Turk+Taylor: T-Shirt Color Chameleons Dip Into Sportswear

The founders of Turk+Taylor, Mark Lee Morris and Andrew Soernsen, perfected their clothing line’s punchy color palette the old-fashioned way. The two brewed and hand-dyed each piece in Soernsen’s bathtub.

The two share an education in various arts disciplines and work to achieve just the right hues for their organic cotton T-shirts, organic cotton twill shorts and organic linen skirts.

“Color has so much effect on the way we feel and on the mood something creates,” Morris said. “The slightest variation can be disastrous or exciting.”

For Spring 2007, the San Francisco–based T-shirt line is branching out into classic sportswear items for men and women in distinctive colors. The designers give their cuffed shorts, trench coats and men’s shorts a handmade touch through the use of contrasting pocket linings and special tags. Each item is considered limited edition, and each tag is hand-numbered as though the garment were part of a series of art pieces.

In addition to using nearly all organic fabrics, the designers promote sustainability through their original tags on the sportswear, which include an envelope of organic Treviso seeds, extra buttons and instructions for growing the seeds.

Wholesale price points start at $21 for organic cotton T-shirts, $63 for women’s organic linen shorts lined with silk and $81 for men’s organic cotton/hemp pants. The woven items also are offered in a natural, non-dyed colorway for those who might be allergic to dyes.

The sportswear complements the sense of unexpected whimsy of the T-shirt graphics. For Spring, T-shirt graphics are based on vintage fabric patterns, 17th and 18th century etchings, and three-dimensional scenes taken from photographs that the founders snapped.

Morris explained that the idea behind the prints was to create a “sense of nostalgia, place and an environment in a T-shirt, rather than a basic simple object.”

The line has been sold to stores such as AB Fits, Villains Vault and Modern Appealing Clothing, in San Francisco; Black Market in Los Angeles; and Behaviour in New York.

For more information, call (415) 474-3190 or visit www.turkandtaylor.com. —Rhea Cortado