When I was first developing the concept of Thomas Foolery I was so excited by the idea that I immediately rushed out to make it happen. I knew what I wanted, exactly what I want now, a quality, crisp ,and long lasting print on a superb, ethically made, environmentally responsible garment. These two products are harder to find than you may think, they were certainly harder to find than I ever thought they would be. I could easily find boxy and boring organic cotton t-shirts, great, but they just weren’t the kind of shirt I’d like to wear or sell. Most blanks suppliers these days have a token organic tee, a product that they point to when the ‘god damn hippies’ need a blank. But what about me? I’m not a god damn hippie but I also I want organic t-shirts. Not only that but I want them to fit well, look great, and come in more colours than ‘natural’. So I surcame, I sacrificed my original concept because it was simply easier to find good looking t-shirts made from ordinary cotton. I mean the t-shirts I used were good – really good – and not cheap at that, but they still weren’t what I wanted and that’s something I’ll never do again.

Then came the fun part, the really fun part, finding a printer. So what do you do when they all state the same thing, “our prints are vibrant, high resolution and won’t fade”. Well I’ll tell you what I did, I believed them. Now I’m not as big an idiot as I sound, and I definately don’t believe everything I read in the newspaper, but once I’d seen the prints I was sold. They were vibrant, they were high resolution, why wouldn’t they also last? And I did test the samples, I put them through the wash and hung them in the sun and sure they faded a tiny bit but all of the printers told me this would happen. But my mistake was made. The prints faded a little on the first wash, and then a little on the second wash and then sure enough they kept on fading until all that remained was the blank tee that I shouldn’t have settled on in the first place.

So what reminded me that it doesn’t pay to sell crap? A lovely lady, Skye, just popped into my stand. I remembered selling a t-shirt to Skye right when I’d had them printed. Sure enough she explained to me in very polite terms what I new she was going to say, her shirt had faded to almost nothing. After apologising perfusly I gave her a new one and hopefully saved a customer, however I dread to think of the people who bought those first few tees that I’d made and have completely judged the quality of my goods based on that initial product. Consumers don’t forgive nor forget, and and who could blame them.

I am happy to say that I have since spent serious time and effort sourcing the prints and the garments that I sell through my brand Thomas Foolery today. The t-shirts I have are well-fillting, ethically made, comprise of 100% organic cotton, are carbon neutral and are extremely high quality. Further still, the prints that I am using are vibrant, crisp, and won’t fade in the wash. They are also done by people that live locally and treat their trades as a craft – which they are.

Crap sucks. Don’t source it, don’t make it, and more than anything don’t buy it!

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Thomas Foolery, a brand is born

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Mr Foolery: First things first, what’s the last track you listened to?

Bored Nothing: Ram On by Paul McCartney

Mr Foolery: You were recently featured on Triple J unearthed radio. Has anything come from the exposure? Have you had any playtime on the regular triple j station? 

Bored Nothing: A couple of presenters have been nice and picked up one of my tracks, Zan often gives me a spin in the mornings.

Mr Foolery: You describe your sound as washed out 90’s guitar music. What bands did you listen to growing up in the 90s? Who do you consider the greats from this era?

Bored Nothing: Most of what I dig is DIY stuff from the 80s and 90s, I’m very into the idea of making stuff at home and then giving it to the world. People like Brian Jonestown Massacre, Elliott Smith, Guided by Voices and definitely Daniel Johnston all did whatever they wanted regardless of genre or fidelity and it was always this perfect insular product.

Mr Foolery: There is no live Bored Nothing for the moment; do you have any idea when Bored Nothing might be able to start touring?  If you could play anywhere in the world where would it be ?

Bored Nothing: I am working on getting a band into action, it mostly hasn’t happened because I’m lazy. Playing music is fun, especially with a group of cool people, but I just really like sitting down with a tape player and making new songs. It’s hard to set aside time to play songs and not record new ones, but I’m working on it. Mostly I’m just looking forward to playing some of the places I like to hang out in Melbourne like Old Bar and 303, and definitely a few hazy backyard afternoon sessions, that’s really what I want to do.

Mr Foolery: In your interview with triple j unearthed you hinted at the prospect of recording a full album in 2012, can you elaborate any further on this? Do you have ideas on the album theme or will it simply be a collection of songs?

Bored Nothing: I’m constantly recording and putting together little CDs and cassettes to give to friends, so I guess I’m just waiting to have enough songs that have staying power and some kind of consistency between them. Then the plan is to just stick them all together and trick some poor label into putting them on vinyl.

Mr Foolery: Where do you pull the inspiration for your music? Is Bored Nothing really just something to do instead of watching Seinfeld or is it the future of Fergus Miller?

Bored Nothing: Enjoying quality sitcoms and making music is pretty much all I have ever liked doing, and I shall continue to do so until I find something better.

You can download Bored Nothing tracks and keep up to date with the band at the tripple j Bored Nothing unearthed page.

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Subterranean Homesick Blues T-shirt Collection from Thomas Foolery on Vimeo.

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The Eucalyptus Fibre

For 2011 we introduce a new and exciting fabric quality. Four of the latest Continental Collection styles – N90, N91, N92, N94 – are manufactured in Tencel fine jersey fabrics. The material is well known for its outstanding physical characteristics – silky softness and luxurious drape. It is perfectly smooth, with depth of colour, an excellent moisture absorbency, and is naturally hygenic as it inhibits the growth of bacteria.

The Environmentally Friendly Fibre

Tencel Lyocell, to give it its full name, is the most environmentally friendly man-made cellulosic fibre available today. It is produced exclusively from the wood pulp of Eucalyptus trees certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), and the fibre carries the Pan-European Forest Council (PEFC) quality seal. The only chemical used in the Tencel manufacturing process is the non-toxic solvent, amine oxide, that allows closed loop processing where up to 99% of the chemical is perpetually re-used, minimising the impact on the environment and conserving energy and water. The European Union (EU) awarded this process the Environmental Award 2000 in the category ‘technology for sustainable development’.

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