CastleWear T-shirts is launching its line of specialty t-shirts, designed to look like medieval armor and fantasy costumes. Currently CastleWear T-shirts is running a fundraising project on the popular crowd-sourcing site, Kickstarter.
The t-shirt designs are intended to appeal to fans of LARP, reenacting, and cosplay among others. Fans of fantasy films, books and TV programs will also likely find a shirt that represents their niche.
Finished designs, now available, run a gamut between elvish and dwarvish armor, historical figures like Cleopatra and even a modern zombie. Other designs in the works including steam punk, pirates, and militaria.
Matt Hamblin, the designer behind these unique designs, says they are printed using a dye sublimation process that infuses the inks into the fabric through a heat process.
“The process used to print these shirts allows for greater detail,” says Hamblin, “it also lets me cover the entire shirt with my design.”
Dye sublimated shirts start with a blank polyester t-shirt. A large iron-on decal is then printed and pressed onto the shirt. Typical cotton t-shirts can’t be used in the dye sub process so individual shirts cost more than most t-shirts.
According to Hamblin, funding raised on Kickstarter will be used to purchase printed shirts in bulk which reduces the price, while any additional funds will be dumped back into marketing efforts and the company web site.
The original idea was the result of Hamblin trying to find t-shirts that looked like someone was wearing armor. “When I had difficulty finding anything like that online, I decided to design my own,” said Hamblin.
Hamblin says he hopes to expand the designs in the future to include full-length sleeves and also talks about a line of t-shirts with a guitar motif.
Check out the Kickstarter campaign here.
CONTACT: Matt Hamblin
EMAIL: matt@castleweartshirts.com
