Globe & Mail
Fashion: Souped-Up Souvenirs
... and all I got was this awesome T-shirt
SHAWN CONNER
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 17, 2007
VANCOUVER -- The sad state of tourist-trap T-shirts sold in Vancouver souvenir shops has inspired a pair of newcomers from New Zealand to create a line of designer T's worthy of the world's most beautiful city.
When Lauren McKee and Wynne Pirini moved here last spring from their native New Zealand, the couple, who had left careers as an accountant and a construction project manager respectively, were looking for a business with a creative element. A little brainstorming during a walkabout in Vancouver's touristy Gastown area yielded the Ningnong T-shirt concept.
"We wanted something that reflected the emotion of the place," Pirini says. "There are a couple of lines in New Zealand that do that pretty well - they're iconic, and give you a sense of closeness to home. They have a twist in the image you can't get from standard souvenir T-shirts. And we noticed there was nothing quite like that here, which was quite surprising."
Instead of the usual garish colours, generic designs and sack-cloth dimensions of most souvenir apparel, Ningnong shirts are sleek and fitted, and emblazoned with designer graphics that reflect the city and its enduring images. Aimed at Vancouver natives as well as visitors to the city, Ningnong (Kiwi slang for "a goof," Ningnong is also the name of a New Zealand surfing beach) T's have proved to be a hit with both tourists and locals.
As soon as McKee and Pirini arrived in Vancouver, they hired a couple of local designers to create the shirt's iconographic designs.
"The graphics represent local landmarks," says Graham Ling, manager of You and Whose Army, a Gastown boutique specializing in streetwear and tailored urban professional clothing, "but they don't have that local, tourist-y kind of feel."
First off the line was the Stellar Jay design, featuring the provincial bird and B.C.'s flower, the dogwood, set against a map of the province. Ningnong followed up with the Stanley Park (a mountain biker silhouetted against a starry sky and full moon), Whistler (a snowboard taking flight with mountains in the background), Tofino (a surfer holding a board with a sunrays motif). Hockey players, the Lions (mountain peaks visible from the city), the city's ubiquitous rain, and the signature "W" from atop the old Woodward's department store also figure into the designs.
"The tourists recognize Tofino or Stanley Park, then the local people come in and like them for the good graphics," Ling says.
It took five months to get the shirts from the idea stage into such area stores as Vasanji in Yaletown, You and Whose Army in Gastown, Life of Riley Clothing and the Vancouver Art Gallery. The couple began selling their T's on the Ningnong website (http://www.ningnongtees.com) this month. Currently, McKee and Pirini have eight designs in production, with another saluting the Okanagan Valley due within a few weeks. The men's and women's T's are $45 and the hoodie sells for $120. Both are made from high-quality spun combed cotton.
Eventually, McKee says, they would like to expand Ningnong to include shirts inspired by other cities, including Toronto, where many of the online orders are coming from.
Meanwhile, the two New Zealand expatriates are getting a warm reception in their adopted town, with invitations to show and sell their wares at Portobello West last month, held the last Sunday of every month at Rocky Mountaineer Station.
The Georgia Straight - Style Watch
ningnong makes Vancouver Ts for nontourists
Style Watch By Shawn Conner
Publish Date: October 4, 2007
It's easy to find tourist Ts of Vancouver. But something locals would proudly wear? No luck. At least, until Ningnong came along.
Still just a few months old, the company offers B.C.–centric tops that retain a hip, stylish allure. And though the designs feature landmarks like the Lions and iconic symbols such as the Woodward's W, Ningnong is actually the brainchild of two out-of-towners. What's more, Lauren McKee and Wynne Pirini have little design training and, though they've only been in the city for just over six months, probably already know more about B.C. than you do.
Ningnong began when the two left their hometown of Wellington, New Zealand. From accounting and construction backgrounds, respectively, McKee and Pirini had decided they wanted to do something new, and they wanted to do it in Vancouver. Walking through Gastown, they were struck by the lack of Vancouver-inspired T-shirts that would appeal to people in the city for more than a convention.
"We were looking at all the shirts, and we were like, 'We're tourists, and we wouldn't wear these,'" recalls McKee at a South Granville coffee shop. "'So what are there for locals to wear?'"
Pirini says they wanted designs "that reflected the emotion of the place". There are, he says, a couple of lines in New Zealand with such appeal, but they're not as specific as Ningnong. (The name is derived both from a rocky, rugged surfing locale back home and a slang term for an easygoing goof.) Pirini, who won the International Peace Poster Award for a poster he designed at 17, had a few ideas for images, and the two found a couple of people who could flesh these out and come up with a few of their own. The Lions T is bright green and features an image of the peaks visible from downtown, with a retro-ish rainbow. On VanCity Rain, available in black and white, the Woodward's W tops a cloud formation unleashing a stylized downpour of grey, wavy lines. For TofinoDream, a silhouetted surfer holds a board over his head against an oval of pale-blue, curly waves framed by trees.
Deciding on the designs was a cakewalk compared to finding the right textiles. "It took months," says McKee. "Especially with the organics, it was tough finding the right supplier, and the right fits." They wanted both a standard and an organic cotton line, in the right formfitting cut, and had hoped they could find a Canadian source. In the end they had to go with Mexico for the organic and the U.S. for the standard, mostly to get the cut they desired.
Their vision is paying off. The Vancouver Art Gallery Store (750 Hornby Street), Vasanji (1012 Mainland Street), and You and Whose Army? (385 Water Street) all carry Ningnong, and the two have started selling at the monthly Portobello Market. (As well, the Ts are available through their Web site, www.ningnong.ca , at $45 for standard cotton, $50 for organic, and $120 for the cotton-polyester hoodie.) When it comes to getting product onto the racks, McKee and Pirini's lovable-foreigner status helps, but their kiwi accents only get them so far.
"I think people are probably more open to our approach, so we can pitch," Pirini says. "Once we pitch, it's a level playing field. They want to know, 'Have you got a product we can sell?'"
Sweet Spot
Tourist in Your Town
Monday, 15 October 2007
Tourists or not, we love to brag about our beautiful country. But it’s so much better to show our love for our cityscapes and natural scenery (even the snow and rain).
We’ve got our West coast pride covered with ningnong's tees.
Lauren and Wynne’s B.C.-inspired images are hidden within their clever and eye-catching designs. Organic and original, we’re (naturally) crushing on these for promoting the great things our country has to offer.
We tried on the Tofino, a brown and baby blue t-shirt with images of a surfer, waves and a mini-van etched in. (The feminine scoop neck and comfy fit gave us a blue crush of our own.) The VanCity plain white t-shirt is appropriately speckled with gray rain drops and a fluffy cloud. And the hooded Stellar Jay sweat-shirt in navy blue with artsy birds and flowers matches our Saturday morning yoga outfit perfectly.
Tacky tourist, you say? Don't be a ningnong...
Ningnong Tees
http://www.ningnongtees.com/
Available for purchase online