As the founder of Strike Gently Co, I deal in pins and patches daily. The Creators Project asked me to pull together a weekly roundup of the best newly-released pins. Most of these will probably sell out. If you like them, smash that “add to cart” button. Every Wednesday, you can head to the bottom of this article for an exclusive discount code so you can keep your pin game sharp.
This week proved mildly trying for the pin game—more artists discovered that their designs had been blatantly ripped off by major retail chains. Zara, Francesca’s, and New Look are among the culprits so far, and I imagine there are many more… The good news: While some lazy major-label designers weren’t creative enough to make it on their own, small artists aren’t ever going to go away. Keep fighting the good fight, pin game! Or, don’t bother fighting, and just keep making cool stuff. Without further ado, here are my five favorite releases of this week.
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Midnight Dogs
The Stinky Cheese Man remains cemented in my childhood memory like a weird fever dream I can’t quite shake. Just look at him: cute, but also terrifying. He can’t be tamed by even the most experienced of cheesemonger. You can’t catch him, either.
$10.00 here.
Suspect LTD
Suspect makes some of my favorite stuff, but this pin really takes the cake. It’s got it all—visual punnery, 90’s pop cultural references, and patented top-secret mood ring technology stolen from Area 51. Let it tell you how you feel, you emotional wreck, you.
$10.00 here.
Inner Decay
Inner Decay got me into the pin game to begin with and I would consider myself unfairly biased towards his products if they weren’t all perfect. The dude slays it with every release. His most recent drop features two or three of my favorite pins anyone’s ever made, including this one. Also among them are a Japanese BDSM art collab, a flamingo noose, and a giant art history back patch with a gold frame. I can’t get enough.
$10.00 here.
Crooked Feet
I found Crooked Feet thanks to a shoutout from Inner Decay, so it only makes sense that I now include them. I myself am bad at drawing, so I usually collaborate with other artists if I want to make something good. Crooked Feet can draw, however, and their releases all represent a uniquely appealing style. If I could invent a pretentious Art School name for this sort of thing, I’d call it, “Aesthetic Cohesion.”
$8.00 here.
Witchsy / Gary Panter
Witchsy is a great new artist-made goods site started by two great gals and a third fictional male business partner (created to lend ironic patriarchal credibility to the project). It’s like Etsy, except nothing on there sucks, and you can sell stuff that includes profanity and nudity (since we don’t live in the Dark Ages anymore). This is an exclusive release from Witchsy and artist Gary Panter. A legendary combo—I wear this one on my backpack.
$10.00 here.
Head to Strike Gently Co for 20% off with discount code: SUMMER.
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