On the front of this karate T-shirt, a fighter in a gi with a black belt kicks high to the left, in black against a deep red sun. Optional extras: Disziplin, Respekt, Training on the back and a pine tree on each sleeve.
Product description
This karate T-shirt freezes a single movement: the high kick, when all your weight rests on one leg and the other snaps up above head height. On the chest, a fighter in a gi stands as a black silhouette against a large, deep red sun. The light lines inside the figure look as if they had been gouged out of a wooden block. The idea is the look of an old woodcut, with hard edges, few colours and plenty of tension between light and dark. Black, deep red and cream are all the picture needs, and that restraint suits a martial art in which every unnecessary movement is cut away.
Take a closer look at the figure. The head is in profile and faces left, the same direction as the kick. The short hair sticks out in spikes, a light outline traces the forehead, nose, mouth and chin, the eye is a small bright dot and the ear is visible. The kicking leg runs up at an angle as a wide trouser leg, and the bare foot reaches past the upper left edge of the sun. The standing leg is vertical beneath it, also barefoot, and extends below the disc. One fist is held bent in front of the chest, so the guard stays up even in the middle of the attack. The knot of the black belt sits at the centre of the body, with two ends hanging down at an angle. Folds in the jacket and trousers appear as fine light cuts, which makes the fabric look as if it is moving even though the figure is almost entirely black.
The sun is more than a backdrop. Horizontal light lines run through the red like the grain of a plank, and its edge is a cream ring that frays on the outside, as though it had not been cut quite cleanly. The upper body and head sit fully inside the red, while the kicking leg crosses the disc diagonally. That overlap gives the karate T-shirt depth, even though the motif is completely flat. From a distance you first read only the shape: a dark body, a red circle, a leg pointing upwards. Only up close do the cut lines, the toes, the fingers of the fist and the grain in the red come through.
For the back there is a matching second design that you can add if you like. It shows three lines with the German words Disziplin, Respekt, Training, meaning discipline, respect and training, set in heavy serif letters in the style of old wood type, cream with a black outline. The first line arches upwards, and behind the lettering another red sun with horizontal lines shows through. Light and dark rays splinter out to both sides of the word Respekt, and below the last word hangs a pointed ornament of jagged shapes and drips with fine red streaks. The sleeves can be printed too: each then carries a pine tree shaped like a bonsai, with a curving trunk and cloud-like clusters of needles in front of a red sun, on one sleeve to the right of the crown and on the other to the left. Without these extra areas only the front is printed, and the motif there stands perfectly well on its own.
Who is it for? Anyone who wears a belt or used to, whether in karate, taekwondo or another martial art with high kicks. Parents whose kids are working towards their next grading, and coaches who live these values every week. As a gift after a passed belt test, the karate T-shirt works just as well as it does on the way to the dojo and for the evening afterwards. The shirt itself is a classic T-shirt with a structured look; it is only printed once you order, and in the listing you choose the size, the colour and any extra print areas. If you would rather have a motif of your own, describe your idea in a few sentences and see several designs for it within a few minutes.
