The journal
Direction
The stories behind the clothes: design history, labor history, fabric and care. Written by people, checked against sources, published when they're ready.
DesignIdeasFabric & careHistoryLabor
Drawing a rose that points somewhere
The design brief was one sentence: a rose you'd wear before you knew what it meant. Notes on how the mark got drawn.
Eight hours for what we will
Work and rest explain themselves. The third eight hours had to be fought for by name, and it's the clause your evenings live in.
How to wash garment-dyed cotton
Garment-dyed cotton is dyed after the shirt is sewn. That one fact explains the color, the softness, and every rule about washing it.
Screen printing, DTG, or DTF: what's on your shirt
Every printed tee you own was made one of three ways. How to tell which, and what that predicts about wash fifty.
Where the socialist rose came from
A poem, a textile strike, and a Paris design brief: how a garden flower became the most durable political symbol the democratic left has.
What makes a t-shirt heavyweight
The word gets stitched onto everything now. Here is what the number underneath it actually measures, and what it does on your shoulders.
What 'union printed' actually means
Three phrases get used interchangeably on merch, and they claim very different things. A field guide to reading labor claims on clothing.
Who won the weekend
Saturday did not always belong to you. The story of how it changed hands runs through Haymarket, a Detroit assembly line, and one federal law.
Why we print your shirt after you buy it
The apparel industry's dirtiest habit is making clothes nobody ordered. The fix costs you a few days and costs the landfill a pile.