Banged on!

What's better than a sassy new T-shirt? Well, you can probably think of a few things, but right now I can't.

That's because I just got one at Bang-On, a very cool custom T-shirt shop. Actually, it's a chain of stores that started in Vancouver (holla!), and has locations in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Zurich, and...uhh...Kelowna? Fortunately, if there isn't a location nearby, you can also buy from their Web site, though it doesn't seem to have as large a selection of designs as in the stores.

They've got several binders full of very cool designs, ranging from astrological signs and pop culture to political messages to car, cereal, and video game logos. They'll also do custom lettering. You choose the T-shirt and the design, and they'll bang it on. Prices start at about $30; certain designs and, of course, multiple logos cost more.

They use nice, quality shirts from American Apparel. After I had picked my design, I couldn't find exactly the right shirt for it, so I headed down the street to American Apparel, where I picked up a nice kelly green and white ringer T-shirt. The colours were perfect, and it seemed a little bit more fitted than the ordinary ones at Bang-On. The decal I had picked was $10, and for another $5, they applied it to my shirt.

The result is fabulous: you get exactly the shirt you want, and you'd never know that the design was pressed on in 2 minutes in the store. If you know me, you'll probably see me wearing my new shirt soon. If not, I'll try to post a pic soon.

Oh, and by the way, if you're in Toronto, I'd recommend the Queen West store over the one on Yonge. It's a much bigger, nicer looking store, and I found that the people there were much friendlier and more helpful. At the Yonge store, when I asked about supplying my own T-shirt, I was just told "no, we only do our own shirts," while on Queen West, they were happy to use mine, provided it was of good quality. The girl helping me even complimented me on the choice of shirt and said she couldn't wait until they started carrying it.