1989 Gecko Surfari Black Tee Re-Issue --
- 3X Retro & Puffed Glow in the Dark Geckos!
- Classic Front Pocket Logo and Surfari Logo Back Printed Tee.
- 100% Combed Ringspun Cotton. Soft AF!
ABOUT GECKO SURFARI
Gecko Surfari is a design that we used early on in our relaunch and it sold out in every color and release that we had!
WHY THIS PUFFED-INK SHIRT OOZES WITH NOSTALGIA LIKE NON-OTHER
This shirt is "TRIPLE puffed" for the first time ever, which gives it a distinct quality that we personally haven't seen, or experienced since 1989 --- it is saturated with nostalgia.
When customers first started receiving this new "puffed" reprint of Gecko Safari, we received comments & reports from people that they started to cry from happiness, because they were struck with memories from their childhood that they didn't even know they had! We were blown away by the response!
CREATING 12 LAYERS OF DETAILED, QUALITY, RETRO, PUFFED INK, COLOR & DIMENSION
To go deeper into the quality of how this shirt was produced -- we used what we call "The Monster." It's a huge screen printing machine that has over 18 print stations. THIS VERSION OF GECKO SURFARI USED 12 STATIONS! Each station layers another layer of ink and is "flashed" -- a process that used high density light to dry each layer in seconds. Nobody does this anymore for several reasons:
1. These machines are expensive.
2. People generally print using a printer and print on demand.
3. Even if a company had one of these machines, they generally don't have hand-drawn artwork that requires so much detail. Plus 12 layers of puffed ink can get EXTREMELY expensive, because it uses a lot of electricity, ink, and takes a couple of people to prep it.
HOW TO PERSONALIZE YOUR PUFFED INK SHIRT TO MAKE IT LOOK VINTAGE
1. These shirts are 100% cotton, so they shrink about 5 to 10% depending how long you dry them. That causes the ink to move with the fabric... but the ink doesn't shrink, so that is when the puff can raise even higher, or can be "pulled and stretched" and start to crack. The more you crack it, the puffed ink can begin to crack, giving it that super vintage look and feel -- the kind that "digitally printed" shirts try to duplicate, but looks super fake vintage.
3. That being said, Gecko Hawaii uses the top of the line inks, so these shirts won't crack for along time unless you pull and stretch them, or wash them over and over and over again!
What you're left with is probably one of the most authentic mid 1980s puffed-ink reproductions on the market, using an iconic hand drawn design from the 80s, printed with the same machines from the 80s, by the same team from the 80s!
THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM SHIRTS IN THE ORIGINAL 1980s VERSION IS THAT IT WAS PRINTED IN 2022!