Grape Juice Records is partnering with AlwaysUrban.com and YOU to design the best T-shirt ever for Grape Juice Record’s 5th Anniversary!

The winner of the contest will take home a big prize package worth over $500!

You can win:
-$200 cash
-Free one-year Zip Car membership and $100 worth of Zip Car driving
-$100 AlwaysUrban.com gift certificate.
-Huge selection of CD’s from the Grape Juice Records catalog
-A printed version of your shirt presented to you at the 5th anniversary show.
-Recognition as a total bad-ass in all the post-contest press releases and advertising

The winning design will be unveiled LIVE on stage at the Grape Juice Records 5th anniversary party September, 3rd at the Double Door in Chicago, IL!

Click here to submit your design to Always Urban before the July, 17th submission deadline. Once all the submissions are in, Grape Juice Records’ fans will vote from 7/17 to 8/17 on AlwaysUrban.com to pick the winning design.

Submit a design now and become a part of Grape Juice Records’ history!

About Grape Juice Records:
“Grape Juice Records is Chicago’s newest, hardest-working and most unconventional record label. Our goal: to help musicians make a living playing music while simultaneously making a positive social impact on the world around us. We believe that businesses in this country have a responsibility to the communities around them. This world is crazy, but at Grape Juice Records we believe we can make it a little better… one CD at a time. Check us out at grapejuicerecords.com.”

About AlwaysUrban.com:
“Based in Chicago, Always Urban has been supporting underground artists and designers since 2007. Our mission is to help independent artists and designers blow up and we are just happy to be along for the ride. Help us put your local mall out of business, and look fresh doing it.”

Arkaik Clothing has just started a massive summer sale on their collection! Everything is printed on American Apparel, and most shirts are below $15 (inexpensive hoodies are also available).

Clothing Wire readers can receive an additional 10% off by using the special promocode “ARKAIKSPACE” when checking out at their online webstore. So go grab some new gear for the summer!

Pandy Cane was founded by Tom Bennett in Summer ‘07, and is currently based in the U.K. Originally, the idea for the brand spawned in downtown Chicago, USA, when Tom was standing in a supermarket admiring the huge amounts of candy they had to offer. At the time, he was also trying to locate the nearest Panda Express. And so, w/ an amusing mix-up of words in the brain, “panda” and “cane” gave birth to Pandy Cane.

Since that time, Tom has been working with various artists and bands to create unique designs, and promote them with any resources available. With a fairly niche product line, the company is primarily based around the love of cuddly bears and sweets (which most people tend to love).

Pandy Cane is always striving to evolve to the next level, and will soon be making a move to American Apparel, as well as the utilization of custom tags. The packaging is also neat – all shirts currently are sent out in pizza boxes containing loads of free stuff, including cd’s, badges, stickers, posters, and of course sweets.

Pandy Cane’s designs are influenced by pop culture, vinyl art (kid robot, etc.) and other leading brands such as Johnny Cupcakes. The company strives to create a positive emotional attachment with all their customers, and aims to give you “more than just a shirt”.

For more information on Pandy Cane, visit their webstore, myspace, facebook, twitter, and youtube.

Now that summer has officially begun, many of you might be looking for some new board shorts to wear out in those blazing hot days. Quiksilver recently unveiled their new Diamond DobbyTM Boardshort Technology, which they claim will be the backbone to the most comfortable boardshort to spend a beach weekend in.

Quiksilver is leading the charge in boardshort innovation with their new release. The embossed diamond-patterned material virtually eliminates rashing and chafing, is ultra lightweight, has the perfect amount of stretch, and dries 2x faster than the average boardshort.

The Quiksilver boardshorts with Diamond DobbyTM Technology are now available on Quiksilver.com and one style is available on Quiksilver’s high end line: the Quiksilver Limited Collection. Head on over to their website to view the many different designs available.

Clothing Wire was recently contacted by UPrinting.com, a respected provider of high quality printing services, to give one of our readers the opportunity to receive 250 free custom hang tags to use however they wish.

Hang tags are perfect if you want to brand retail products, and is a great way to showcase a professional image. In addition, they serve as a way to install name recognition and promote various products from a company. Enter this contest for your chance to receive 250 free custom hang tags to your specifications. There are two ways to gain entry:

1) Enter by posting a comment at the end of this post, describing how you would use these free hang tags (be sure to include your email).

2) For an extra entry, blog about this giveaway (then leave an extra comment with your blog link).

This giveaway contest will only be open for a week, until Midnight PST on Thursday, July 9th. One winner will then be randomly selected from the pool of entries (they will be announced in a blog post). Please note that shipping for the tags is not included. Good luck everyone!

