October is a t shirt printing, screen printing, garment sourcing and embroidery supplier established in 1990. We source a wide range of clothing and accessories to fit the most demanding of specifications. Although we print and embroider for a variety of sectors, our speciality is fashion.
With this in mind we offer a full service including garment sourcing, graphic design input, range development, technical screen print and embroidery advice, label supply, re-labelling, bagging, swing ticketing and bulk distribution.
This isn't everything. That would just be too massive, but it is a cross section of all our favourite T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoods, polos, hats etc. It's what a pretentious bell end might call a curated edit. Feel free to call us with any questions, and let us know if we left anything out.
It all started 25 years ago. Paul finished a degree in obscure eastern religions, and was surprised to find he couldn't get a job. Not a problem, a friend had a sewing machine,
October screen print for action fashion brand Stupid Clothing. Stupid was founded in the mountains, to voice the same unifying attitude that runs through like-minded idiots around the planet, across snow, surf, street and beyond, supplying them with a quality casual fashion product that promotes their beliefs and way of life. October, equally famous for anything completely Stupid, have helped the cause with screen printed T-shirts, hoods and sweatshirts.
T-shirts designed and developed by the people who truly represent the action sports lifestyle
With over 10 years of sharing their time between streets, slopes and shores, the designer t-Shirts Clothing collection includes original casual fashion screen printed products, hoodies, sweatshirts, tee’s, tall tee’s, decks and other items that truly promote the attitude of the wearer, whether on the streets or out in the elements.
Stupid Clothing, in line with one of October’s key brand values, actively promotes the standpoint of never taking life too seriously, wearing your heart on your sleeve with a boldness, confident lack of fear, to go headlong 100% into everything.
Partying hard, screen print hard, t-shirt wearing hard and riding even harder; Welcome to All Things Stupid.
We have always loved David Hockney paintings, but David Hockney T shirts?
It’s not just David Hockney’s painting techniques, his swimming pools; portraits of friends; his open exploration of gay love etc, but now a t shirt, based on perhaps less widely seen (unless you happened to attend) stage designs for the Royal Court Theatre, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera and Glyndebourne. It is for the latter that October came in, to all over print limited edition David Hockney T-shirt, to commemorate his set designs at Glyndebourne, specifically for The Rake’s Progress….’a fable’.
The story centres around decline and fall of Tom Rakewell (Rakes Progress Fable),
who deserts his woman, Anne Trulove, and heads off for some fun in London with a bloke called Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several sticky moments, all concocted by the devious Mr Shadow, Tom ends up in Bedlam, a hospital for the ‘insane’ in the City of London, not good.
So the moral of the story is: “For idle hearts and hands and minds, the Devil finds a work to do.” Which is why we keep screen printing.
(this T-shirt print was very limited edition and just to commemorate the Rakes Progress…see if you can find one!)
Kippers in Slippers. We’re an independent brand from Leicester, We started by a group of mates who all grew up in this neck of the woods.
“We decided to use October to get our T shirt Printing done. As a midlands based t shirt printing and embroidery service specialising in fashion were ideal for the job.
Every Saturday morning, from the ages of 11 to 18, we would meet up to spend our shrapnel on the latest clobber.
As time went by and we got a little taller and a little hairier, we began to tire of the same old brands from the same old shops.
The High Street routine had run its course. We started to look towards independent outlets to satisfy our clothing needs and soon realised that our favourite brands were often the ones who drew inspiration from their local area (see Abandon Ship/P&Co).
It soon became clear that our hometown didn’t have a brand like this, a brand that was looking to take the local vibe nationwide.
T shirt design and screen printing was just what this young group of layabouts vowed to fill this void
After maxing out our overdrafts on all the necessities, and quite a few un-necessitates, Kippers In Slippers was born.
Using local artists, t shirt printingprofessionals and models, Kippers In Slippers aims to deliver high quality, simplistic products that carry a strong association with where they come from.
Just because you’re from a small pond it doesn’t mean you cant be a big fish. Join the crew,
kippersinslippers.co.uk
Some of the other products include:
The Little Fish- Purple
Fresh off the line, the Little Fish design makes up one fourth of the KippersinSlippers ‘Back to Basics’ range.
These Tees are all about minimalistic colouring and quirky designs; finished off in this instance with the KiS logo.
The T-shirt is 100% organic cotton (washing instructions included with product) and the design has been etched on with a grainy yet durable water based ink. The labels are also hand crafted with a washed effect, located at the back of the neck and the bottom of the Tee. The end result is a worn, more vintage look; differentiating the Tee from pristine high street products.
