One of the products/projects I’m legit over the moon about is Stain-O-Flage. This is our attempt to build a shirt that, rather than run away from the stains, embraces them. A shirt you can wear straight to dinner at the French Laundry after a day under your car without having to do a load of laundry. The shirt for anyone who works with their hands but still wants to look fly. I was talking to a friend who also slings coffee in a shop, complaining that his shirts are always ruined. I showed him Stain-O-Flage and he realized it was the perfect shirt for him.
Because this is a prototype, our first round of shirts were pre-order only, and the complicated printing meant that it took a good while to get them produced. We just got them, and they’ll start shipping as fast as we can.
IF you are one of the lucky number of fans who purchased a shirt, we want you to wear the shirts, and we want you to get them dirty. While your shirt is rare and sure to be a collectible sold on some future 30-second social version of Antiques Roadshow hosted by Alix Earle’s great-grandson Flizbert, the data you get from testing this prototype is super valuable to us.
To sweeten the pot, we’re having a little contest: We want evidence of anyone who can subject the Stain-O-Flage shirt to the gnarliest stain or stain combo, and have it come out looking decent. As Jason wrote:
Now, to do this, the stains must me documented to the best of your ability, so we know what we’re dealing with here. The staining elements must be noted and recorded, and, ideally, the staining incident itself will be photographed. After the stain or series of stains occurs, one (1) machine wash is permitted, then the Stain-O-Flage shirt must be photographed to show the results of the stain attempt.
The winner of the 1th Stain-O-Flage Stain Contest will win a Mk.2 Stain-O-Flage shirt (when available) and will also get a staggering $50 off a new Autopian Membership or renewal, which is a big deal. With the shirts going out now, you all have until November 15th to let us know. Be safe, and send your data to tips@autopian.com, with the subject line STAIN CONTEST!
If you missed out on this opportunity, we’re already working on the Mk 02 version. In the meantime, there’s plenty of merch over at the online Autopian store at GAS. Happy staining.
It looks like the Terminator brought one of these back through time, to 1984, (so frequent terminations would not cramp his clothing style). Make the MKII without the big white label(so I can wear it to the Bar), and I will buy one. After seeing your Modeling by David, you really need to develop a “Beer-Gut-O-Flage”.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204150105735
My complaint is that this looks like thin athletic-wear type material. Who wants to crawl under a car wearing that? Plus, that stuff melts from sparks and/or hot metal shavings.
I want a nice sturdy cotton (maybe with a bit of wool to prevent smells), that leans on the thicker side. I wouldn’t mind it coming in a mechanic’s shirt form factor either…
Looks like it’s a polyester shirt. Don’t many hydrocarbons like diesel, gas, or kerosene eat or permanently damage/distort polyester on some level? Sure, you might not be able to see the stain, but are you going to be smelling it sense the diesel is now chemically “attached” to the shirt?
Wish I’d have had mine for vacation two weeks ago when the car needed an oil change, but a pair of gloves, a piece of cardboard, and the Fumoto valve I installed made that basically no mess, outside of removing the filter. I’ll have to get creative for the stain contest I guess.
I have already asked my 13 and 15yr old nieces to assist me in stainification.
They requested i wear it while doing it.
I am scared.
If anyone has a complete lack of care for their health, I can get you some Carbon Black to really test out the mettle of the shirts.
That stuff stains EVERYTHING. And is used to make tires.
Hmm, have a little can of it thanks to the reside of my dad’s garage, or maybe he got it from his dad, who knows, I just have a can of it. Why any of them had it, I have no idea.
Unfortunately, I got Region Locked when I attempted to buy one. Hopefully one day Galpin will ship beyond international borders.
The way things are going there will soon be no international borders for the US. The United States will stop at it’s borders, and it will be forbidden to speak of any other countries.
Those of us in the now ‘non-existent’ rest of the world, will go about our lives as normal, except probably slightly happier.
I’m going to show you what carbide grinding fluid and a sludge of ceramic powder do to mine.
Sorry your size available would only fit my dog
Bummed I somehow missed the pre-order post way back when it happened. I’d be all over one of these.
We want evidence of anyone who can subject the Stain-O-Flage shirt to the gnarliest stain or stain combo, and have it come out looking decent.
This is not going to end well. But I’m mostly looking forward to seeing the results.
This is going to be the reverse of that guy who spent months (and a million different products) trying to get the oil stain off of his concrete slab.
I have access to coal tar creosote. Pretty much game over for any fabric.
That sounds great! I’m just slightly afraid of possible suggestions that would be NSFW.
I’m tempted to complain about all the wrenching I *just finished* doing in t-shirts that loudly advertise their stains, but I know that wrenching never truly ends.
Soon, stain-o-flage. Soon…
Hmm… sad I didn’t order one because I’m picturing a 2 liter of diet coke partly emptied, dosed with a bunch of heinous crap, some mentos, and an epic driveway shower.
Eagerly awating testing mine…
I need a stain o flage full body suit to protect against mosquitoes while working on my car.
Those who chose the pick up option, we’ll be notified that we can pick them up at galpin?
There’s probably a whole 2 of us in the LA area who picked that option, we can do a meetup to grab the shirts.
What? I didn’t think this was real! Man, I’m sad I missed out on ordering the Mk 01…
No joke I’ve been mean mugging my porch every day for weeks waiting for this, even though I’m sure I’d have gotten a shipping notification. I’m so excited to test the hell out of this shirt, I have some absolutely horrible things planned. There will be video.
Two Mechjaz and a cup?
*Full disclosure: I have never been brave enough to actually look this up and view it even though it seems to be the stuff of Internet legend.
I strongly recommend that you don’t.
Lest there be other such imaginations, I only plan to subject it to things that could feasibly be encountered by a “reasonable” person in the normal course of wrenching/eating/eating while wrenching. It just might be an interesting path to get there is all. I’m looking for a particular gross out, not to inspire actual revulsion. I hope.
I’ll put it this way: I picture Torch laughing in grossed out delight when I laid out the storyboard of this in my head. Nothing truly horrendous.
I wish I’d manage to avoid it, but the fun thing to do with unlocked laptops in college was to set things like that, and the other infamous early aughts sites, as home pages and desktop backgrounds and then change the password so the ashamed person would have to take it to the help desk to get back into it. Naturally they were less than pleased to see those things.