I'm Lita. I'm in Melbourne, and RiotTees is just me.
I started it because most of what people wear to look cool says nothing about them. Not their ideas. Not what they really think. Not who they really are. Just which brand they paid to be a walking billboard for. Those brands depend on consumerism and shallowness to sell. They need brand victims and try-hards.
I was tired of talking about it. And I was tired of buying into the brand-name cray cray every birthday and Christmas.
Meanwhile, the people around me were the opposite. Deep thinkers. Critical thinkers. And sarcastic as hell.
With my family and friends, the news doesn't get watched. It gets heckled. Someone calls out the bias. Someone says "well, that's bullshit." Someone thanks the oligarchs for the sponsored ad. Someone notices the journalist won an award for an article promoting a company that just happened to be sponsoring the award.
That's not a coincidence. When everything gets this shallow, sarcasm is how thinking people answer back.
So RiotTees was born, and I started making Thoughtwear. Tees with history, politics, culture and a bit of bite. Designs that say something about who you are, for people who already know it.
Then I started hearing "it's too political." That's when I knew I had to keep going.
Because "too political" isn't really an opinion. It's conditioning. We've spent years being told that having a view could cost us a job, a future, a friendship. Sometimes it does. That's how it works. The same push that taught us a logo makes us someone also taught us to keep our heads down.
And staying quiet gets rewarded. Keep it safe and shiny and the algorithm loves you. Say something real and watch your reach disappear. That's not an accident.
Everything is political. Pretending it isn't doesn't make you neutral. Staying quiet only helps the people who don't care what happens to you, as long as you keep consuming and never question it.
The ideas don't stop. They come from things I've lived, people I've known, history I can't stop reading, and a head that never quite switches off. Call it being a provocateur. I call it paying attention.
Every tee is printed to order, so there's no warehouse of unsold stock. Each one is made when you order it, then shipped to you.
You know it. Just wear it.
Lita
RiotTees · Melbourne, Australia