15 Logos You Should Ripoff If You Want To Make Terrible T-Shirts

Aye bruh, so you wanna start a T-shirt line? And you got a whole slew of logo ripoffs that are gonna change the game? Excuse me while I reach over and press the "chill the fuck out" button right quick, Duncan.

Whether you're just starting out or you have been doing the tee hustle for eons, I would recommend paying real close attention to the following graphical science missiles I'm about to fire on your whole sus headquarters cause there are rules to this game. If you stray away from the safety of the path before you, you're gonna end up on "Shurt Feelings" fucking around trying to be a logo flipping cowboy. Your pen tool only goes "pew pew!" Remember that.

Your boy does not mess with logo flips as a rule. Why? Probably because I think they are wild pointless. In fact, they don't have a point. They are lazy. They are like mashup songs, combining two good things into one bad thing. At their best they are pure novelty. They are the foam fingers of graphic design. Sure, in a vacuum of a specific scenario they can be entertaining, but once removed, they reveal their lowest possible hanging fruit. They lack concept. And most importantly, they recklessly promote the idea that a designer has to thieve to achieve. Unless you wanna be a shark biting logo flipper for your never heard of brand's brief little existence, I would recommend studying this list like shit was the SATs.

Skip Class is a writer living in Seattle. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter here.

Oakland Raiders

Let the Raiders logo live, blood! Just let that logo live its life. It did nothing to deserve getting a shitty ripoff T-shirt train ran on it by every 19-year-old that has some "ephiphanous" moment of design brilliance. This leads us to the very heart of why ripping off logos is dumb. If you like the Raiders logo so much, just buy some fucking Raiders gear. It's 2013, bruh. Every 8th grader at a bus stop is wearing a Raiders snapback pretending they are hard. You do not have to be scared to wear Raiders gear anymore, so you certainly don't have to wear the Diet Coke of Raiders gear.

Black Flag

Motherfucking Black Flag, broooooo! Nothing screams phoning it in before a tradeshow like a Black Flag ripoff tee. If your line line has a Black Flag logo in it, you might as well get comfortable with the fact that you're probably not going to make more than $17,000 a year before taxes. Keep in mind that I don't think I even make that much money a year, but at least I have the distinct pleasure of going to sleep at night knowing I'm not screen printing a design that says, "Fuck it, I give up."

Comme des Garçons

I didn't even know what Commes Des Garcons was. That's how bad this one is. Readers are probably like, "How does Skip Class not know about Commes? Dude is a total idiot!" Sorry guys. I don't wear or know about Japanese-based brands that have French names that translate to "For The Boys". I am not on said wave. Here's the thing, I don't understand why this needs to be ripped off. It's not really a play on words. It's just a really long way to get to the word "fuck". That being said don't rip off the rip off either. That's like counterfeiting a counterfeit bill.

Starter

This one is kinda relegated to hats and hats are like T-shirts for your head, right? Whatever.

Why can't we all just leave a good thing alone? Can we just have something good without having every dipshit pilfering this one? It's ALWAYS some dumb criminal shit too like "Hustle City" in small script and "Swaggigans" in big script. Thanks guys. That was totally necessary. You couldn't take the extra two minutes to typeset it yourself? You just HAD to make it look like the Swaggigans were a legitimate sports team.

Whatever The Fuck That Little Bape Cartoon Thing Is

Excuse my terribly inaccurate name for that logo. Is it even a logo? I think so. It's like the anime Lego mascot thing, but you're supposed to make it have tattoos or a gun or some sort of awful drug reference. Whatever that thing is—and it is a thing because I see kids listening to Weezy, pounding energy drinks, wearing the shit trying to get bums to by them swishers from the store daily—leave it wherever the fuck it came from.

adidas

It may not be what it once was, but there was a time—let's just call it "The '90s"—where motherfuckers could not breathe unless they were ripping off the adidas leaf. I mean, usually it was for purposes related to marijuana designs, but, man, was it everywhere. It was like "Gangham Style", but on T-shirts. I don't know why you would want to rip adidas anyways. Besides their shoes, the only people I've ever known to wear adidas clothing were Italians dudes that smuggled hash in their cheeks then offered to pack you a bowl of butt hash. Not the scene, playboy, not the scene.

Helvetica Comma Ampersand

I think you see where I'm going with this one...

