T-post Invents 'T-zine
Leave it to the Swedes (based in the town of Umearing;) to create something so completely different yet with a genuinely global outlook.
T-post is much like having a subscription to a magazine, but instead you receive a T-shirt in your mailbox. Every six weeks, an “issue” is produced on a current news item (often from nontraditional news media), which is printed on the T-shirt’s inside.
The current issue, number 34 in the series, is called “De-evolution?” and features art by San Francisco illustrator Matt Furin printed on Los Angeles–based American Apparel blanks. It speaks of technology and how its advancements have improved our lives in so many ways. Thanks to technology, for instance, we no longer need to use our brains for things such as remembering phone numbers, how to spell or how to read a map.
Subscriptions to T-post are available via the company’s nifty Web site, www.t-post.se, or by e-mail at support@t-post.se. Select designers interpret the written story printed inside the shirt on the front with their art.The Web site does a great job of documenting and promoting the “magazine” without over-hyping subscription sales. It’s a soft sell, yet each edition often features hard news, as well as comedy, history, visions of the future and strange discoveries. The cover art for all issues is well-presented in the gallery.
Ordering a subscription is easy, but there seems to be no way to send a subscription as a gift or any means to acquire back “issues.” T-post currently boasts 2,454 subscribers (and counting) in 48 countries. The annual cost per “issue” is 26 euros, or $39, including shipping. —Jacques Marquette
