California Apparel News

The apparel industry has seen its fair share of tattoo-inspired streetwear, but a Los Angeles–area company has created a new spin for the category with a line of printed shirts and tops that carry hidden messages.

Whittier, Calif.–based Red Chapter Clothing has revived the ancient art form of ambigrams for a line of tops and tees. An ambigram—or an inversion—is a term for a graphic rendering of a word or phrase that can be read when flipped, inverted or viewed in a mirror. The inverted word can appear as the same word, which Red Chapter does with its logo, or it may appear as a different word. Some of the company’s popular ambigrams include “saint/sinner,” “life/death” and “angel/devil.”

Ambigrams have gained popularity lately after they were featured in the Tom Hanks movie “Angels and Demons.” Though the film touched upon it, the book, authored by “Da Vinci Code” scribe Dan Brown, features ambigrams as a major part of its plot line.

When translated onto tees with Red Chapter’s big 37-by-47-inch prints and elaborate lettering techniques, it falls into a growing category of word-art streetwear popularized by companies such as Affliction, Ed Hardy and Monarchy.

Red Chapter’s backbone of designs is provided by Mark Palmer, who launched the company with brother Ryan about four years ago.

Palmer has created an extensive library of tattoo art that is sought by some of the country’s most cutting-edge tattoo parlors. Some of the designs can be purchased at the company’s tattoo Web site (www.wowtattoos.com). The clothing is available at the company’s apparel site (www.redchapterclothing.com).

Palmer works exclusively with ambigrams. Mostly self-taught, the designer said he was influenced by his mother, who dabbled in calligraphy. Currently, his creations are available only for reproduction through Red Chapter Clothing, which launched about a year ago.

The company issues a new style every month and has a small but building wholesale trade, selling to boutiques such as Let’s Go in La Jolla, Calif.; Big Rock Clothing in Salt Lake City; MADE Clothing in Orange, Calif.; and others.

“We’ve been approached by The Buckle and Nordstrom,” Palmer said. “Now other clothing companies are contacting us to do stuff for them.”

Specialty boutiques such as Houston 8 in Dustin, Fla., are among the company’s newest retail clients.

“We like it because it’s a little more boutique-ish than brands like Monarchy,” said buyer Brighton Schmutzler. “So far, it’s done pretty well.”

What’s also been attractive is Red Chapter’s $40 retail price point, which is significantly lower than some of its competitors.

Retailer Clarissa Parashar of La Habra, Calif., boutique Perpetual Vogue said the hand and feel of the fabric are among the best on the market. “When you match it with the price point, it’s a great buy, plus it appeals to our customers—rockers and edgy people.”

The company’s celebrity following has also been growing. NBA star Tim Duncan has some of their tattoos and Jamie Foxx and a long list of rock bands wear the shirts and hoodies. Red Chapter also created ambigram shirts for director Ron Howard, Hanks and others for the “Angels and Demons” production company's gift bags.

Palmer said the company’s Web site traffic has reached 10,000 hits per day.

The Palmers are not the only beneficiaries of the growing popularity of ambigrams. Since “Angels and Demons” opened, traffic to Web sites such as Ambigram Magazine (www.ambigram.com), Glyphusion (www.glyphusion.com) and Flipscript (www.flipscript.com) has doubled or tripled.