Labels: About us, go green or go home, History, licensed t-shirts, Political Science, Press, UMD, University of Maryland, University T-shirts

Courtney from ShopFlick interviewed us for their blog, shopflick.com. Enjoy!

SF: What does your brand stand for?

MW: Crooked Monkey is about fun. We strive to put smiles on people’s faces by providing them with funny t-shirts. At the end of the day, the goal of Crooked Monkey is to remind people how awesome College and bring people back to their glory days.

SF: What is the inspiration?

MW: College students, the college lifestyle. We try and take the best four years of a person’s life and express it through soft, vintage style tees. Its college-inspired humor, and college kids are who we aim to please.

SF: Who are your customers?

MW: The college student, obviously. But we also recognize that guys and gals who are just about to enter college, and who just left college, have a strong bond with Crooked Monkey as well.

SF: What’s new this season?

MW: We’re introducing a line of hoodies, flannels, and sweat pants. We also just secured collegiate licenses so look out for Crooked Monkey’s irreverence to hit the college mascot scene in a big way. And like always, count on us for hilarious, humor graphic tees.

SF: What items are people responding to most?

MW: For girls our environmental and political screens have been doing really well for us. For the guys our classic humor t-shirts have been very strong this season.

SF: Are any celebs wearing your pieces?

MW: Yup. Miley Cyrus wore our “Waking Up is Hard to Do” shirt on her video blog, The Miley and Mandy Show. We wrote it on our blog: http://www.crookedmonkey.com/2008/03/miley-cyrus-wears-crooked-monkeys.html

Also, Silas on “Weeds” wore our “I’m not a Gardener, I Just like Hoes”.We wrote about this on our blog as well: http://www.crookedmonkey.com/2007/10/tv-show-weeds-features-crooked-monkey.html

SF: How did you get started in the industry?

MW: We started at a bar in College Park on May 5, 2005. That was our launch party and the rest is history. Our first big account was National Jean Company in Long Island, and we’ve never looked back.

SF: What is your must-have item?

MW: Scarves. They’re functional when it gets cold outside and they can dress up a t-shirt or dress down a cute dress. They’re the absolute best day-to-night staple.

SF: What are you wearing right now?

MW: Plaid. I can’t get enough of it for fall. And Crooked Monkey tees, of course. They’re perfect for day time - comfortable, effortless, and chic. Not to mention the wearer of a funny t-shirt always gets a ton of attention.

SF: Is there anything else you would like to share with the Shopflick community?

MW: Keep checking www.crookedmonkey.com for our newest t-shirts. We produce t-shirts like its our job, so we’re always coming out with new hilarious stuff for you guys. And if you have any questions or comments, post them or email me.

Labels: History, Interviews, Press

Ashley Gosik, a journalist for DC Modern Luxury wrote up a piece for a series called "Look who's talking" that was featured in the back page of this issue of DC Modern Luxury. I first told you about it when i reported on the Photoshoot of me in a Dolce and Gabbana suit. So here's the article, republished in its full form.

Micha tees off!

And in the process, the Crooked Monkey CEO rocks the vote

By Ashley Gosik

If you’re looking to blame Abercrombie & Fitch for the tasteless T-shirt phenomenon, don’t bother. The culprit is 25-year-old localite Micha Weinblatt. The rabbi’s son co-founded the sophomoric T-shirt collection Crooked Monkey in his primary school pal’s basement three years ago and has since become an international arbiter of sayings like “Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.” But the Potomac native recently did something a little more grown-up. He launched a collection of “Vote” tees trendy enough to sell out at L.A.’s hottest spots like Kitson and Fred Segal and they’re in short supply at the other 500-plus shops that stock them.

Weinblatt’s style growing up was something akin to slacker-chic. “I always wore T-shirts and sweatpants,” he says. He’s replaced the sweats with designer denim, but tees remain a staple for the U Street boy who keeps his stride in colorful kicks from Puma and Adidas. Before his foray into fashion, the University of Maryland grad studied political science and interned for a number of prominent lobbying firms in the District. But after months of surveying the ensembles of his peers, he decided to put his Hill dreams on hold. “There were too many un-funny shirts out there,” he says.

