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Black Metal T-Shirts on Stage
Black Metal T-shirts are among the most extreme garments on the metal market, mainly due to their controversial designs and extreme graphics, sometimes featuring inverted crosses, runes and other symbols. Complicated band logos and often strong slogans with anti-Christian and/or anti-system messages make these garments that stand out from the crowd, and the “geeks” wearing them, often drawing attention to themselves.
Black Metal scene, the number of bands and projects ( often one-man) in the world and in Poland is very large. Since the artists who create their music underground are the most dedicated to it, the T-shirts of such projects are the most difficult to acquire. If they do appear, they are limited editions, available to a very narrow circle, released in collector’s form and rarely intended to make more money.
It is accepted that black metal T-shirts are usually made on simple, cheap “rags”, at the lowest cost on the so-called ” black metal “. “ready-made products.” There are several reasons for this situation. First of all, the price to which metalworkers have become accustomed over the years and the easy availability of these products on the market. Record labels and underground distributors often don’t want to invest big money in professional-quality merch, because business-wise it just doesn’t pay off for them. Underground Black Metal is a niche industry, marginal and intended for a select group of people, which is why the bands’ clothing produced on cheap, poor-quality T-shirts is so popular.
Of course, it should be mentioned that well-known companies tj. Fruit of the Loom, Adler or Gildam have better, higher-end and much better material T-shirts in their catalogs, but not many publishers opt for them, mainly because of the exorbitant price.
Weight and 100% cotton – Marketing slogan.
Another myth that has been known for years is the claim that the quality of a T-shirt is determined by the weight and 100% cotton. This is complete nonsense that has nothing to do with reality and the real quality of the material.
The grammage determines the THICKNESS and weight of the material, but does thick always mean good? On very hot days, very thick and heavy T-shirts (e.g., 220 gsm) do not always work, and can even be cumbersome.
The same is true of 100% cotton. Almost every T-shirt now has 100% cotton in its description, BUT the question is, what quality is that cotton? Does it additionally contain other material, such as polyester, viscose, etc.? How does it behave after washing?
Also included in the evaluation of the quality of a T-shirt is the cut, finish, how it is sewn, additional elements, stitching, etc.
So in conclusion, sometimes a 140g/m² T-shirt made of high-quality cotton is a class better than a 200g/m² T-shirt, and still many people are guided by this criterion when deciding to buy, which is very wrong.
The quality of a T-shirt is determined, as you can see, in various ways, and the final assessment depends on many details.
The most popular and durable print for years has been “screen printing” and 99% of black metal T-shirts are released using this technology. The exception is printing on sports or breathable T-shirts. Another well-known printing technique is DTG, due to its highly detailed printing, but the durability of such printing is limited and it happens that after a few improper washes the T-shirt is suitable for throwing away.
Stronghold black metal t-shirts
At Stronghold, we have centered the quality of the material in relation to grammage and price. We are releasing T-shirts with a thickness of 180 g/m² or 200 g/m² sewn from very good cotton. Our T-shirts are also professionally finished, include additional labels and tags, and the prints are very detailed and thoughtful. For “underground” conditions, the quality is very good, but this was also our assumption when setting up Stronghold Clothes.
For many years we bought merch of metal bands of poor quality from various distributions and were often shocked how, for example, after one wash, a new T-shirt turned into a stiff, heavy rag. There were also times when the threads on the seams would come out and detach from various places, such as the collar. On many of them, the black color of the material has turned to gray, and the prints have partially fallen off….
Therefore, we decided to do something new for the scene in very good quality. If you see the price of our T-shirts blowing your mind, keep in mind that the quality surpasses virtually everything you’ve known so far. And let’s not forget that production in such quality is quite expensive, and the earnings from it almost zero. That’s why your support is important so that we can and will release more products in the future. We do it because of our passion for extreme music!
Bands
To date, we have released limited edition T-shirts and other merch from the following underground bands:
Our fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/strongholdclothesandmusic
The Stronghold Clothes and Music team.
