January 18, 1990. The elected mayor of the District of Columbia,Marion Barry, is caught smoking crack cocaine on surveillance camera by the FBI and DC Police. His now infamous quote is replayed on televisions throughout the country, creating a political firestorm and shining a spotlight on the crack epidemic that had plagued the nation’s capital for over a decade. Voters were outraged. How could this happen? What kind of example does this set for our children? Why can’t the mayor of DC afford proper cocaine?? And as a testament to our citizens’ ability to forgive and forget, Mr. Barry was later reelected as mayor and is currently serving his third term on the DC City Council.

Softcore Laundry hopes that you get an emotional high with this arresting reminder that anything is possible in America. Fuck yeah!

Purchase this kickass shirt in our Etsy Shop

We wanted to give a shout out to some of our favorite Etsy sellers:

Fosterweld (Indianapolis, IN)

These guys make really, really cool stuff out of metal and leather. We’ve bought cuffs and belt buckles from them and they’re pretty awesome. They’re also coming out with a line of home decor soon, including tables, chairs and wall art!

RAR RAR PRESS (Chicago, IL)

From the Windy City, Rebecca Ann Rakstad makes letterpress printed products like postcards and greeting cards. She uses the ‘F’ word a lot, and we salute her for it. I was fortunate to meet her IRL at Crafty Bastards last year and she was just as cool as her cards.

Dark Cycle Clothing (Tampa, FL)

We love this family shop that specializes in bicycle-themed screen printed t-shirts. Their designs are super creative and fun. Sharks riding beach cruisers? Hell yes.

Paper Cuts Creative (Washington, DC)

One of my favorite new Etsy finds (and a fellow DC resident), Paper Cuts Creative pays homage to some of America’s most beloved figures with her mixed media cards and posters. Starting with simple sketches, she adds layers of paper, fabric and oil paint to recreate these magical characters. Rock!

Pet Salad (Portland, OR)

The first thing we ever bought on Etsy was a cut coin from petsalad and he continues to be one of our favorite sellers. The skill and precision he uses to create these rad neck ornaments is unbelievable. We’ve been back several times to purchase his cut coins for friends and everyone agrees they’re the best dollar for dollar jewelry around. Bad pun intended.

This moment has been in the making for over a year but we are finally live! We have been working hard–day and night, beers in hand–fine tuning our production process to bring you some kick ass graphic t-shirts.

We are starting things off with four of our favorite designs. All shirts are printed on genuine American Apparel. We went with American Apparel because they make the best shirts available, but also because their shirts are manufactured in Los Angeles, CA in a sweat-shop free work environment. They pay nearly twice the federal minimum wage and offer all employees company subsidized health insurance. We think that’s pretty cool.

We have a dozen more designs in the works and will be posting them here and in our Etsy store. So check back often!