Need for better UW clothing for fans at underworldlive.com store?

[Milking Your Plastic]

This thought came to mind after I saw a newspiece and photo (quite a while ago now) on the Underworld site on the topic of John Warwicker's daughter Poppy who designed a Underworld inspired top and dress as part of her final college project which was in the style of the Dubnobasswithmyheadman cover, which I thought looked really cool.

Now, to say that I was a little dissapointed when I saw the fan clothing in the underworldlive.com store would be a massive understatement.
Afterall, since UW have strong roots in the design world with their work with Tomato it seems logical that the clothing they offer to fans should also show some artistic flair. But instead it's just generic grey jumper with hoodie and underworld logo with semicolon. Not my cup of tea. Definitely done to save a buck.

I think the best design work UW have done was the cover work for Dubnobasswithmyheadman. I would like to see this type of artwork on a T-shirt and/or jumper. If they did this I would wear it all the time.

P.S As you might have picked up on I am not a big fan of how they use a semicolon in their logo, to me it seems a little prentenious.

Any thoughts?

[Mike]

Your right that the merchandise lacks inspiration.

Why doesn't Tomato do more work with UW? Its probably because the collective has changed - the core people have moved on or are busy doing other things... they have nothing to gain by doing free work for their UW friends. These days Tomato is more like a distant relative to UW than a partner.

In general, Underworld seem to have been cost saving as much as they can since they were with any major record label. Everything seems to be a lot more low budget - The live on stage setup, the website, the merchandise and even some of the physical releases (for me there is something slightly "home made" about them compared with other things in the record shops). And not to mention some of Karl's home made shirts

Its not a criticism, just an observation - this is the only way bands can survive without the financial backing of a major label by keeping the costs down, and not selling merchandise at a loss. It's about running a business as well as making great music.

[Mike]

PS: I bet there is also a bunch of legal issues preventing them from just whacking out a bunch of t-shirts with the dubno/stiti artwork, perhaps they don't own the rights to it anymore?

[negative1]

i still have that iron on logo sheet.
have to make your own stuff..

later
-1

[//\/\/]

...they couldn't be bothered to make their last album 100%, don't go holding your breath about clothing...


...or maybe Yannik could knock something up.

[TheBang]

[joethelion]

yea - it is disappointing ... for several reasons, most of which Mike has already mentioned

It's really been in the last ten years that the distance between Tomato and UW has drifted apart (remember "Urban Action" ? Karl was even wearing those *cool* shirts in the EE dvd)... and as a result (amongst other things) - the clothing has suffered a bit. Now, I actually did like like the black t-shirts with the small earphone hole, but you're right - it is kind of cheap, b/c it's only one color printing, etc etc

(but I'd say, those designs didn't need more colors)

So like, what I'm saying - is that - Tomato and UW drifting is like the major "issue" - then as a result other things suffer

...I don't know if I would agree with the idea that the stage shows are cheaper though, bc remember during the AHDO tour? The selling point on why to see that tour was the BIG GREEN LAZER... which was only really used during "King of Snake." There really weren't many 'visuals' other than the inflatable mattresses that came up (like a alternative form of using a screen) and stuff was projected on them (clips from Dogboyheadset / UWlive)

having said all of that -
I can understand from a Tomato standpoint, to not want to do 'Dubno' clothing now (or ever)
b/c it was soooo long ago, it was made for a specific project, etc etc etc

[//\/\/]

Pedantic point - the KoS Big Green Laser was introduced for BF shows.

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by //\/\/

Pedantic point - the KoS Big Green Laser was introduced for BF shows.

Hmm. I saw 3 shows during the BF tour -- no laser. I only saw it when AHDO dropped.

[lectoid]

We're getting off topic here.

I have an Oblivion with Bells shirt I bought off of ebay. I don't wear it much because who knows when another good shirt will come along.