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Posted October 3, 2012 by Amy in Features
 
 

Pop Art, T-Shirts, and the Other Thing

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Michael Deneen chats  with Ashley Hay on the changing world of One-a-Day T-Shirts.

The other day, I noticed one of my favorite One-A-Day t-shirt sites, Shirt Punch, was doing something alarming.  They were doing licensed shirts for a particularly popular TV show.  It wasn’t the fact that they were doing two shirts based on a TV show that shocked me; that happens all the time.  It was the fact that it read “licensed.” It sent an eerie chill down my spine, like the day I saw Blink 182 on MTV.  It started popping childish thoughts into my head like “sell out”.  Luckily, my friend Ashley Hay, who works for Shirt Punch, was able to set me straight about what is going on over there and prevented me from making a huge idiot of myself.

I decided that perhaps other people, who are ignorant of how the One-a-day T-Shirt industry works, would be interested to know where this industry is headed, why the licensing, and what exactly goes on behind the scenes in companies like Shirt Punch.

MD: Thanks for taking the time to lay some knowledge on the good people of the internet.  For those who aren’t familiar with you, care to explain who you are and what it is that you do?

AH: My name is Ashley, and I am a graphic designer (level 50).  I am also art selector for the shirt-a-day site Shirtpunch.com.

MD: How long have you been doing graphic design work?  What’s your background with One-a-day shirt sites?

AH: I have been designing since high school, many moons ago. I started doing shirt designs when I was looking for a job after college. I didn’t want to stop designing while waiting for a job, so I did fun designs that interested me to work on my skills. I sent a couple designs to shirt-a-day site and one was picked up. Once a design got picked and was successful, I just keep subbing to all the sites that offer that service. I have been printing with these sites for a year and a half now while working for one.

MD: Now, recently, per our discussion, there’s been some “problems” in the industry regarding fair use, parodies and first amendment usages for pop art.  What exactly is going on?

AH: Parody and fair use laws are obscure at best and leave a gap for designs and companies. The known rule is that if you mash up some different properties it is considered parody and legal to sell without the permission. This is starting to not be the case. Companies are getting savvy to this and since the laws are fuzzy and artists can’t fight the legal systems of the big companies, they just take the design down.

MD: I know you aren’t a lawyer, but what are you seeing as the legal reasoning behind certain companies sending cease and desist orders to the various sites?

AH: Other sellers that pay for the license to sell the copyrighted properties also complain and want the designs taken down. Plus the fair use and parody laws are super vague so it can work for either the artist or the company.

MD: Why do you suppose many companies are not ok with usage of their IPs in pop art?  Does every company feel the same way?  If not, who is ok with it and who isn’t?

AH: Some companies are totally cool with it. Nintendo has been very open with people doing fan art and selling, as long as people don’t try to sell as an official Nintendo product. There are many companies who are not cool with it, Namco, Disney and Lucas Arts. Mostly it has to do that people pay for these licenses all the time so why give it away for free most likely.

MD: Now, we said earlier that you work for Shirt Punch.  Tell everyone what it is that you do there and how you landed this amazing job!

AH: I am one of the art selectors for ShirtPunch and I had printed with them before so that helped land me the job. I also sent them an awesome resume. It was full of super heroes. Basically, I choose half of the designs that we print on the site and talk with the artist to find their awesome art.

MD: Recently, Shirt Punch caught some flak from people, myself included, for issuing licensed shirts.  Explain to everyone the history behind this?  Why the jump to this?  How do these get lined up? What does this mean for the artists?

AH: It got flak because mostly people don’t understand what it means. We get licenses with companies like the people who own Garfield and Showtime and have our artists make a design for it. This is huge for artists. They get to say they have actual licensed designs and it can open up other opportunities for them. For ShirtPunch, it is great because we can legally sell designs and work with other properties in the future.

MD: In your words, as both an artist and someone who works for a one-a-day shirt site, if people tell you that your site is selling out, what do you say to them?

AH: Selling legal designs does not mean selling out. The industry is changing and parody designs are only going to last so long. Companies like MightyFine sell legal designs and people love them and yet they are not selling out.

MD: What is the future of one-a-day Tshirt companies?  Years ago, it seemed like it was only TeeFury in this market, now it seems there are tons. Can all of these companies survive?

AH: I am not sure what the future brings for them. More and more are popping up but they are not going to all survive, I don’t think.

MD: How do artists get paid for these designs they submit?  I think that’s an important thing that gets lost in all of this discussion, as the artists are people; they obviously need to eat.  How do get artists get compensated for their work?

AH: Artists get paid per item sold on the site. Many sites pay them $1 a shirt or 10% an item. Even if you only sell 50, it is $50 you didn’t have and 50 people wearing a design you did.

MD: Is there anything else that you want to add that you feel the general public needs to know about one-a-day Tshirt sites?

AH: Try them out if you have not yet. They are awesome!

MD: Awesome, thanks Ashley!

Full Disclosure:  Ashey and myself used to do a video game podcast together called “Yet Another Gaming Show”. If interested, this show can be found at www.fancypantsgangsters.com/yags

For a good link for a legal discussion regarding copyright infringement vs. Parody usage, see here.

*Interview Written and Conducted by Michael Deneen*


Amy

 
U.S. Senior Editor & Deputy EIC, @averyzoe on Twitter, mother of 5, gamer, reader, wife to @macanthony, and all-around bad-ass (no, not really)