410 BC

when i first saw a shirt by 410 BC, it was on the model Hanna Beth, and it was a plain white shirt with a few colorful cassette tapes. my first thought was, 'damn, that's a sweet shirt.' my second thought was, 'what line is this?!' my searching brought me to 410 BC.

their line is full of shirts of all different colors. a few of their designs bring us back a few years to polaroid cameras, typewriters, and cassettes. and recently, Tegan and Sara have been spotted sporting the "Knives" and "Tapes" shirt.

410 BC has a huge team of people that range from designers, to models, to promotors. what's even cooler is that this line started on accident by a few college kids just having fun with what they loved to do.


Where does the name 410 BC come from?
410 BC stands for the year that Democracy was restored in Athens.
As history tells it, the Athenians were at war, but they managed to restore their own institutions. Even though it seemed impossible, they put an end to the regime of the Five Thousand.
410 BC is a reminder to fight for what you believe in.

Who are the creators of 410 BC, and how did you get together to make it happen?
410 BC was founded by a group of friends and artists while at college. To tell you the truth, it sort of happened by accident. We just started drawing out designs and making shirts for fun. Then people really liked what we were doing. At first we only made shirts for our friends, but then random people began asking us to make shirts. A business grew out of something we just did for fun.

Tegan and Sara have been seen sporting 410 BC gear, how was it to see some pretty big musicians wearing things you created?
It was an amazing feeling when Tegan and Sara bought our shirts.
We’ve been listening to their music for years. They are huge inspirations to us. We were just glad that they could enjoy our art because we’ve admired and loved their work for so long.

Where does the inspiration for the designs come from?
Our inspirations come from everywhere. Our shirts are varied and different and each collection is inspired by particular ideas. For example, we have one collection that was inspired by things that were once important technological advances, but are now sort of archaic, or not used very often. It’s an ironic collection and our way of reminiscing about those objects that used to be so important. Some examples of this include our typewriter “Qwerty” shirt, our Polaroid “Roid Rage” shirt and our cassette “Tapes” shirt. Our spring collection, which has yet to be released, will introduce unique 410 BC cartoon characters. These cartoons are kind of like, demented, but cute animals that are always craving food. They’re just really ridiculous and funny.

Why do you think people should check out the line?
You should check us out because we’re a very unique company in regard to our ideas and the way we run the business. We try to get a lot of people involved and we really care about our customer’s opinions. Also, we give back in ways that most other companies don’t. For instance, we create certain shirts in order to benefit causes and non-for-profit organizations. Buying handmade is just so important in this day and age and everyone should try to support that.

Are there any other places besides the Internet where the shirts can be purchased?
Right now, we’re sold exclusively at Unite in Northampton, Massachusetts and Mission Indie Mart in San Francisco, California. We’re very particular about what stores carry our brand. We’re hoping to open up some of our own shops soon though.

What are future plans for the line? Is it mainly going to continue to be hoodies/t-shirts or are any other types of clothing going to be introduced?
Our Spring collection includes handmade/hand painted skate decks, posters, shorts, hats and a bunch of new t-shirts and hoodies. We are also working on ties, scarves, jewelry, jackets, belts, crewnecks, boxers/undies, all to be introduced in 2008!

To check out the current shirts that 410 BC has out, check out their myspace page at myspace.com/410bc or their online store at 410bc.com. it sounds like a promising line!!


also, don't forget the Across the Universe comes out on DVD tomorrow. just to throw it out there (since i did a few months ago when i saw it in theaters), probably one of the best movies. ever.