Aphillyated is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA) based clothing company founded in May 2010 by brothers Nicholas and Vincent Sannuti with the aim of being the go-to brand for Philadelphia apparel.
As a streetwear clothing company built upon the heart and soul of Philadelphia, Aphillyated Apparel captures the spirit of the city through icons, landmarks and Philly’s beloved sports teams in Philadelphia. Not only everything Philly, but we aim to satisfy the needs of the urban culture, with a lot of influences from pop culture and current trends.
Aphillyated T-Shirt Review
Aphillyated sent over two tees for review. One of them is a large black men’s tee by Next Level Apparel, I think. And the other is a red Tultex girls tee in a small. The black tee is medium to heavy cotton with a nice cut and perfect stitching whereas the girls tee is a lighter cotton with poor stitching. There were loose threads in three places externally. The could be tidied up with a snip but I do have to wonder about the durability.
Both tees have the same design; text in the shape of the iconic LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana. The text within the text is made up of the names of Philadelphia neighborhoods. It’s clearly for people who love Philadelphia because it wouldn’t mean much to anyone else.
They are both one color prints but while the black tee has red ink, the white tee has white. The quality of the print on both tees is probably the same but perhaps the contrast works better on the black because the white on red looks a bit blurred. It looks like they are using copious amounts of plastisol ink (I could be wrong) and the print has a rough finish.
Even if the tee was in a size that I wear I don’t think it’s something I would wear. It’s basically a souvenir tee from a place I have never been.
Branding and Extras
The t-shirt blanks have had their original labels removed leaving just the care labels at the neck. Both tees have the Aphillyated text logo (a sporty script) on the sleeve. I think it looks good and on the red tee at least the print is nice and soft. Either they used a different printing process or a more appropriate amount of ink. I wish the main print was as soft.
There were two small stickers included in the package. Nice and small. And if you are a lover of Philly then these will probably be a nice bonus.
Website
The website is simple and very easy to navigate just the way I like them. I’m not saying it’s perfect though. It is immediately obvious when you hit the site that you are looking at an apparel brand. And if you are familiar with Philadelphia at all you will quickly understand that this site is for Philly fans. For people who are not it is not so obvious and at first I thought that this was an issue to be addressed but then I realized that it didn’t matter. Despite what I was told in the email (Not only everything Philly, but we aim to satisfy the needs of the urban culture, with a lot of influences from pop culture and current trends.), this is a store for Philadelphia lovers.
The site is very clean and finished but somehow manages to look a bit cheap. This might be because of the obvious mock-ups and square white boxes that make the store look like a Spreadshirt shop. As a test I removed the white background (left) and I think that it looks much better.
Selection
There seem to be a dozen or so designs in various colorways and available on a variety of apparel like tees, tanks, sweatshirts and hoodies. Including the Rocky tees, they all seem to be Philadelphia-themed and utilize simple one or two color designs. There are a couple of photo tees too.
Pricing
Tees are mostly $22. That seems fair.
Wrap-up
They have a niche and they are working it well. If you are a looking for a Philadelphia tee you will probably find a few that you’d like here.
The mens tee was good quality but the girls, not so much. I understand the need to use different brands for various reasons but we can probably get low quality Philadelphia souvenir tees for much less than $22. A bit more quality control is needed. Of course the tee I got may have been an exception but I don’t think so. I think they can do a better job with the printing too.
I think the site needs to be tidied up a little and I think simple is the way to go. Like removing the the white background as mentioned above and probably taking the navigation out of the box or perhaps moving it to the top of the page and integrating the shopping cart logo. They have some nice t-shirts but I think that it would look better if they used photos rather than mockups.
I know this review seems a bit negative but overall I am impressed and think that they have potential to be even better. I think that if Aphillyated really wants to expand outside their niche they need to provide a consistent product and a more professional image.
Aphillyated on the Web: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Please comment with your real name using good manners.