Inconspicuous Consumption T-Shirts Have Arrived!

Featuring the eternal Brannock Device, of course.

Hello! More than a month ago, I asked for reader feedback regarding potential Inconspicuous Consumption T-shirt designs. Today I’m happy to announce that the shirts are ready for purchase.

As you can see above, we have two basic design approaches. The first one just has a line-art version of the eternal Brannock Device (the Official Foot Measuring Tool of Inconspicuous Consumption, don’tcha know) and a circle, like this:

This design is essentially the same as my Brannock tattoo. Because we want the black circle to pop, this version is available primarily on light or light-ish colors, like so (you can see the full range of options here):

We also have a version with a white circle, which appears on darker-colored shirts (here’s the full range of color options):

So that’s the minimalist “Brannock in a circle” approach. But some of you said that you preferred to have the IC name included, and/or you thought the minimalist approach looked too much like a circle-slash icon (“No Brannocks!”). So we’re also offering this design:

Nice, right? The typeface and the three little lines separating “Inconspicuous” from “Consumption” are based on the nameplate at the center of the device:

We have a version with black type for light-colored shirts (here’s the full range of color options):

And then there’s a version with white type, for darker-colored shirts (here’s the full range of color options):

I have to say, I thought I’d be partial to the basic circle design, since it matches my tattoo. But I really like the versions with typography. Hope you do too!

All four of these shirts — black circle, white circle, black type, white type — are available here. You’ll see that long-sleeve tees, sweatshirts, tanks, and so on are also available.

Let’s shift into FAQ mode:

Did you execute the designs yourself?

No. After I put out that call for feedback last month, reader Steve Shanabruch generously volunteered his design services. He was unbelievably patient with my requests for various tweaks, adjustments, and so on, and I can’t thank him enough for all his help. (If you live in the Chicago area, you may be familiar with Steve’s fantastic Chicago neighborhood posters, plus he’s done lots of other great design work. A major talent!)

Who is producing the shirts?

After I launched the BOMP shirt two months ago, I heard from a guy named Nate Peretic, co-founder of a small Pittsburgh-based operation called Cotton Bureau. Turns out they’ve done shirts and other products for a bunch of people I respect, plus I liked my interactions with Nate, so I decided to do my next shirt project with them.

What if I want a shirt color that you’re not currently offering?

Let me know and I’ll see what I can arrange for you.

That Brannock Device nameplate that you showed before doesn’t look familiar. Are you basing the shirts on a different Brannock photo than you were using for the IC branding?

Good catch! As Steve and I began working on the shirts,, I decided that I didn’t want the shirt design to be based on the Brannock photo I’d been using here on the IC website. Instead, I wanted to use a photo based on a slightly earlier version of the device, with a different nameplate. Here’s a comparison:

The photo on the left, with the script wordmark in the center, is the device’s current design, and it’s what I initially used for the IC branding. The photo on the right, with the different orientation and the simpler nameplate, is a previous iteration of the device (it’s also what my Brannock tattoo is based on), and I much prefer it, so I decided to use that version for the shirts. If you look at the top of this page, you’ll see that the site branding is now based on this version as well, which is how I should have set things up all along.

I think that’s it. Again, the shirts are available here.

(Doubleplusthanks to Steve Shanabruch for his design work, and to Nate Peretic of Cotton Bureau for his assistance.)

Also: Remember that you can get an actual Brannock Device — not just an image of one on a shirt — and get an exclusive 10% discount by using the checkout code INCONSPICUOUS. Enjoy!

Paul Lukas has been obsessing over the inconspicuous for most of his life, and has been writing about those obsessions for more than 30 years. You can contact him here.