Top 6 Places to Buy Gaming Apparel
Gaming
and fashion isn't a thing people associate with one another. I
generally get it. Video games still have a stigma and the gaming
community itself doesn't seem to care much about fashion. I get why.
People into video games or nerdy stuff in general were bullied growing
up and a lot of those people who did it were popular and into fashion
and also bullied us for how we dressed. So I can see why gamers would
reject the notion of spending money on clothing.
I
myself was one of those people and I heard a lot of other gamers on the
internet say that they would rather spend money on games than clothes.
I'm hear to let you all know that gaming and fashion can coincide. I'm
here to break all stereotypes and conventions.
Firstly,
I want to address that there are easily accessible video game clothing
out there, most of what you get on the market is pretty bad. In the days
before the pandemic when people would go out quite often it wasn't hard
to find t-shirts with video games on them at places like Wal-Mart,
Hot-Topic, and Target. The designs you find there often are really tacky
and/or look like kid's clothing. Not to mention the so much
wince-inducing shirts that usually have a generic game controller on
them with a phrase like "Noobs Get PWND," "Eat, Sleep, Game," "I'm sorry
I was late I had to level up". In addition, they are cheaply made with
not much thought put into them. Even scouring the pages of the internet
it could be hard to find things more creative.
There
are a lot of places on the internet to buy gaming apparel, but which
ones are the good ones? Well, I'm here to tell you. Firstly, the key to
good gaming apparel is subtlety. Less is more in gaming fashion. We
don't need a large obtrusive image of Mario's head slapped on a t-shirt.
Most geek clothing out there amounts to simple graphic t-shirts, but I
can shed some light on where to get more interesting ways to embrace
your hobby or passion.
6. Shirtoid
Shirtoid
is a conglomerate website for gaming t-shirts. Here you can view
graphic t-shirt designs created by people from daily t-shirt design
websites.
5. The Yetee
The Yetee
was one of the first sites I went to grab gaming gear. They're one of
many sites that sell shirts designed by freelance artists. They used to
operate under a daily design format with two shirt designs will go out
of sell after a 24 hour period, but over the years they added a
marketplace where you can buy designs during any time of the year. They
offer some cute Christmas sweaters every November.
4. Fangamer
Fangamer
offers has a light of graphic t-shirt designs like the rest, but they
do offer some variety outside of that. You have their Ness design which
is basically the shirt Ness wears in his games. Most of their clothes
are of good quality with the exception of a few of their jackets.
They're also the only gaming apparel site I've seen with Polo shirts,
but unfortunately they are very thin and feel cheap. I was hoping
something more akin to Ralph Lauren's thick, but comfy shirts.
3. Black Milk
Black Milk
seems to be the only site I found that makes gamer apparel with female gamers in mind. They have overalls, jackets,
leggings, dresses and more. As far as I know this is the only store where
you can buy video game dresses. Their designs range from workout gear to frilly and casual. I haven't bought any of their gear myself, but they look to be made of high quality materials. The only downside is that these pieces are expensive. Their latest set includes pieces inspired by Cyberpunk 2077. If you want to see how these look in motion, YouTuber sunsbookishgames tried on the collection.
2. Insert Coin Clothing
The best site on the net for video game clothing. You won't find anything better. Insert Coin Clothing
is based in the UK and features officially licensed apparel from a
variety of video games. You can get Japanese-styled jackets with designs
based off the tattoos from the Yakuza series, Ellie's shirt from The
Last of Us and some designs from the Persona series and Infamous Second
son that could double as cosplays. Insert Coin has the highest quality
of video game apparel I've seen. Their designs are more subtle and
stylish, blending fashion and gaming perfectly.
The
clothing is also particularly well made. The material on the items are
thick and mostly stitched together well. I say mostly because I bought a
reversible PlayStation jacket and felt like the threading started to
come out way too quickly. I get the most compliments from people when I
wear clothing from their site and most of the time it's not even from
people who play video games. Insert Coin and Black Milk are the most
expensive of the bunch, but you have to pay for quality.
A pair of custom The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask converse designed by Bobsmade |
1. DIY
The
other option out there is to make your own gaming gear. There are a
bunch of websites that allow you to make your own custom designed
t-shirts like Red Bubble, Society6, Uber Prints, but if you want to make
something besides basic shirt or hoodie designs you'll have to look
harder as I haven't found any on that end myself. I have found a couple
of people who can make custom design sneakers for you, the best of which
is bobsmade,
but currently she is not doing shipping to customers in the US which
pains me as I always dreamed of having her make a pair of moogle
sneakers for me. You also have the option to customize clothing you
already wear. The DIY or do it yourself has been a popular trend in
recent years and you can do it here as well. There are many videos on
YouTube showing you how to customize your old jackets, pants, etc.
That's
all I have for you right now. If you're interested I made a few videos
showing off some of my geek clothing pieces. You can check it my last
one below:
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