The t-shirt is a staple in any wardrobe, and we set out to create our version of tee perfection. Commonly selected and manufactured from standardized styles in the fashion industry, we designed our own from scratch. It's our ideal: we specified the fit down to the centimetre.

The first of our t-shirts is Roswell: a boxy tee with a slight oversized fit, cut in BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) fairtrade cotton. It's finished with a hand-painted graphic of the eternal optimist: the smiley face.

An illustration of the Roswell Hand-Painted T-Shirt & Monument Pant during collection development.

We chose to paint a smiley face on our tees as we love its iconography - it's a universal symbol for optimism.

During the development process, collaborating artist MET created many different styles of smileys, of which we narrowed down to a style with an undefined border, uneven texture, and painted in earthly-optimistic shades of blue and green.

In winter 2022 MET came to our East London studio, where we finalized and painted our Roswells. After painting the pieces, they were left to dry for 24 hours. Following, they were heat-pressed by iron to bind the textile medium to the fabric and allow them to be hand-washable.

MET painting Roswells in our East London studio.

Roswell's cotton is BCI, meaning it is fairtrade. It is worth noting that, while the BCI organization aims to educate farmers on more sustainable practices, they do not, as with organic certification, require thorough certification. However, we still believe it is a better alternative to conventional cotton as it enables cotton farmers to be paid more for their product in a market where cotton prices can be artificially suppressed by government subsidies.

The cotton was dyed and finished at Tintex in Portugal, a leading jersey manufacturer with a positive reputation for sustainable innovation in the industry.

Roswell was manufactured at a North London based small-batch production studio. The studio specializes in high-end production, working with many emerging and established designers and brands in the city. Each t-shirt was made in-studio by their talented seamstresses and cutters.

Roswell is limited run and small-batch, with only a handful produced.

You can purchase the Roswell Hand-Painted T-Shirt here.