday, a group of pals shocked their friend with shirts covered with most embarrassing childhood pictures. Night of laughter.

Not only slogans or pictures counts here. The cloth tells a story. While some exchange comfort for a brilliant pattern on rougher blends, others desire buttery-soft cotton. V-necks, tank tops, crop tops, long sleeves—the choices spin out like a choose-your-own-adventure narrative. Particularly with bespoke dye or exotic inks that glitter in the sun, tee design can get as wild as your imagination permits. glow-in-the-dark? Aim for it.

The secret is cooperation. On a napkin, you can draw something and then search online to locate someone who will print-ready gold from your doodling. Certain artists provide pre-designed templates you could change. Some would rather create everything from scratch and dare you to dream larger. Starting with a joke will help. Turn out something people want to purchase from you.

Choosing colors and images to match a mood or memory gives a strange little rush. Even idiosyncrasies count: perhaps misspelled words for sarcasm or eccentric, off-center patterns give every shirt a unique character. These decisions help to distinguish very amazing tees from run-of- the-ordinary selections available at large box stores.

Printing companies are not all made equally. Some provide amazing print clarity and cleanliness as well as crisp service; but, be careful: less expensive locations could send you an ugly mess. Check the quality of the ink. Review consumer reviews. Save yourself the agony of a print that starts to fade one wash. A little homework helps to avoid great disappointment.

Expression seldom comes in so many tastes. There is room for political statements, sarcasm, hidden pop cultural references. You might someday want for a dog sporting sunglasses. You might then want for an enigmatic abstract design only known to you. There is no right way to personalize.

Watch trends, but avoid too aggressive pursuit of them. Old logos boomerang in fashion once again. Strange references land better when you own them. The viral meme of today can be tomorrow’s embarrassing regret. A shirt is eternity, or at least until cotton thins and the ink fades.

The only true guideline is < Play not with caution. The best graphic shirts challenge limits, break rules, and even land you in hot water with your grandmother. That’s style that speaks for itself.