80′s retro chic has been back for awhile – heck, designers tried to force us into embracing the Mom Jean fad just last year.  In the T-shirt world, this means that we see a lot of pretty rad 80′s-inspired designs.  We also have some especially sweet retro geek gear, which makes a whole lotta sense: the concept of “geek” as a compu-nerd as opposed to a bug-eating circus performer really took off in the 80′s, with classic movies like “Weird Science” and “16 Candles” and “Real Genius” showcasing the archetype.

Yesterday we stumbled across a video circa 1981, wherein San Francisco’s own KRON investigates the mysterious and sci-fi possibility of actually reading a newspaper on your own computer screen.  Dowloading only takes 2 hours!

It’s worth noting that the explanation and use case demonstrated by the dude in the video shows a conceptual understanding of the future Internet that arguably exceeds that of the recently retired Senator Ted Stevens, who – in his own defense – is at the very least aware that the Internet is not a truck.  (And since he was in charge of regulating The Internets, it’s indeed comforting to know that he wasn’t looking to the Department of Transportation for insight.)

So, in the spirit of geek chic, enjoy a look back at this gem from 1981.  And don’t forget your leg warmers.

Today is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.  Obama’s favorite historical President is often noted as being from the same state as the new Commander-in-Chief who’s so often compared to him, and indeed Lincoln spent most his formative years in Illinois.  He was however born in Hardin County, KY, about an hour due South of our own Louisville production facility.

The comparisons of Lincoln and Obama have been going on since long before Obama was sworn in on Lincoln’s Bible, with multiple sources (other than the above WWLD T-shirt) wondering what Lincoln would do in Obama’s shoes.  A simple Google Search yields over 30 million results, and our own Marketplace has a variety of Obama-Lincoln merchandise.  Indeed, Lincoln is very popular with T-shirt designers; we have more Lincoln T-shirts than there are about Reagan, any Roosevelts or even John F. Kennedy.

Which is to say that, from our end of things, the similarities between Obama and Lincoln are certainly there in the iconic imagery and inspiration to our design Community.

There are, of course, other similarities between the two leaders above and beyond being tall, dignified men endowed with an impressive set of ears.  Like Obama, Lincoln won the Presidency in a time of great uncertainty.  With the nation on the brink of civil war and with restoring the Union as his primary concern, Lincoln’s Inaugural address – like Obama’s – was paramount in setting the tone for his leadership.  Like Obama, Lincoln was known for writing his own speeches and delivering them with eloquence and confidence.  Like Obama, Lincoln’s Inaugural address focused on restoring unity to the nation by working together – though the tone of Lincoln’s first draft wasn’t quite so conciliatory, and was in fact toned down by his one-time rival but valued cabinet member William Seward.

Additional parallels include both men choosing an advisory team full of superbly qualified and competitive people who may or may not agree with the President (both Hillary Clinton and Seward hail from New York government, too), and who made no secret of wanting the Oval Office for themselves.  Both Presidents saw a value in big government, both came to the Office as fresher faces to politics than some of their opponents, and both paid great tribute and attention to our founding principles of fairness and equality for all American citizens, without exception.

And then, of course, there’s the similarities that we find as told by the T-shirts in our system.  Here’s a few worth noting:

1) Both men look good on a penny

2) Both are worthy of being somebody’s homeboy.

3) Both have inspired some interesting propaganda art.

One major difference between the two men is, of course, party: Lincoln was originally a member of the Whig party, and then became the first Republican to win the Presidency.

Interest in Lincoln has increased due to Obama’s own interest in him and the parallels that have been drawn between the two, but Lincoln was an American icon (and had a whole lot of T-shirts about him) long before Barack Obama had his first thong designed.

And so today we wish Abe Lincoln a happy 200th birthday, and pay tribute to him with one of his own quotes: “And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

Happy birthday, Abe.

Aretha Franklin is known for a big presence, a big voice, and more recently a Very Big Hat.  (Or, more accurately, a Very Big Bedazzled Bow on a regular-sized hat.)

