Bonus Shootout

Which is western? Answer after the jump.

Cowgirl Tee Shirts

Western wear companies making tee shirts is nothing new, they've been doing it for years. If memory serves, the designs used to revolve primarily around sentiments that appealed to their customer base- hence, all the shirts reading "cowgirl" with horses, cows, etc. of the past. Take a look at some current horribly misguided "cowgirl" tee shirts- and, yes, they all say cowgirl somewhere on them. Why not?

Shirt #1: Panhandle Slim, #2: Roper, #3:Panhandle Slim, #4:Rock&Roll Cowgirl

Saturday Shootout

Which is western? Answer after the jump.

NSFW, lol

OMG, Sheplers. Panhandle Slim. WTF?!?!

 So, at first, I just saw another over done, scrolly monstrosity of shirt in this thing by Panhandle slim. But, always curious, I had to look closer. And I laughed out loud at this one, for real.

But perhaps this design was created as a western wear Rorschach test. What do you see?

Perhaps if you're pure of heart and clean of mind, you won't see this as lady bits. Me? I think it looks like a close up of a very hairy woman's genitals, spread eagle.

I can only hope that it was as intentional as it looks to be and that the designer did this as commentary on the douches who'd buy and wear it. That thought makes me smile.

Wear this, not that.

Sticking with Panhandle Slim again this week- they do some things so right and others so wrong.

Wear this:


Another retro styled shirt from Panhandle Slim, available from Cavenders. This might be a bit much for some folks, and for as much complaining as I do about things being overdone, you might not think I'd a fan of this shirt, but I love it. It's western to the core, from the design content to the cut of the shirt, and while it has a lot going on, it's all laid out beautifully. Admittedly, not a shirt for everyone, but I'd be happy to give it a home.

Not this:


Cavenders says this thing is a top seller. I don't want to believe them. It hurts my eyeballs with all that scrolling and decorative junk thrown on top of a striped shirt.

Tuesday Reality Check

Say you like the way scrolly decorations look. Sometimes they can be quite pretty, right? The problem arises when companies go completely crazy with them- they think, if one scroll sells, why not put 500 of them on a shirt, and everything goes to hell. Luckily, there are shirts out there that showcase that scrolly styling that aren't over the top and hideous.

Here's a shirt by Cattlelac Ranch (available at Sheplers) that has that urban style translated into an actual, recognizable western shirt, and I think that's just fine. It does have very current and trendy components in the embellishments- but they're tasteful, controlled and logically placed and the end result is a nice western shirt.

And here's one along the same lines made by Panhandle Slim. It works.

Mondays make me cross.

And today we have more garbage from Sheplers. Every single shirt on the linked page there belongs on this blog. They're all terrible in that same ol' Affliction kind of way.

This one is made by Rock & Roll Cowboy, and I guess if by "Rock & Roll" you mean "Nickleback" and by "Cowboy" you mean douchebag, then it's an aptly named brand. Of course it's a 'best seller' over there.

Now, I gather that Rock & Roll cowboy is Panhandle Slim. Which is alright- I wouldn't want these things so closely associated with my company's historic name if I was in charge of Panhandle Slim either. Going forward, we'll call these by their labels as stated by retailers- if they call them Rock and Roll, we'll go with that, if they call them Panhandle Slim, we'll go with that. Same thing with other brands where this exists.

Here we have an interesting contribution made by Petrol- the description reads- 'Urban cowboy approved Petrol apparel stands out on country guys!'

Guess it would, too. I always stare when I see someone walking down the street with a huge cross poorly photoshopped onto their shirt, don't you?

I'm not 100% sure this one belongs on a cross day- is it a tribal cross? Is it a tribal dagger? Is it a tribal goat leaping out of a tribal hole? Hard to say. But it is, without a doubt, up pretty high on the list of terrible shirts Panhandle Slim has put out.

Wear this, not that.

Wear this:

Here's a beautiful Panhandle Slim shirt you can get from Cavenders for only 27 bucks. I love it. The floral embroidery is a little busy, but it's wonderfully contained within the yokes of the shirt and that makes it work. Throw on the classic smile pockets, pearly snaps and piping.. and it's a classic western winner.

Not this:

Here's an unfortunate Panhandle Slim shirt, also available through Cavenders. It costs more than twice as much as the above shirt ($75) and has that oversized super deco overdone cross nonsense that shouldn't ever have left Affliction land.

I don't even...

Most of the outfits I've run across are urban with a country label stitched in. I guess this thing is too, but in this one, Panhandle Slim scooted over to Hot Topic circa 2001 for ideas instead of raiding the Affliction/Ed Hardy closet, and that was a baffling decision. Enjoy. It too can be purchased from sheplers

Saturday Shootout

Which is western?

Answer after the break-