Artevist is “the place for activism inspired graphic design, discussion and eco-friendlier T-shirts”.

From their website:

Artevist is for people who love T-shirts: wearing them, designing them, and talking about them. Most importantly, it’s a place for people who believe that T-shirts are a great way to communicate one’s views and in some very small, individual way, move others to action. Artevist is for those who believe real change will only occur when activism is fashionably ‘in’ and complacency is decidedly ‘out’.

I’ve always loved awesome T-shirt graphics, but let’s face it, very few have much meaning or purpose and most want to sell you something. With so much happening in the world today, it seemed the opportunity to use design to really communicate important themes was being lost.

There are plenty of individual artists and organizations producing great work, yet finding one online source for a variety of activist-inspired design is surprisingly difficult. Nor is it easy to find great designs paired with high quality, eco-friendly materials and production. That perfect combination of message, design and product eluded me, and so, Artevist was born.

Artevist is a community where artists can come together to share their ideas on BIG issues and create wearable art with meaning and purpose. The BIG issues can be local or global (everything is related) and they can span themes such as: AIDS, climate change, consumerism, extinction, human rights and pollution. It’s also a place where nonprofit organizations and artists meet, and produce work that helps spread their message to a larger audience.

The concept is simple. Artists compete in open, peer-review T-shirt design contests. All Artevist members can vote for their favourites and leave comments. The most popular submissions are reproduced on organic Tees (bamboo, hemp or cotton), which are ecologically and ethically produced and sourced. See Our T-shirts

Artevist, however, is more than Tees. It’s a Forum where the community can learn, share and discuss. It’s relevant Newsand Events, and it’s a Classifieds section where nonprofits and artists alike can find people and materials to help them with their projects.

We’re a for-profit company, but without any aspirations or intentions of becoming a mega-brand. We think the world needs more art, not more brands. We’ll be donating a good portion of sales to environmental and social causes and are now looking into various options.

So look around. Participate. Enjoy!