it started with a winged skull

we are michael and maya, two design school graduates. michael had a film composing career. maya was creative directing with an agency. one night we looked at michael's vintage black flag tee next to his shostakovich scores and asked: why can't classical music look this cool? we were tired of classical music merch that looked like it was designed by a museum gift shop in 1987. we just wanted t-shirts that didn't make us cringe.

so we sketched a prokofiev design with a winged skull that made us smile. one month after we launched, from a barn in upstate new york, forbes called us "unembarrassingly cool." we never set out to get good press, and we are still processing that one. orders went from about ten a week to a lot more than ten a week. that first skull changed everything, and it is still in the shop.

a nod to the printers who came before us: that's the linotype room at the chicago defender in 1941. our shirts are printed with modern equipment, but the idea hasn't changed: they're printed here. every piece is printed in the usa, so it isn't traveling 7,000 miles on a cargo ship to get to you. we pick garments we'd wear ourselves: the vintage heavyweight tee is garment-dyed and softens like you've owned it since 1994, and the crewneck is for concert halls that are never heated. if something isn't right, we'll make it right.