Aretha’s Inaugural headwear made about as much an impression as her version of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” which was in such high demand that she’s released it digitally.  Her hat is also in high demand – the Museum of American History (one of the 19 Smithsonians) is hoping that she’ll donate it to them.

Aretha said that she’s considering donating her hat to the Smithsonian Institute, but no decisions have been announced.  The hat itself was made by a Detroit hatmaker who now has a month-long backlog of people clamoring for a similarly bedecked headdress.  Although he won’t make an exact replica, he will be making something close for those who have lined up to remember the Inauguration with a custom-made bling bling lid.

Whether the Big Bow (all fancy hats need a nickname) will be on public display for future generations is up to the Queen of Soul.  If she were to donate it, it would be in fine company: the National Museum of American History also houses Lincoln’s top hat, and with his 200th birthday tomorrow and the significance he’s had for the Obama campaign, perhaps it’s only fitting that Aretha’s Big Bow go to live alongside Lincoln’s top hat.

And so we award Aretha Franklin a slightly overdue Fantasy T-Wearer Award, though in this case we present her with a cap.  While we acknowledge that a baseball hat doesn’t make the same impression that a Swarovski crystal-encrusted headdress does, regrettably we don’t do jewels yet.

As mentioned previously, the CafePress Ground Crew flew to the 2009 Inauguration to take part in the Obama celebration that had been happening via the almighty T-shirt for the bulk of 2008. With Obama T-shirts and gifts being added to our system at breakneck speed, in 6 months the then-Democratic-not-yet-presumptive-nominee had more t-shirts made about him than George Bush had amassed in 8 years.

Which is to say that, in the world of wearable self-expression, Obama took on the T-shirt primaries with a vengeance and ran with them all the way to the Presidency.

In any case, we hit the ground in D.C. armed (literally) with thousands of free buttons for all the folks who’d showed up from far-flung states and nations to witness history with 2 million of their closest friends.

After recovering from being outside in sub-freezing temperatures for a couple days, we put together this piece as a snapshot of the all the nice folks we encountered during our Inauguration adventures.  Enjoy…

CafePress goes to Washington from CafePress on Vimeo.

Oh – for those of you wondering, we did shoot all this video with the ever-portable Flip Mino HD.  Because bulky video cameras are hard to lug around, and even harder to use on a carousel.

They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

But that adage seems to go by the wayside in most copyright disputes.  In this case, the Associated Press seems anything but flattered by Shepard Fairey‘s iconic Obama poster.

And when the AP goes up against a well-known pop artist with a history of copyright infringment claims in the name of Intellectual Property, it’s like the Superbowl for the copyright enthusiast (or the Puppy Bowl, if you’re buzzcowboy).

From what we can gather, Mr. Fairey used an AP photo that he took from Google images to created his iconic Obama poster.  His derivative work was plastered on Obama t-shirts and posters during Obama’s political campaign, and derivatives of that were seen on everything from leather jackets to the occasional garage door.

The AP claims that Shepard Fairey’s use of the photo as the basis of his work is copyright infringement.  Mr. Fairey and his attorney argue that his use of the photo is protected under the fair use doctrine.  Even though the photographer who took the original photo does not appear to have a problem with Mr. Fairey’s use, the Associated Press is the owner of the copyright in the photo.  Often when we create things (like this blog post) on our employers’ clock, they own the copyright in the work.

Ironically, while Fairey is touting “fair use” one moment, another artist says he’s claiming copyright infringement the next.  Baxter Orr claims to have received a Cease and Desist letter for his own Obama poster.  Baxter claims he “wanted to parody the guy who parodies everything. He’s based his career off this. If he gets mad at this, he’s become just like Tide detergent or Coca-Cola.”

If indeed Orr’s claims are true (a copy of the C&D has yet to be made public), it looks like what’s good for the goose is not so great for the gander.

Although we’d love to hear the legal arguments and see whose side a judge or jury would pick, something tells us that these disputes will be resolved informally as opposed to through the courts.  Nonetheless, both disputes raise great fair use issues.

The legal issues behind copyright infringement may be on the back burner for Shepard Fairey anyway.  His humble beginnings as a street artist apparently haven’t gone by the wayside, as Fairey was recently arrested for tagging.  He was arrested en route to his first solo show, “Supply and Demand.”