How do they fit?
The Back to Basics range are fitted, snug around the arms with a classic waist line length. So, if you like your t-shirts baggy, go up a size, it’s as simple as that!
Size Wise
Here at KiS, we know people are very rarely just a small, medium or large and because we want you to get your mitts on the best fitting Tee possible, our products are sold on scale;
XS-S- 34 inch chest S-M- 34-36 inch chest M-L- 36-38 inch chest L-XL- 38+ inch chest
We operate a seven day return policy, so if you think you’d feel more comfortable in a different size, we’ll change it out for you. Not a problem chaps!
This T-Shirt was conceived, designed and printed in the midlands. Our brand strives to operate at a local level; using local designers and printers whilst listening to you, the local people.
The Little Fish Beanies
The Little Fish beanies come in one size and two colours- heather burgundy or heather grey. They are a snug fit, so you don’t get that dreaded sag unlike other beanies and the logo is stitched on in white cotton making for a premium finish. Kipp that ‘ead warm until the summer comes!
October Screen Printing
There are many ways to get an image onto a garment — screen printing of course, but also digital printing, litho transfers, and screen printed transfers…they are all available from October.
Digital is fine, but with size restrictions (14 x 16”), and available from most online providers…it is what it is, just another digital print with no options to add a variety of textures, mixes of inks, brighter colours, and the personal touch that you will need to make your brand stand apart from the others.
Litho and screen printed transfers…offering a nice high detail, but not our favourite as they provide a slightly papery finish, and again, how can we make you different by perhaps having the texture of a solvent based ink, next to a lovely soft water based print, with a sneaky touch of 3D high build…maybe even a gloss, a metallic, or foil?
Screen printing and t shirt printing is really what we’re about – there are a lot of decisions for us to make around artwork films, screen meshes and tensions, we’ll talk you through that, but your main choice is what ink to use…
Solvent based inks — the most common screen printing ink, they will provide strong vibrant colours, and because they sit slightly more on top of the garment, create a more clean and graphic line. Because they are more on the surface of the T-shirt or sweatshirt though, they will create more texture, ideal for a more old school American feel, but if your feeling a bit more All Saints than Stussy, you may want to consider…
Water based inks — standard water based inks are more penetrative, so they will feel a part of the garment for a softer screen printed feel. Because they are right inside the garment, when washed the fabric fibres will come through the ink creating a more vintage look, which you may love, or not love…we can show you examples. They are used for screen printing darker colours onto lighter garments, but where you want lighter colours onto darker garments, you will need
Discharge Inks — discharge inks are almost like screen printing a bleach, they’re not really, but just to give you the idea…they will remove the dye of the garment, and replace it with a pigment, as if by magic when at high temperature in a tunnel dryer. Just the job for getting bright colours onto dark garments, while keeping the texture nice and soft.
October screen print t shirts for Laid Bare clothing
“Founded by two fresh, young designers, Laid Bare Clothing is an independent British unisex clothing brand, based in leafy Surrey. All of our screen print designs have a British influence and are carefully honed by us and brought to life exclusively for us, signed off with our stitched trademark brand label.
The Laid Bare Clothing brand is inspired to deliver…
the best of British, whilst always being honest, open and true to our customers, who are always at the heart of our business… hence ‘laid bare’ ”
2014 is an exciting year for Laid Bare Clothing…
seeing the launch of our first collection. The Laid Bare Clothing brand is inspired to deliver the best of British, whilst always being honest, open and true to our customers, who are always at the heart of our business… hence ‘laid bare’.
We are proud to work with a carefully selected group of British suppliers and manufacturers who share our brand vision for high quality, bespoke, Britishdesigner clothing and collectively we shall always strive to produce articles for you to wear and use with pride. We really are worth every penny…
Over the coming months we will be working closely with the Laid Bare Clothing family to grow our unisex clothing brand and there are many things in store, so keep in touch to see what’s new.
There are many ways to get an image onto a garment — screen printing of course, but also digital printing, litho transfers, and screen printed transfers…they are all available from October.
Digital is fine, but with size restrictions (14 x 16”), and available from most online providers…it is what it is, just another digital print with no options to add a variety of textures, mixes of inks, brighter colours, and the personal touch that you will need to make your brand stand apart from the others.
Litho and screen printed transfers…offering a nice high detail, but not our favourite as they provide a slightly papery finish, and again, how can we make you different by perhaps having the texture of a solvent based ink, next to a lovely soft water based print, with a sneaky touch of 3D high build…maybe even a gloss, a metallic, or foil?
