Tshirts are a tricky business. It’s such a ubiquitous article of clothing. We all wear them every day — some are loud, some are plain, some are oversized, and some are fitted. Because the tshirt is an every day item worn and accepted universally, comfort and individually are a must for any good tshirt.

Enter Graniph. The Japanese tshirt retailer (dubbed Design Tshirts Store graniph) started with just a tiny store in Tokyo’s Shimo-Kitazawa district, popular with college students and artsy people. Their goal was to make and sell nice-looking tshirts that they could actually afford. With this goal in mind, Graniph was successful — it now has stores all across Japan, and in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia. This just goes to show that good taste knows no boundaries.

What I like most about Graniph is that despite the fact that they constantly have different artist collaborations working on their tshirts – and always encouraging all artists to submit new tshirt designs – aesthetically, they always stay true to the brand Graniph. When I see a Graniph tshirt, I can recognize that it’s a Graniph tshirt, no matter which designer actually came out with the print. Graniph tshirts can be loud, subdued, quirky, colourful, or plain — but the love for art and design is always apparent in every shirt sold by Graniph.

It’s a shame Vancouver lacks a store like this. I guess, as with all things, Vancouver’s always a little slow to pick up on a good thing. It’s really too bad because I think this city needs a cool, affordable tshirt retailer. Sure, there are some great stores that sell some pretty awesome t’s these days (I’m thinking Sharks + Hammers in Gastown and El Kartel on Robson — any others?), but I do wish there was a store that would mix the affordability of H&M, the creativity of Threadless and Graniph, and the ties to local street culture of El Kartel and Livestock.

Read more about Graniph in this interview with Graniph’s David Smyth. Let’s all learn from him and be super awesome.