Just a few months after his company’s launch, Crooked Monkey’s first T-shirt, “Livin’ the Dream,” was featured in a GQ spread. Soon, retailers from Nordstrom to Urban Outfitters jumped on the better-tee bandwagon. A bicoastal sales team and dozens of fresh, irreverent slogans followed but Weinblatt says the political tees are the most important he’s produced. The understated shirts feature sayings like “One Voice, One Love, One Vote,” and “Make Your Voice Heard.” Their bipartisan flavor is intentional.

“I’m not a fan of political parties,” he says emphatically. “There are so many other things that need to be done from global warming to the economy and none of it can be dealt with by being partisan.” The minimogul does, however, find time for a different kind of party. “I usually go out four nights a week,” he admits. Weekend mornings are spent at Busboys & Poets and followed up with a movie on his 46” LCD TV—his first big boy purchase. “Yeah, I guess I am livin’ the dream,” he muses.

Labels: Articles, Press

So besides going to shows and cruisng around town with has-been governors (see our blog post from yesterday about my trip to New York City), we're also meeting with some big whigs in the city.

Today I met the buyer from Alloy, for the first time. She's picked up a lot of our funny t shirts, which have been doing real well, so we finally had to meet. We invited her to our NYC showroom and it was a true meeting of the minds.

We showed her our new funny t-shirts, chatted about bridge and tunnel girls, and looked into ways we can work together in the future. She actually gave us a bunch of ideas to work on for the meeting--i posted one of our new funny t-shirts below. She challenged us to come up with some vintage looking destination shirts and she was real impressed with our concepts. The new shirts remind me of old school destination shirts you'd find in those old vintage shops. We're going to be coming out with a whole series of these--if you have any cities you want done, or if you can think of any clever lines for cities, please do email us or post them here.

I'm actually pretty tired so I'll blog about Seventeen magazine tomorrow--just enjoy the sneak peak at our newest vintage looking funny t shirt.

Labels: funny t shirts, New Stores, new t-shirt, Press

Labels: Press

Kim from GirlsTalkinSmack.com featured our shirts on her blog. She doesn't usually write about t-shirt companies but she really liked us, and we really liked her.

Here's what she had to say "I’ll admit, I’m not one who usually goes for t-shirts but I’m really liking this brand. Why? They have cute designs, witty slogans, and most importantly to me, good colors and graphics."

Cool. She thought our Waking up is hard to do t-shirt is our coolest t-shirt.

Nice work Cara.

Labels: Press, Testimonials

Paul over at Buy-tees.net wrote an amazing analysis of the Crooked Monkey brand. Drawing on pop-culture, social norms and egalitarianism, he applauded Crooked Monkey for offering girls a clothing line that "[gives] less aggravation in your life, if you want to save time on telling the guys you can’t stand or totally adore, where to go or what to do, CrookedMonkey.com can hook you up with the best fashion artillery for any great night out."

I'd truly suggest reading the rest of the t-shirt review. To call it a review trivializes its grandeur so we're going to call it an in-depth analysis of the brand.

Check out the funny girls tees, and funny guys tees, he was referring to.

Good work Emily.

Labels: Press, Testimonials

Kim over at Qeeper.com liked Crooked Monkey's Not to be subtle let's cuddle t-shirt and Break dance not hearts tee. She was impressed that the tees are so inexpensive!

Her blog is pretty cool--it features products under $30. Everyone's looking for a bargain, and her blog is a great place to find them.

Good work Joanna.

Labels: Press

We were just featured in Unwind Magazine. You can read the article here: http://www.unwindmag.com/Issues/Issue%206/Enterprise/crooked_monkey.htm

Here's a good snippet from the article: "Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship said. 'The company [is so successful] because they are very in touch with their demographics.'"

That's right. Asher Epstein knows what he's talking about.

Labels: Press

Seventeen Magazine listed our I love Camp shirt as one of the Cutest T-shirts for the Spring season. You can order the I Love Camp T-shirt.

The shirt was made to remind us of those amazing summers filled with smores, bunk pride, and best friends. Look out for the magazine, which hits the stands in the beginning of April.

Labels: As seen on, Press, Seventeen Magazine

Labels: As seen on, Press, Promo Code