Screen printing is really what we’re about – there are a lot of decisions for us to make around artwork films, screen meshes and tensions, we’ll talk you through that, but your main choice is what ink to use…
The UK Cycling industry has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years; one of the most active ‘demographics’ driving this growth has been the MAMIL (Middle Aged Man inLycra)…you will have seen them on the urban commute, the weekend country lanes… and in the cycle shops!
T-shirts Printed for the discerning cyclist
Chic Mamil is the only consumer brand dedicated to this mature, discerning and engaged cohort of enthusiasts. We address our audience through our website, newsletter, blog, guest writing, social media channels…and a range of casual apparel; get an insight at www.chicmamil.com
Chic Mamil printed t-shirts…cycling with Style and Wisdom.
Mission to delight Cycling enthusiasts
To act as a ‘virtual common room’ for the growing legion of Middle Aged Men in Lycra; sharing our common interest in the delights of road cycling enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Every MAMIL knows that much of the pleasure is derived from simply being out in the countryside, enjoying the views, the company and the feint sense of accomplishment. Company Overview www.chicmamil.com a website and accompanying social media dedicated to the Middle Aged Man In Lycra. Offering news, views, opinions, humour…and a small range of very stylish, casual apparel. Personalised Printed T-Shirts by October Textiles Limited
It might be a new year, but that doesn’t mean Paul Stephenson is going all ‘futuristic’ on us as he wades into the digital debate.
I’ve got an XL Tom Tom, a five mega pixel camera and an iPod. I put a sleek black Samsung next to them on the desk and engage Bluetooth — that should impress them. The door opens and three young men who I suspect live with their mothers, read horror novels and have a shampoo allergy shuffle silently in; they are here to talk to me about spiders, of the Google variety. As they begin mumbling into their bum fluff about string queries while staring at their Clarks, I find that all I can hear is the server’s incessant dirge, punctuated by the occasional ping pong of an email as it falls onto my virtual doormat… and in my coat pocket I feel the presence, of a Blackberry.
It’s all progress of course, but when I’ve gone a bit heavy on the cré¨me de menthe I’m occasionally visited by my old friend Ben Kenobi who reminds me, ‘You’re more machine than man now’, and when I wake at 4am to see the kettle spinning around on the record deck I think, it’s inevitable isn’t it, you can’t hide from the future? Face Space, My Book and Grebo… complete strangers email me and ask if they can be my friend. I’m English and polite and so naturally I say ‘Yes of course old chap, I mean dude, lovely to hear from you’. They then reply asking who the hell I am and telling me to clear off their friends section. I want to write back and tell them I’d rather drop my undercarriage into a jar of African killer bees than be part of their social network but I can’t, because I’m English, and polite, and so I apologise.
I’m told it’s inevitable that I must blog every move of my fascinating life — I noticed some clown on a T-shirt site recently describing a particularly interesting cloud formation he’d just seen. In the same way is it inevitable I wonder, that we must turn to digital print?
The advantages are obvious I guess. No messy inks mean no plastisol on the mother in law’s new Axminster — no bad thing when your mother in law’s got a pierced nipple and has lost all her front teeth to pork scratchings (no offence Doreen). And as for digital print quality, you can pick out the hairs on a gnat’s todger in glorious Technicolor without a single screen, so no carry on with the old four colour process inks, no setup costs, BINGO! And onto black garments I’m told.
It’s also easy to operate — apparently even embroiderers can work the kit. This is a huge advantage in the modern labour market. As we all know the ability to read, write, spell and do basic maths are now optional extras for most school leavers… and yet strangely they all emerge with 50 GCSE’s and a bucket of A levels; presumably some of these are in knuckle scraping and gurning. Off the subject slightly — Me? Never! But if you’re ever feeling a touch under par just advertise for a fictional job vacancy — I had a candidate recently inform me that he was suitable for screen printing because in a previous job at the abattoir, he’d been in charge of burning off pig hair. Fairly sure if I‘d been doing that for seven years I’d keep it quiet.
So you don’t need to train a young Paduan screen printer for five years before they’re ready to take the trials… which not all will survive — you just put young Trevor in front of the digital printer and tell him to shout you if it catches fire. And the digi-bonuses continue — the equipment doesn’t take up much space; it doesn’t fill the room with smoke; I guess it’s eco friendly (?); you’re not standing up spinning a carousel all day until your feet look like a pair of Quavers; and the blow dried salesman in comedy socks informs me that production times are just getting faster and faster. It’s a ‘no brainer’ they say — put that squeegee down and call your first child Epson!