Fairey has entered a not guilty plea, and this is where we come full circle and wonder whether he might actually regret his many attempts to keep complete control of his imagery.  Because without witnesses, who’s to say that the public graffitti wasn’t done by a fan of his work?

So will Fairey use the “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” defense, submitting a mountain of C&D‘s to prove his case?  We’ll see.

Punxsutawney Phil may have a competitor for World’s Best-Known Rodent Weather Prognosticator: Staten Island’s mildly ill-tempered groundhog Charles G. Hogg.

Chuck made headlines on Groundhog Day when he did what few groundhogs are brave enough to even consider: made his political leanings known to the world by chomping the finger of the New York’s Mayor Bloomberg.

Though his disdain for Michael Bloomberg was evident, it’s unclear as to what exactly Chuck finds objectionable about the Mayor.  Perhaps, being a revolutionary, Chuck dislikes politicians of any kind.  Perhaps he finds it offensive that the Mayor, a lifelong Democrat, switched his party to run for office in 2001, then left the Republican party in 2007 to be “unaffiliated.”  Or perhaps Chuck distrusts anyone whose net worth is on par with Vermont’s Gross State Product.

Whatever Chuck’s beef is with the Mayor, he’s not talking.

Then again, Chuck doesn’t need to do the talking.  His human fans are taking up his cause for him, with one Brooklyn supporter starting up a Viva Chuck shop to inspire all rodent revolutionaries and their disciples.

Of course, without opposable thumbs (or fingers of any kind) Chuck did need some assistance in getting merchandise set up for his throng of fervent supporters.

What the future holds for Chuck’s anti-establishment movement is unknown.  What we do know: Chuck likes corn.  So watch out, Iowa.  Chuck may decide that a strategic relocation is in order.

Bad news today for executives who thought that taxpayer bailout money was meant for their personal gratification: President Obama has instituted a salary cap of $500K for executives at any company that’s to receive substantial government aid.

Obama also announced that he’s putting the kabash on cash bonuses, noting that any future bonuses will have to be paid in stock that can’t be cashed out until the government loans are paid.  And just to be Grinchy about things, he’s demanding that these companies make public “all the perks and luxuries bestowed upon senior executives, and provide an explanation to taxpayers and to shareholders as to why these expenses are justified.”

No word on whether the employees of AIG have submitted doctor’s notes about needing massages and golf games to alleviate the stress of working for a financially insolvent company.

Obama describes this move as “basic common sense.”  This phrase is slightly different than, say, words that have been applied to the $25 million bonus package for Peter Kraus.  Kraus received this bonus for the whole 3 months he spent at the failing Merrill Lynch before it was “bought out” by Bank of America, who in turn went to the federal government for bailout money to help with troubled assets.  Like the ones they just bought from Merrill Lynch.

The best summation of Lynch’s package is: “The master bedroom suite is a private sanctuary on the corner of the apartment with two windows overlooking Park Avenue and a fourth wood burning fireplace.“  Which is of course why living on Park Avenue is expensive.  In this case, Kraus’ new bonus-funded digs cost over $30 million.

Well, perhaps it’s nice to know that at least one American citizen is able to afford a new house despite being briefly out of a job.

Obama’s mandate was met with criticism from some Wall Street pundits who claim it will make it difficult for troubled firms to retain top executives.  Others have noted that, were these executives doing a job worthy of 7 and 8 figure bonuses, perhaps their companies wouldn’t be failing in the first place.  Obama himself noted that American citizens are rightfully upset at seeing top executives be “rewarded for failure.”  And indeed, a simple search of our catalogue would indicate that Americans are fed up with the way the bailout money has been managed.

And so we award two Fantasy T-Wearer Awards today: the first is the “Good to be a Banksta” T-shirt above, which really does make a nice housewarming gift for Peter Kraus.  And the second is the “Bah, Humbug!” T-shirt at left, which goes to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the hopes that his lighthearted wardrobe choice might lead some affected executives to turn those frowns upside-down.

