ONLINE CERAMICS

If you want a mass-produced basic, no; if you want a hand-made, small-batch art piece, this is the appeal. Many Online Ceramics designs are tie-dyed by hand and carry enormous, intricate graphics, which is exactly why the streetwear crowd prizes them. The shirts frequently sell out, and that scarcity is a big part of what makes them so coveted.

By design. The brand produces small batches of shirts and hoodies, which is precisely what makes them noteworthy in the streetwear community, as The New Yorker observed: the pieces frequently sell out, which only makes them more attractive to people trying to distinguish themselves from their peers. Limited supply is baked into how the label operates.

Hand tie-dyed clothing covered in psychedelic, hand-drawn graphics. Many of the designs feature images and sayings associated with the Grateful Dead, alongside the founders' own cast of characters like goblins and jesters, plus what GQ called "druggie iconography and phrases that channel a sort of cosmic mindfulness." It is merch culture turned into something closer to folk art.

Alix Ross and Elijah Funk, who started the company in Los Angeles in 2016. The two met in their home state of Ohio before moving west to start the business, and they built the brand around hand tie-dye and intricate screen-printed graphics. It is very much a two-person creative vision rather than a faceless label.

Deadhead culture is the brand's spiritual home. Many Online Ceramics pieces feature images and sayings tied to the Grateful Dead, channelling the psychedelic, cosmic spirit of that world. The founders' own goblins and jesters share space with this iconography to create a look that feels both nostalgic and entirely their own.

It is one of the brand's defining collaborations. Online Ceramics produces promotional t-shirts and sweatshirts for the independent studio A24, a partnership that began after Ross and Funk saw Hereditary and contacted writer-director Ari Aster to pitch promoting his work on tees. They went on to make shirts for Hereditary and Midsommar, among other films.

A long, eclectic list. Beyond A24, they have created shirts tied to Robert Eggers' The VVitch and The Lighthouse, the Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems and David Lowery's The Green Knight. On the music side they have made tour and album merch for John Mayer and Dead & Co., plus collaborations with SZA, Oneohtrix Point Never, Weyes Blood and 100 gecs.

Their pieces are sold internationally through a range of streetwear outlets and online. Stockists named in their history include Union in Los Angeles, Dover Street Market in London, New York and Los Angeles, and GR8 in Tokyo. The label is also based out of its own home at 1500 S. Central Avenue in Los Angeles.

It started small and grew through word of mouth rather than mass marketing. Much of the brand's promotion happens through its official Instagram, which had around 200,000 followers as of October 2021. That community-driven approach suits a label built on small drops and insider appeal.

Co-founder Alix Ross studied at the Columbus College of Art & Design, and that background feeds the brand's hand-drawn, illustrative sensibility. The psychedelic, sometimes hallucinatory imagery the label is known for is rooted in those early influences. It helps explain why the graphics read more like artwork than ordinary print.