But you know what Mr Stephenson, head of the Luddite Print Company is going to say don’t you? And it’s predictable isn’t it, because I still listen to Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry and blokes whose first names are Blind or Howlin’ (what were their mothers thinking?) I’m going to take the stairs and not the elevator, use the map and not the sat nav, I might even write someone a letter one day soon, in ink, and I’m not going digital just yet. There’s a reason, maybe not a great reason, but here’s the thing.
Don’t digital prints pretty much all look the same? Now I know we go to some stupid lengths at our place to try and do different stuff. This culminated recently in a bunch of screen printers standing in a field shooting sweatshirts with 12 bore shotguns — well how else to you get an irregular distress in a thick fleece? For any loons interested enough to know we reckon the optimum distance is 12 feet — any closer looks like a post office raid gone wrong. Do not attempt without a licence and permission of the land owner though; although consenting, the farmer in our case viewed us with the kind of suspicion I imagine he usually reserves for gay communists.
This excursion was not helped a few days later by the lads at work catching me distressing individual water based prints with sand paper — but this plot loss aside, go digital and I’ve got no expanding bases, no discharge, no suede effect, no high builds, no sprinkled glitters, and what about pressure distressed water based? You know, where you just feel that wood in the palm of your hand, press a bit harder and then ooooh just ease off there a touch tiger and lift the screen and yes, oh yes indeed ladies and gentlemen, that print looks a hundred years old — in short when it comes to digital, it’s printing Jim, but not as we know it.
Cheers,
Paul
T shirt printing using screen printing techniques is the most common garment printing method.
Listed below are some of the best and most effective garment printing methods used by us to help you decide on what may be best for your garment designs.
Plastisol printing – the most common plastisol based print used in garment decoration. Good colour opacity onto dark garments, clear graphic detail, with as the name suggests, a more plasticized texture. This print can be made softer with special additives or heavier by adding extra layers of ink.
Water Based inks – these penetrate the fabric more than the plastisol inks and create a much softer feel. Ideal for printing darker inks onto lighter coloured garments. Also useful for larger area prints where texture is important.
Discharge inks – used to print lighter colours onto dark background fabrics, they work by removing the dye in the garment – this means they leave a much softer texture. They are less graphic in nature than plastisol inks, and exact colours are difficult to control, but especially good for distressed and vintage prints.
Foil printing – is what you would imagine. A glue is printed onto the fabric and then foils applied for a mirror finish. Due to the gold or silver foil used, minimum quantity of 100 applies.
Glitter/Shimmer – silver flakes are suspended in a plastisol ink to create this sparkle effect. Usually available in gold or silver but can be mixed to make most colours.
Metallic printing– similar to glitter, but smaller particles suspended in the ink.
Expanding ink (puff) – an additive to plastisol inks which raises the print off the garment, creating a 3D feel.
Caviar beads – again a glue is printed in the shape of the design, to which small plastic beads are then applied – works well with solid block areas creating an interesting tactile surface. Minimum quantity of 100 applies.
Four colour process– artwork is created using dots (CMYK) which combine to create the full spectrum of colours needed for photographic garment printing – this means an infinite number of colours can be printed using only 4 screens, making the set-up costs viable. The inks are required to blend and are more translucent, meaning a compromise with vibrancy of colour.
Gloss printing– a clear base laid over plastisol inks to create a shiny finish.
Mirrored Silver – Another solvent based ink but you can almost see your face in it.
The Hemp Trading Company came runner up in the 2006 Observer Ethical Awards for ‘Best Fashion Product’, and was also shortlisted for ‘Environmental company of the year’ at the ‘Re:Fashion Awards
The Hemp Trading Company’s CEO Gavin Lawson was also listed in the ‘Future 100’ social entrepreneurs of 2008.
