1. What makes beyondadornment tees like The OrbiTee high quality?

All beyondadornment tees, including The OrbiTee, are screen-printed on two sides in 7-8 separate colors, making it much more costly for every screen printer to produce, including ours.  Screen printing is commonly thought to product the best, longest-lasting results, especially on the all-cotton material underlying The OrbiTee design. Inexpensive tees often reflect relatively crude ink-jet production, and/or limited colors, and/or front-only design placement.

Beyond this, beyondadornment prints on only top-quality ‘blanks’ (tee shirt companies like ours typically buy blank—i.e., unadorned—tees from a wholesaler and have our designs printed on them by a screen-printer).  The OrbiTee uses renowned American Apparel 2001 and 2201 unisex 100% combed cotton organic blanks, sweatshop-free and made in the USA.    (The term ‘organic’ applies only to the textile itself, consistent with United States apparel labeling requirements.  Consistent with general practice, the ink used to print the designs is not organic, and neither are the neck label or hang tag.  Organic screen printing inks are difficult to work with and produce indifferent results at this time, and but we will continue to monitor the industry for signs of progress.)

Beyond this, The OrbiTee and all beyondadornment work reflect original ideas—in The OrbiTee’s case, reflecting months of research, experimentation, and design, to bring you the best possible tee.  We do not knock off anyone else’s work.

2. Where can I buy The Orbitee in person?

Provide us with your email address and we’ll let you know as stores begin stocking it.  Our plan is to sell it primarily through planetariums worldwide, and also special interest shops.

3. Is the info presented by The OrbiTee scientifically accurate?

More so than in many visual explanations of this topic, but like them subject to the constraints of the medium.  The essential point is that the tilt of the Earth as it orbits the Sun creates the seasons.  (Note that countries may alter their time zones, but rarely.)

4. What size should I order?

These tees might shrink a bit, particularly if the care instructions on the tee, reproduced immediately following, aren’t followed.  Also, they are a fitted rather than boxy style.  For both reasons, it is better to order a larger rather than smaller size when in doubt.  Please check the sizing chart.

5. How should I care for the tee?

Even screen-printed designs may fade somewhat over time.  For best results,
wash inside out in cold water and tumble dry on a low temperature setting. Do
not iron or dry clean.

Sky Blue version coming soon!

6. The earths on the Size 8 tee I purchased look a bit different than those on the other sizes. Why is that?

A good Question, even though it’s not Frequently Asked. The Size 8 tee needed to be stretched vertically during screen printing to accommodate the design, so the tee may look like this:

Kind of a cool, edgy effect, we think. But if you prefer the original look, simply stretch your tee horizontally for a few minutes and the original look should reappear. (The entire design did print, after all.)

7. Who contributed to making this tee shirt?

Thought you’d never ask.  A whole bunch of great people performing a variety of functions.

Graphic Design:  Kate, Melisa, Raymond, Sebastian, Ian

Astronomy Confirmation:  Ben, Evan, Kerrilee, Kevin, Cris, Neil, and John

Marketing:  Danny of Our Stereo

Product Photography: Nina Barry and Sung Ryen

Screen Printing:  Chris M., Angie, and Chris R. of Jakprints

Neck Label Production:  Eric of Labels Inter-Global

Modeling:  Leigh, Claudia, Veronica, Ian again, Eric again, Dick, Kristen, Lavrendi, Stacy, Emma, Karinn, Jinya (the founder’s daughter), Sara, Cole, and Dakota (the founder’s son)

Thanks to you all!