Wowch

The Space Case Tee in White

Nothing can be more fool-proof and reliable than a good ol’ basic graphic tee. But with everyone’s closets becoming saturated with basic tees ranging from the cutesy, the sophisticated, and the vintage, it can become a bit boring. Enter the clothing line specialized in tees Wowch, which aims to spice up the tee with a good dose of humor, fluff, weirdness, and dry wit.

Wowch is founded by designers Matt Shankman and Max Cattaneo in 2003. The pair first met each other in Columbus, Ohio at age 7. They began working with the tee market by cutting and reworking heat transfer graphics in 2001. By 2003, their stint evolved into a full-time job with the creation of Wowch.

Taking its attitude and style from Shankman and Cattaneo, Wowch is a brand that is snarkiness-personified. Their graphic designs cannot be found anywhere–only because its style is absurdly weird and surreal. As a t-shirt brand, its tees are far from boring. The tee’s graphic elements twist mundane things into cartoonish nightmares and feature anything that is LOL-worthy. Its designs usually involve hotdog-eating coyotes, unicorns prancing in fields, and cats with aliens.

Wowch designer Cattaneo says, “We don’t have too many concepts when we design. We just try to make stuff that we don’t see out there. And that always seems to involve cats for some reason.”

The Wowch shirt that sparked controversy with the movie Pineapple Express

Wowch mainly makes graphic tees, cardigans, and hoodies.

The brand’s peculiar humor, sarcasm, and design make Wowch hard to categorize. This may be the reason why its fans and celebrities love Wowch. Celebrities caught sporting Wowch are Arden Wohl, Vito Roccoforte from The Rapture, and rock bands such as DFA records, Beck, Vhs or Beta.

When Cattaneo and Shankman are not working on Wowch, they are usually hosting their notoriously famous New York City parties or designing exclusive graphics for Urban Outfitters or rock bands such as Tenacious D, Outhud, and DFA records, among others. They have also displayed their artwork at Los Angeles (WOWCH You Talkin’ Bout?), Tokyo, New York, and Philadelphia. Their works have also been published in ARKITIP Magazine, CATHOLIC ‘zine, Resurrection, and Rocket ‘zine.

Wowch can be found at Colette in Paris, I Heart in New York, and Beams in Tokyo. Its official website is www.wowch.com.