The Hemp Trading Company is a member of Ethical Junction http://www.ethical-junction.org
The Hemp Trading Company also use Bamboo:
Some of the THTC range is made from 70% bamboo, mixed with 30% organic cotton. The company we source our bamboo fibre from has Oeko Tex 100 certification, which is an internationally recognised standard in sustainability. Bamboo is one of the few plants that grows faster than hemp, and as it comes from an interconnected subterranean root system, the plant is not killed, just the shoots harvested. The supplier is internationally recognised for its sustainable processes regarding not only harvesting but also production of the organic bamboo. The fibre is a bamboo viscose (as is 99% of the bamboo fibre found in the textile industry) meaning that it is an extruded fibre made in the same way as other viscose fibres, so there is a chemical and energy footprint, however the raw material is bamboo cellulose which is very sustainable
The last range of men’s bamboo t-shirts have been sourced from Continental Clothing, a London-based supplier. Continental have full certifications of all their fabrics on their website, which can be found on their website:
All factories that THTC uses comply with ISO 9000 standards — (international organisation of standardisation) The hemp is trucked to the mill for de-gumming and processing into fibre. No caustic soda is used during this process, keeping it as environmentally sound as possible.
The clothing is manufactured by people who receive full safety training, and belong to a labour union. The minimum age of employees is 19, the maximum age being 54. They work 8 hour shifts and have weekends off – (That’s more than us at THTC central!)
All our Hemp is grown on small family farms in North Eastern China. It is and always has been grown organically.
All our certified organic cotton is also grown in China. This is a fledgling industry that THTC supports and saves the energy and expense of shipping in from Europe or India.
The Hemp Trading Company now uses water based inks (comply with GOTS) with a discharge screen printing process for almost all new designs.
Eco Paper is used for poster printing, and will soon be used in all THTC flyers, swing tickets and catalogues.
Currently, THTC is working endlessly in order to join forces with the Fair Trade Foundation. Although already doing so, attaining the Fair Trade Mark will signify the THTC products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal.
For a products from the The Hemp Trading Company to display the FAIRTRADE Mark it must meet international Fairtrade standards.
Guy Bourdin is arguably the best fashion photographer of his generation. He has set the standard for today’s fashion image styling and his flair for creating drama in stills is a testament to the power of the image capture.
His settings use the mastery of colour like a Matisse with the energy of a Punk Rocker. He forces the viewer to engage intimately with the subjects and teases the eye. Considering many of the photos are of fashion it is sometimes surprising how little of the garments are actually seen yet fashion is still the dominate subject.
Many of the photographic images that we see young fashions designers adopting owe a big-up to Guy Bourdin. For those of you who do not know who I talking about here is a bio and an image slideshow. Enjoy.
Guy Bourdin (born December 2, 1928 in Paris, died March 29, 1991 of cancer in Paris) was one of the best known photographers of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century.
He worked for Vogue magazine from 1955 onwards for roughly 30 years.
His work for Vogue, together with another Seventies famous fashion photographer, Helmut Newton defied the standards, ideas and theories about fashion photography in general.
Both used strong themes, including themes such as sex, death, violence, glamour and fear, to provoke a new way of looking at man in general.
During their working years for Vogue they were given unlimited artistic freedom.
Guy Bourdin did advertising work for the Charles Jourdan shoe company. His quirky crime scene ads were greatly recognized and always muchly awaited by the media.
In the last years, Guy Bourdin has been hailed as one of the greatest fashion photographers of all time and his son, Samuel Bourdin, released a book with the finest prints of his father’s work, called “Exhibit A”.
He has been an influence on many artists, and continues to be so until this very day.
Madonna’s 2003 music video for Hollywood was greatly influenced by the photography of Bourdin, so much so that a lawsuit was brought on against her by Bourdin’s son for copyright infringement.
A fantastical biographical documentary program was shown for the BBC in 1991 (Dreamgirls: The photographs of Guy Bourdin). So few fashion icons like Helmut Newton and Jean-Baptiste Mondino played a crucial role talking about the way that Bourdin managed his own way to do fashion photography. In this program the spectator also can grasp the complex universe around the pictures of Bourdin.
Stephane Tartelin. Who is he? – Well he was born in France in 1976 and living in Paris, Stephane Tartelin start mixing traditional drawings with computer graphics at 15 years old. After 5 years of professional visual communication school, he fulfill childhood dream and start working for different video games development studio in Paris.
In January 2000 he starts working as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and motion designer. He now works for various range of international advertising, broadcast and publishing clients and still explore all facets of graphic design, animation, 3D, photography and of course illustration that remains his favourite playground.
We love his style and recommend a visit to Stephane Tartelin site http://www.tartelin.com to see more of his graphic. They have even reached some very cool tshirts.
Stephane Tartelin. Who is he? – Well he was born in France in 1976 and living in Paris, Stephane Tartelin start mixing traditional drawings with computer graphics at 15 years old. After 5 years of professional visual communication school, he fulfill childhood dream and start working for different video games development studio in Paris.