LOS ANGELES – January 16, 2013 – Whether you want to dress up or kick back and relax, T-shirts from QMx are the choice of thousands of satisfied customers.

Compared to most other products on the market, they're exceptionally soft and durable, with clever, attention-getting designs. We hear our tees are often the icebreaker for conversations with strangers, who might ask about a design even though they may not know the TV show or movie behind it.

We refer to this as "discreet geek" – the fact that our T-shirts stand on their own as awesome apparel art without requiring a familiarity with the franchises they celebrate.

A good example is our Viper pilot pin-up T-shirt, part of a line of Battlestar Galactica-themed shirts in the works from QMx. Here we take two very different concepts – a Colonial Viper pilot and the pin-up girls who were often painted on the noses of WWII bombers – and bring them together in one design. This T-shirt will be a real conversation-starter, even if you're not familiar with BSG.

Smart Designs

The most challenging part of creating a T-shirt is making sure the design is unique, while still having broad appeal.

"You need to have a good command of the content, especially for our style of discreet geek," says QMx Apparel Manager Beth Nelson. "It's one thing to make a logo shirt, but creating a never-before-seen advertisement design for a product, such as our Dr. Horrible Freeze Ray T-Shirt, requires knowledge of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the nuances that make an advertisement for a freeze ray humorous. We add quotes or images that are a nod to serious fans, while still reaching out to the rest of our customers with outstanding art."

Quality Is Job #1

At Quantum Mechanix, we strive to offer the best quality apparel at the best possible prices. Beth looks for great "blanks" – the cotton tees onto which our designs are printed.

"I want a decent-weight shirt that will really withstand the test of time, while still being soft and comfortable. Longevity and wearability are extremely important to us," she says. "In addition, we are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest techniques to make sure our designs screen well and last as long as possible."

Hitting the Sweet Spot

"My favorite part about my job is watching a project go from an idea that isn't fully realized to a product that we bring to market. Apparel is a huge industry, and it's exciting to be a part of creating something that people cherish, wear often and think of fondly. I am extremely proud of the apparel line we've created," says Beth.

The key to hitting the sweet spot at QMx is to make sure our designs are knowing, attractive, approachable and something no one else is doing.

"We start with comfortable, resilient T-shirts and then cook up designs that any fan or non-fan would be proud to wear," says QMx CEO Andy Gore. "People should be assured by the design, surprised by its artistry and happy to know all our T-shirt are 100% printed in the U.S."