A group of close friends came up with the concept for j-List ltd. Clothing Company back in 2002 after they were unable to find comfortable and stylish clothing that satisfied their taste and their wallets, while representing who they were- young, conscious and classy. After brainstorming ideas Jarrett Sinito, Steve Boldis, and Chad Sinito went to work to develop a line of clothing that would not only look good but would be affordable for all people looking for a classy urban look. Fast forward to 2009 where Jarrett, Chad and Steve are making that concept a reality. The result…a clothing line both unique and innovative.

j-List ltd. Clothing was born with the understanding that it’s important to people to look good at all times, which is why they work hard to create comfortable and well-designed clothes with an edge.

“Our product is a type of lifestyle clothing, “We are who you are…we are your identity.” Our company has a commitment to re-define the urban style of dress. We have insisted on the continuous innovation of our designs, as well as knowing what our clientele wants. This intensity drives us to respond with the type of gear that the urban customers are calling for. We promise never to settle by following what the industry does. We have set our goal to be nothing short of becoming the world’s most admired clothing company. We at j-List ltd. strive to excel and not simply be a part of the trend, but to be trendsetters. Our goal is nothing short of making our customer’s realize that the difference between style and fashion is quality, and quality is j-List ltd.

Allow me to welcome you to the world of J-list ltd. we’re unlike any urban clothing line on the market today. Unsurpassed in style and quality, j-List ltd. breaks the mold by setting a new standard for others to follow. More than a clothing company, j-List ltd. consists of a dedicated team of designers and artists to bring our visions into reality. j-List ltd. carries uniquely designed street apparel, which includes silk screen T-shirts with foils, metallic, glitter and high density printing techniques. If the streets can dream it, we can create it!”

- j-List ltd.

For more information on j-List ltd., visit their website, myspace, blog, and facebook.

Blow Clothing has released their new “Frenchii” tees, available in three colorways. Be sure to visit blowcollection.com for release information and to make a purchase.

SHRED Clothing is operated by Jonathan Kruse, Eric Sullivan, and Ben Gardner. Based out of Chico, California, this brand strives to create strong art-focused apparel that branches off from Jonathan’s former company, Mediocore (pop-culture driven). SHRED has already started to attract a following of customers with their awesome illustrations and high-quality screen-printed tees. They are heavily influenced by music, and have already established strong ties within the music community with their site shrednews.com.

To get more information on SHRED, and to check out their full collection of apparel, visit their website, store, or myspace.

For a limited time, you can get a 15% discount on all of SHRED’s apparel by signing up for their mailing list.

Rethink just got two new shirts in, each with two colorways. “The Zapper” shirt is a follow-up to the “Super Soaker” tee from last summer. The “Bomb Drop” shirt is really one of those tees that represents an amazing piece of art. Be sure to check them both out, and head on over to the Rethink webstore to make a purchase.

Clothing Wire has been undergoing its monthly maintenance clean up, which is why there were no posts this week. But don’t fret, because posts will resume Sunday, June 28th as soon as possible. We like to make sure the website runs smooth as a whistle to keep all our readers happy. Thanks for your patience!

RANDR has decided to give Clothing Wire readers first notice of their upcoming “No Pants Sale”, which is now officially live. For the next week and a half (up through the end of June), RANDR’s online store will mark down apparel up to 55% off! This is their biggest sale to date, so take advantage of it. Check out just a few samples of their designs below.

Statement Clothing has released a preview batch of new designs for potential release, and they want YOUR help in deciding which ones should be printed! Check out the line sheet below, and shoot them a message on myspace with your favorite picks. The designs that have the most interest will be available for purchase in Statement’s future release.

Elektrek Clothing is operated by Amanda Di Genova (owner/designer) and Lisa Fiorilli (co-owner/manager) out of Montreal, QC, Canada. Founded in November of 2008 (officially launched Jan. 09), the brand seeks to incorporate skills and knowledge of art/music into a stylin’ and electrifying brand.

“Our style simply comes from the world around us. Most of our designs are inspired from pop culture and the city life of Montreal, which is known to be one of the most diverse and stylish cities in North America. We’ve worked for some local and national musicians by designing cd artwork, tees and other merchandise.”

All of Elektrek’s tees are printed on quality shirts such as American Apparel, Fruit of the Loom, and Gildan. The company manages and designs every aspect of their apparel, giving them complete control of the artistic direction from the moment it is first conceived, till the moment you receive it. In addition, Elektrek also does work for various music artists including such names as Believe Berlin, Distrakt, Banana Dynamite, and Shoops.

This summer (August ‘09), the brand will be having a summer event which will be held by Indecent Xposure in Montreal. Elektrek’s Summer Line will be launched as of July and will be sold at their booth, along with other free goodies. For more information on Elektrek, visit their website, blog, myspace, and twitter.

Urban Retro has just added some awesome BLOC28 Disney T-Shirts to their webstore collection. If you have not seen them before, they are Mickey Mouse tees designed by some of the world’s best urban artists.

The full range can be seen here.