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Does it Still Count as Publishing if You Print on a T-Shirt?

Something interesting came across my desk yesterday and I’m still not sure if it’s a clever new concept or simply a gimmick.

The Magaziner posted the following video yesterday. It’s a promo video for a small publishing house called T-Post. They’re currently printing one-off magazine issues. Each focuses on a single topic, and sometimes even a single extended story.

That’s really neither here nor there, but one thing that sets T-Post apart from other publishers is that they print on to t-shirt, not paper. You can watch this video for more details:

As an idea, it is clever. The t-shirt is printed both on the inside and the outside, thus giving it some of the physical aspects of a magazine. Each issue costs 30 euros (for a single t-shirt), and T-Post is currently printing one issue a month.

I have to admit that this story has me stumped. My first thought was to describe it as an experimental new medium for publishing. It’s a small niche, but they are publishing content.

But then I realized that this will likely never be more than a tiny niche; printing an article on a t-shirt is more of a gimmick than anything, so really this post would belong on a fashion blog.

But T-Post is still writing content, and they are still distributing it. Only the medium is unusual here, and if there’s one thing that we have learned from the growth in the ebook market it’s that the medium is less relevant than the content.

So what do you think? Is T-Post publishing a single issue magazine in a novel way or are they simply finding interesting new content to slap on a t-shirt?

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Comments


karen wester newton July 13, 2012 um 11:50 am

Personally, I don’t particularly want people closely inspecting me the length of time it would take to read an article. I would call it a mere publicity stunt.

Laura July 13, 2012 um 2:54 pm

Especially since the article is inside the T-shirt!

Nate Hoffelder July 13, 2012 um 3:02 pm

Do you know what bothers me the most about that? Wouldn’t it make your back itchy?


the rodent July 13, 2012 um 2:36 pm

Another gimmick designed to gather press coverage. Like that disappearing ink book. Yawn. Yeah, clever, but just a stunt.


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