Chupa Chups anyone?



I remember back in 5th grade when I first had a Chupa Chups lollipop. My teacher was the coolest ever, and in order to keep us motivated she'd pass these things out constantly. I distinctly recall that sudden realization that every other lollipop I'd ever had was complete crap compared to these things. But after a few years I never heard about them again, and just figured they shopped making them or something.

Well, yesterday while hanging out in downtown Atlanta I checked out a store in Little 5 Points and saw that they had a whole bowl of them! So I bought and handful of them and have been enjoying the creamy and fruity nostalgia ever since. Then, on a whim, this morning I found a candy wholesaler on line and bought about 300 assorted Chupa Chups. I'll be including them in orders now! Enjoy! :P

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posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:40 AM, ,


Pics from HQ!

Orders ready to be shipped...Well things have picked up pretty dramatically in the last two months. I went from shipping about 20 shirts in January to about 60 in March, and probably a lot more this month. It's unusual for the batch here to go out in one day, though; about half of these are actually preorders for Epidemic, which JUST came in last night. And wow. Fantastic job again! Here's some other pics from the latest addition to the LF "headquarters".

New shelvesBelt DrawerLF Baggies!PostcardsEpidemic Stocked!

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posted by Mr. Linty @ 5:44 PM, ,


Self Deadlines are OK!

Thinking so much about the time when I can quit my job and support myself is having a negative effect on my current employment, I think. Today, for the first time in a few weeks, I had to do "design" at work. It's the farthest possible stretch of the term, really, since it's just a matter of transferring data from dozens of emails and spreadsheets into sign templates. Seriously more boring than boredom itself.

I don't think it was just me, though, because my boss was grumpy about it as well, especially since the contact we were working through didn't really know what he was talking about and kept changing stuff on us. I'd go through hours of working getting all these serial numbers right for this sign and he'd email us and tell us he wanted to use the item numbers instead of the serial numbers. I think, at that point, slamming my finger in a car door would've been less painful.

Funny thing is, I knew that as soon as I got in today I had all this design stuff to get done for Linty Fresh. I'm releasing another 2 shirts on May first, so I had to get all the print files prepped, pick out the right pantone colors, and make last minute changes on various elements to make them feel right on a shirt.

I think one of the most enjoyable things for me is doing the tags, strangely enough. See, there's this certain amount of worry that goes into every tee design. I think to myself: Are people really going to like this? Do I even like it? Is this too similar to my other stuff? How can I really bring something new to the table with this? It's a gamble, really, putting so much money out there and hoping to make it back. But the thing is, when I'm finally happy with it, and I can walk away and come back and still like it, there's this great feeling of "that's it!" where everything just moves really quickly. And that's when I do the tags. I try to match the style or the theme of the tee and do something a little different each time, and it's just loads of fun.

Here's the tags for the May tees:

posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:38 PM, ,


Oh sweet!

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posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:48 PM, ,


Taking over the world... one torso at a time!

Belt shelf!I'm very pleased with my decision to do new releases on the 1st of each month. It's a great way to build interest since people can count on it every time. The thing is that it makes my 30th, 31st, and 1st of each month crazy hectic with getting everything set up. It really pays off though - 8 tees and 6 belts went out yesterday! Crazy!

But yeah, hopefully in the future I'll be able to stock them earlier and have things set for release at midnight.

And, I'm out of space! I gotta go get some new shelves from Home Depot today since the Epidemic shirts are coming in Friday and I've got nowhere to put them. I should just bite the bullet and buy myself a nice sturdy shipping table where I can fold shirts and pack up orders and stash stuff under, but (a) I have no space for such a monstrosity and (b) I'm trying to use all LF money for new products. Later (possibly in the fall) I'll take the plunge for all that other stuff, including a scale and a label printer. I'm at the post office every day now and I'm pretty weary of it.

Oh, and regarding that Collaboration design that I did with J3 - this morning I bought his half of the design from him, so I now own it in full and can do whatever I like with the art. I'm thinking that doing allovers are out of my league right now (minimums are like 300 pieces!), but I believe I can simplify the design for a shirt. So that should be out sometime in the summer. (Hopefully in time for the show, but that's doubtful) I know this kind of goes against my vision of designing everything 100% myself, but by the time of its release it'll contain almost none of the original elements of Jared's design, just his style. And it's a cool style and gets along well with the LF vibe I've got goin!

What else... Ah yes! Custom packaging! I was on the phone with Jimmy the other day and we were brainstorming about ways to do it. I'm thinking I'm going to switch to paper mailers so that I can print with regular plastisol ink on screens (just like my tees are done). They'll be patterned similar to the header banner at my store and the one I did as a collab, but it's going to have a comic strip feel to it with a graphic narrative and stuff. If I have time I'll start it tonight.

In a few months I also want to release cardboard gift box mailers. Basically it'll be an item that can be purchased in the store for $5 or so, and it will enable people to send their friend LF goods in a special LF box with custom designs and even a personalized note card that they can fill out at checkout.

ALSO (goodness, is there no end??!), I just bought this awesome clothing rack from Amazon for only 21 bucks! Crazy! I ordered some new American Apparel goods, too, like a collared shirt and a wallet, because I want to analyze them and see what kind of designs I can work up for them in the future. Oh, haha, and I just got word back from my printer that he's got some badical glow in the dark ink now available for experimentation... Hm...

Finally (to save the most delicious for last) - last night I made some Chinese dumplings (from scratch!) and goodness gracious. They were pretty stinking scrumptious. I'm having them again right now for lunch! Man, fresh food makes me so happy.

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posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:56 AM, ,