Artwearness; artful t-shirt designs-an artistic -commercial experiment with a social mission.
In 2014, I co-founded Artwearness with Dennis Bakker. Product; artistic T shirt designs. In response to the fast and polluting and too cheap fashion industry. Artwearness, is Awareness with a wink. Good graphic designs on t shirts made from slave-free and sustainable cotton. In 2018, my Partner Erik van Scheijndel joined and Dennis Bakker quit. In 2021, we pulled the plug. While I can look back on varying degrees of success, it was nevertheless mostly a lot of work to keep everything up to date; from new designs to maintaining the website and back office. It proved impossible to combine with my artistry.
Although it was a step into the world of commerce, I still see it as one of my artistic expressions, art experiments. intervening in a world and making a different voice heard there. I succeeded in that. And the designs will go into the archives for a while to come back in a different jacket in a while.
Artwearness mission & vision (as featured on the website)
The times we live in today demand a new mindset, looking for answers to mass culture, the power of big multinationals and over consumption. More and more small innovative initiatives are trying to offer an alternative for the conscious and autonomous consumer.
Artwearness is one such initiative. We create unique, artistic and sustainable T-shirts. It is an initiative of mine together with Erik van Scheijndel (director 19 the Atelier, Zwolle).
The concept is simple; the T-shirt as a canvas, as a social statement and the wearer of the shirt as a running exhibit. The designs are artistic statements and quirky graphics with substance and irony. It entices the wearer to get out of their comfort zone a little.
Apart from the designs, Artwearness is special because that there is no stock, each order is specially printed per customer on shirts from “Stella & Stanley”; a brand which produces beautiful, high-quality modern and sustainable T-shirts. With this, we also want to send a signal, an honest product has an honest price. And we position ourselves diametrically opposed to price boxers with dubious production chains.
Artwearness wants to exude artistry, playfulness, inspiration and sustainability. Also in the way we manifest ourselves on our blog and social media, Artwearness wants to surprise and transport you to a world full of art and philosophy.
Below is an overview of the digital promotional material distributed on the social media channels.
Artwearness museum campaign was set up with the idea that we wanted to offer our shirts in museum environments. To this end, we created an art selection that was offered in a catalogue. See images below. The models you see are all befriended ‘volunteers’.
Artwearness Models
The models that were used for all campaigns (except the promos) are all friendly models that I briefly mention here: Isabel van Sliedregt, Mirthe Langelaan, Richy Kartosonto, Sebastiaan van Sliedregt, Daan van de Koniijnenburg and model L , Ryanne, Damien Eektimmerman, and Freek Pruntel. Below are examples of headers:
Deelname Orange The world campagne-