The Misfits

I do my best to keep all my pieces on here three hunna (read: factual), I dead ass have never listened to The Misfits. Why? I don't know. I can't speak on them. I do know Danzig was the lead singer and the only time I ever see that dude on the Internet it is that same picture of him shopping at Whole Foods. Is that what's hot, Danzig? Whole Foods? Anyways, people that play this logo are just assholes. It's just a skull from an old movie if I remember correctly. You're telling me you can't Google image search "skull" and find something else? You HAVE TO use The Misfits joint? You're better than that. Well, you're not, but I am trying to inspire the inner you that doesn't ruin everything you will ever touch.

The Cross (Jeezus)

Not a trademarked logo (to my knowledge), but it may as well be. Everyone on Earth knows what the cross is. You don't have to explain what a titty is to a baby. Turning a cross upside and saying it's a design is like farting in a jar and saying it's chili. It ain't.

Upside down cross ripoffs are so prevalent that it's actually more gangster to just rock the shit straight up as is. People think you're on some crazy new art shit if you wear a regular cross—some famous artist that only live projects his Tumblr in warehouse parties to crowds of 7 people where you have a junkie shoot up as part of your performance piece all because everyone thinks they can just Oddfuture some crosses. Wearing an upside down cross is like talking about how you're "so over" your ex to all your friends, but on your chest.

Supreme

Holy shit! We're heading into highly treacherous hypebeasting waters. Finna open up the flood gates of hypebeast comment trolls with this one! Look guys, let's just all commes des fuckdown. Whoopise.

Nah, but for real. I don't remember who the first brand was to bite the Supreme logo that we all know was stolen from Babs Kruger. But none of that really matters. If you DO know who the first brand to ripoff Supreme's logo was, congrats! Please tell me all about it and also how you've managed to remain a virgin this whole time. I've never understood it. How is it ironic or a parody? Suepreme? Oh because they are/were involved in a lawsuit over their logo? SO CLEVER! See how relevant that shirt is 4 months (aka 4,000 internet years). Ripping off this logo is like being the 400th dude to have sex with Tara Reid. It's not really something you want to do. Nor is it something you want to ever draw attention to.

Yves Saint Laurent

I asked a bunch of designers which logo they were tired of seeing ripped off and YSL was on the top of everyone's list. I think the best way to curb this urge is to ask people to spell the name out. If you spell it wrong, you can't rip itoff and if you spell it right someone shows up to your apartment and kicks you in the throat and throws a copy of "Chicken Soup For The Lazy Designer's Soul" at your facial.

Run-D.M.C.

What would possess you to use this logo for anything other than an '80s rap group from Queens? This logo should only be ripped off if you need to make a T-shirt for an in-store appearance by a WNBA star and you want people to have some recognizable graphic element that will make them actually take the free tee and matching lanyard you're giving away.

The Godfather

Alright, so you're going to need your tee to have that mafia/criminality vibe. First question: Are you seven-years-old? We all love Godfather. Brando, Pacino, De Niro, the horse head scene. I mean, what's not to love? Is it necessary to compromise the film's historic acclaim so you can promote your breakdance crew? Are the two really that equal? If you guys are that good of breakdancers then by all means go ahead. But if you think there's just the slightest chance that these two entities are not TOTALLY equal then maybe we could just try and use that old creative brain of yours to think of something that doesn't require one of the most iconic type logos of all time to get your name out there.

Calvin Pissing

I'm taking some real liberties with this list, but that's just how I roll, bruhs. I play fast and loose on this here keyboard. Again, not fully exclusive to T-shirts, the "Calvin pissing on (blank) logo" needs to stop forever. Maybe the NSA could jump in and actually use its powers for good and do the graphic design world a favor by ridding the planet from having to see this dude peeing ever again. Do your own part to help the cause. It's like recycling. I'd rather see you throw cigarette cellophane in the street than a mockup Calvin wearing a backwards YOLO snapback, pissing on the word "COPS".

Yo! MTV Raps

Streetwear may have already have blown its load ruining everybody's favorite rap music variety show. But that's just what streetwear wants you to think because he's a shady bastard. Trust. The OG logo was designed by Revolt if my brain remembers correctly. I bet you right now, as you're reading this, some wild dickhead is making a tie-dye tank graphic that says, "YO! Molly and Rap". See how terrible that sounds? It's terrible because it's true. The YO! MTV Raps logo never did anything to deserve that. I mean, Ed Lover is kinda annoying, but he's also kinda funny.