Interview: Qwertee Bot
“Geek chic”, a minor fashion trend that arose in the mid 2000s in which young individuals adopted stereotypically “geeky” fashions, such as oversized black Horn-rimmed glasses, suspenders/braces, and highwater trousers.
While I’d be the last person in the world to ever claim to having a fashion trend I can honestly tell you that I’ve never had an interest in geek chic/chique! In fact the term really grinds my gears, the notion that dressing as a tired stereotype was somehow the cool thing to do just because Kanye West did it bothered me, not because of the fashion style itself, it was the words, our clothes don’t make us geeks, our passions and obsessions do!
At the end of the day a tee-shirt is a tee-shirt…
Well…while I am not a fashion guru, I do like to dress well and like many other gamers and geeks my wardrobe consists of hoodies, shirts, tees and accessories emblazened, printed, stitched and inked with geek jokes, video game references and iconic characters and logos! While hardly a groundbreaking fashion trend, these clothes are almost a must have even for the not so hardcore gamer or geek, wearing them not only highlights your interests and hobbies to others it can much the same way wearing your county colours can, fill you with a sense of pride and as I sit here at my small desk in my air conditioned office, under my uncomfortable stiff shirt I have an Adventure Time tee on and it helps me feel like I’m me even when I am not glued to a console or the latest episode.
In recent times there has been a huge explosion in online stores selling off t-shirts, must have garments for any gamer or geek and amidst all of these, one store has pushed out ahead of the others and it’s not hard to see why! With fantastic and creative designs as well as an engaging and helpful customer service, Qwertee have earned themselves a fantastic reputation and today I’m lucky enough to sit down and chat with some of the folk behind Qwertee.com
Who are Qwertee?
Mainly Qwertee is run by Qwertee the robot (aka Qwerteebot) who prints all orders, packs all shirts etc. Because he’s a relatively lazy robot he is assisted by a small team of humans who have a keen interest in putting great designs on great t-shirts and selling them at very low prices.
Where did the idea for the site come from?
A couple of us had tried our hand at t-shirt design before at some US based sites, but been unsuccessful It seemed easier to set up our own site to be sure that we’d get printed the odd time (this turned out to be a bit more work than initially planned:)
What sets Qwertee apart from similar online stores?
Well we like to think we’re one of the friendliest online communities around. People are very nice to each other which is great, and our users tend to be really supportive of all the great artists that submit designs every day.
How does the site work? Let’s say I have some artwork, how do I get it made into a tee?
Artist submit designs to be voted on. They are put live and the Qwertee community votes for it’s favourite designs. The most popular designs are then put up for sale and printed so they become real live t-shirts. Artists get paid €1 commission for every tee that sells over the 48 hours each shirt is on sale.
You guys have over 90k followers on Facebook and over 26k on Twitter, did you think on day one, you’d reach this point of popularity?
Absolutely. Total world domination has always been the goal… That is to say, no, we had no idea whatsoever that so many people would become fans of Qwertee
Can I ask, what has been the most popular design since Qwertee opened it’s tee selling doors?
I’m not 100% sure on this but I think it was this one:
Moving on from popular, to your own personal favourite?
Mmm. Hard to tell, I have quite a lot. This one still consistantly makes me chuckle when I see it:
Serious question time, we are in time of economic distress but Qwertee just seems to be going from strength to strength, what’s the secret to your success?
Well just to say Facebook Fans does not = $$$ success sadly! But I suppose we’re offering people a great product at a very reasonable price and we try to be as nice and helpful to everyone as possible. And thankfully people seem to like us enough to tell their friends about us which is great!
Finally, if you were trapped in an Arcade for eternity, what one game would you play to pass the time?
I’m afraid I have not spent much time in arcades since the early 90’s so it would most likely be Turtles in Time or somthing of that vintage.
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It doesn’t end there folks, with thanks to Qwertee, we have a fantastic offer for all of you to share in! For the next month, all Arcade readers will be able to avail of a special discount on the site – so if you want to get awesome cheap tees at an even cheaper price use the special discount code below:
For more information on Qwertee, to stay up to date on the latest designs and to stay clued in on their latest competitions do make sure you follow the guys below:
Qwertee Facebook
Qwertee Twitter
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
