I was rather surprised that Topo Ranch‘s PR people had requested a review at little ‘ol Buy Tees. I doubt many Brits have heard of the label but in California they are big, and how. First off, in case you don’t know ‘Topo’ is slang for a Prairie Dog, and there’s a long story behind why Topo Ranch hail this humble creature, starting way back in the original Great Depression (which  may need to be renamed the ‘Lesser Depression’ in the near future). Back here in the present day Top Ranch’s logo the “Flying Topo” is a familiar sight around Venice Beach, popular amongst guys and girls alike. They sell their 100% sustainable fabric tees at flagship stores in Venice, California and Boulder and their gear is on sale in a further 200 stores across the USA. They’re even the official merchandise provider for Sundance Film Festival and what’s more they’ve garnered some really big fans includingLeonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Silverstone and Ben Folds Five.

Right now they’re holding a 50% winter sale, so this is should be a great time to show you a few of their graphic tees to give you an idea of what Topo Ranch do.

Inland Vee

My fave tee at TR, even if it is for the ladies, kinda reminds me of an old travel poster from the 1920′s, lovely bold confident swathes of colour make up for one hell of a classy vee. Available on sale now for $24.95 (usual price a mind staggering $39 – gulp). Right now this one’s only available in XS but for everyone else there’s a very similar tee in the form of the Islander Vee, still available in sizes XS-L available at the same price.

The Beer Tee

What do you get if you cross a bear and a deer? A beer, and there’s a good head on this one, although you’ll have to squeeze in to a men’s XS as stocks are low. If you can ,you’ll probably need it, if only to give you a little Dutch courage in your next bar room brawl :D Available for $24.95.

The Topo Tee

Here’s the famous Topo Tee. Now that’s a cute logo! Loads of men’s sizes left for sale at a whopping great $39.99. The lovely long tee version for the ladies available in white and black which is on sale now for a relatively bargain price of just $19.99 but only large sizes are left. Grrr.

I’d have liked to have shown you more, but Topo Ranch embeds its images in Flash so I can’t gather any more decent sized photos. The trouble with talking via a PR company rather than their client is that it stretches out any request ad infinitum. I’ve encouraged them to upload larger images of all their products to Flickr but to no avail. Some companies, independent or otherwise, can grow so large that they can’t see the wood from the trees when it comes to building a relationship with a worldwide audience. Flickr is a great way of getting your designs out there in the wider world, the whole world. Who knows, perhaps Topo Ranch will consider a more personal approach for the future? What’s more, if any of you do run a t-shirt label make sure there’s some stock left when you have a PR blitz! Lol.

You can see the rest of their wide range of graphic tees, vees, long-sleeve tees, fleeces and knits at www.TopoRanch.com. Let’s just hope you find something in stock!