During his senior year of high school, Dustin Martin (CC ’11) was out for a run when he had the idea to start creating t-shirts with a new logo he had designed. Unlike most of us, who probably would have just gotten back from the run and gone to band practice or whatever we were involved in during high school, Dustin actually followed up, and began creating t-shirts with his own designs using stencils and spray paint.
The designs, which employ Native American motifs printed on thrift store-acquired clothing, have a distinctive New Mexico-meets-Brooklyn aesthetic that Dustin has painstakingly cultivated since he began printing shirts. His long-term vision is for his clothes to engender public awareness of issues affecting indigenous people, and he is careful that his designs ring contemporary. “I think the vision that I have is not so much a design as it is the idea that people gravitate toward attractive things, and they listen and they learn and they’re attracted to the aesthetics,” he said. “My vision is really to use that appeal to articulate a cultural message.”
The designs came to real fruition last spring, when Dustin began to silkscreen thrift store shirts in his room in McBain. That semester alone he was able to sell about 50 t-shirts, simply through word of mouth. He has since set up a boutique of sorts in his current room in River Ruggles, and has an assortment of t-shirts and other articles available for sale. Most items are $15. If you’re interested in any of the designs, you can contact Dustin at resisthype@gmail.com.
More photos (including pictures of the clothes) after the jump.
23 Comments
@resister for life shi ey likan. ayoo nizhoni!
@Anonymous Ahe’hee
@You all drink... …haterade. Stop being jealous.
@Anonymous insightful and original to boot. This kid is lucky to have you in his corner.
@ummm so wait, he’s stamping old t-shirts he bought from thrift shops for $15? Talk about profit maximization!
@These shirts are really cool- where can i buy them?
@the possible "cultural message": white girls look good in appropriated “tribal” wear! Don’t you just love my authentic headdress I bought at Ricky’s last Halloween?!?
@lol shut up.
@Girl Mr. Martin’s room is in Ruggles. Trust me, I know.
@Anonymous Eugenio Suarez > Learned Foot
@yes, but Educated Hande > Eugenio Suarez
@I'll take Dustin's advice and resist the hype. That is, the hype machine that Dustin has diligently built around himself. Pass.
@Anonymous Amen. dustin has perfected the art of being pretentious about being alternative and laid back. if you don’t believe me, talk to him for more than five minutes.
@five minutes? i know of few who’ve managed more than three with this poseur. unless he was trying to get in the pants of said few.
@less is more i was in a class with him and he seriously needs to learn how to edit his conversation! kinda embarrassing every time he speaks, which he does wayyy too often. maybe someday he will learn that a little of him goes a long way. get over yourself, dude.
@he's still sexyyyyyyy. sorry.
@Anonymous with the addition of a cleverly placed piece of duct tape, I’m afraid I have to agree.
@Bomb diggity is what this is.
@This is... …dope.
@S.O.L.O. please note that Native American Council also has some of Dustin’s creations for sale for $5 :D
@yes dustin is the man.
@dustin martin is SO attractive.
@i just can’t even handle it