With the general doom & gloom facing the nation due to the economy, rising unemployment, global warming and the general refusal of nice restaurants to accept the spork as a forward-thinking approach to cutlery, it’s no wonder that folks take some comfort in good old traditional American folklore.

In this case, we’re talking about Groundhog Day.

Every February 2nd, local weathermen are upstaged by a furry critter from Punxsutawney.  This small town in Pennsylvania is about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh, and its claim to fame is housing the world’s furriest weather prognosticator.

And so it was that Groundhog Phil came out of his hole yesterday and saw his shadow, thus predicting 6 more weeks of winter.

On the plus side, anyone into this kind of folklore has a lot of groundhog sweatshirts to keep them warm in the meantime.

Superbowl Sunday is over, and even with a rising number of folks calling in “sick” on Superbowl Monday, those that braved the early morning sunlight (ugh… so… bright…) will gather around the water cooler to discuss the play-by-play action of some of the more interesting highlights of the game: the commercials.

Despite the economic slump, NBC managed to sell all of its ad time for a record $206 million.  The ads themselves were consciously crafted in consideration of the economic downturn, with a focus on humor, nostalgia and overt discussion of the financial situation.

Of course, now that bloggers, social media sites and Twitter allow for real-time discussion of the finer points of the Superbowl ads, the water cooler is becoming a bit So Next Day as a discussion place.  The downside: chatting is less likely to keep you hydrated.  The upside: by the time you get to the water cooler, you’re already armed with links and debated opinions about the topic at hand.

As of this morning, a number of sites have lists and posts of Best Superbowl Ads, Worst Superbowl Ads and Superbowl ads broken down by quarter.  With companies spending $100K per second to air these ads, we decided to see whether we could sum up 3 fan favorites with a $25 or less T-shirt, thus arming anyone on their way to the water cooler with some relevant wardrobe choices.  Here’s what we came up with:

Another surprise sure to spur some day-after watercooler talk: a surprise broadcast for the fans watching Tuscon’s KVOA-TV.  With less than 3 minutes to play in a tight fourth quarter, the Superbowl was interrupted by an accidental 30-second feed from the porn channel ClubJenna.  Unfortunately for viewers watching with children, this feed was a lot more graphic in nature than the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” of Superbowl XXXVIII and made PETA’s banned “veggie love” ad look like a classroom PSA by comparison.

And so while there were indeed some standout commercials during the 2009 Superbowl, the Fantasy T-Wearer Player of the Game Award goes to Jenna Jameson, founder of ClubJenna.  May the thong underwear at right prevent all future malfunctions of the full frontal view variety.

Superbowl Sunday is upon us.  And as a great number of Americans prepare to barbeque and drink great quantities of beer with their friends and family, some family members will be feeling left out – literally and figuratively.

Most notably, the dogs tend to get the short end of the stick on Superbowl Sunday.  Left at home to fend for themselves for hours on end while you cavort and cheer and watch incredibly expensive advertising, your dogs dread Superbowl Sunday the same way that kids dread that first day of school.

But never fear – there is a solution!

Puppy Bowl V airs on Animal Planet during the Superbowl, a panacea for dogs left at home all day and a welcome alternative for the humans of the world who really just don’t care one way or another about football.  With a starting lineup that’s a lot cuter than either Superbowl contender’s, Puppy Bowl is most likely the only Superbowl Sunday broadcast that could actually lower your blood pressure.

This year all Puppy Bowl participants have been plucked from local rescues or animal shelters, proving yet again that with hard work and perseverance, those from the wrong side of the tracks can realize their big dreams on a football field.  If your own canine pal had puppyhood dreams of athletic stardom but never did get the big break, no worries: you can outfit your dog in a Puppy Bowl t-shirt and let those dreams be realized through fandom.

So don’t forget to set your recording schedule, and do consider leaving Puppy Bowl on for your canine pals if you’re out of the house for the day.  Just make sure to separate the cats – some of them have been known to start high-stakes gambling pools and fantasy Puppy Bowl leagues, and we don’t want your Lab losing all his stuffed Kongs to the neighbor’s crafty Siamese.