Cicada Clothing

Americans have long used unfortunate circumstances as creative fuel: the tumultuous '60s gave us Hendrix, Dylan, and the Stones, while the crack-cocaine epidemic of the '80s gave us the idea to turn those songs into techno remixes. Turning unfortunate insects into arresting fashion, Cicada Clothing. Started by a graphic artist who cut his chops at a screen printing shop that did wardrobe for Snoop videos, CC takes its inspiration from the mind-blowingly loud swarm of critters that infest our business every 17 years to make an equally mind-blowing line of tees -- destroying a bunch of fruit trees is on you. The line starts with actual-insect-featuring gear like "Sun Toucher", in which a sinister, bandana-clad turquoise cicada hovers menacingly across your chest, and the more scientifically accurate, black/white insect w/ creepy, beady red eyes, called "Bugged Out", also your mom's reaction when you told her you wanted to follow around The String Cheese Incident. More text-based action includes the block-lettered "Windy City Evil", a commentary on the Chi's ability to keep moving forward despite crime and corruption, and the more playful "We Be on Dem Trees" (avail in blue, brown, and green), but totally not in some weird dendrophiliac way. Because one can only take so much six-legged fun, they've also got man-based gear like "Crusin", a shaded and mohawked tank-top clad character slung coolly over some handlebars, and a similarly steezed character's sneering grill splashed across the whole tee in "Filthy", invoking another tumultuous era: bath time.