Recently, I attended Hyper Japan, the UK’s biggest J-culture and anime convention (and it’s seriously worth going to, if you’ve got a pair of comfortable shoes). There was, as you can imagine, plenty to do and to see – and in the way of geek fashion, it was heaven.
It’s where I fell head over heels in love with Genki Gear, an indie t-shirt (and hoodies, and cool gifts) shop which prints their own designs, right here in the UK. And my god, the designs are so cute I had to restrain myself from buying all the things at their stall.
About the shop
Genki Gear (run by Lydia English) has been around since 2006, and they’ve been a big presence at various conventions, like Hyper Japan, Nine Worlds (just this past weekend) and MCM London Comic Con. Aside from their t-shirts, which are 100% cotton and of a fairware manufacturer (with the designs silkscreen printed in the UK), they also make hoodies, women’s vest tops and gifts like mugs, cards and posters.
Why buy from Genki Gear?
Because the designs are super cute, unusual and unique. And you’d be supporting an indie shop, which I’m always in approval of!
Where can I find them?
They don’t have a bricks and mortar store as of yet (although I hope they will have some sort of high street presence in the future – for example, at a shop like Forbidden Planet), so for now you can find Genki Gear online. Or if you want to, you can check out where they’re next setting up their stall on their events page. They’ll be at Loncon 3, at the Excel Centre from the 14th to the 18th of August (so, from tomorrow).
And on social media?
You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.