It’s T-time for hipsters

It’s unlikely that anyone ever needs a new T-shirt, but a short-sleeved cotton-knit shirt, emblazoned with a decal, stencil or saying, is all about the statement it makes, which is why we tand to like to renew our supply.

Thankfully, there are plenty of T:Markets to attend — semi-regular T-shirt fairs started by a group of entrepreneurs and now held throughout the country and throughout the year.

The next one takes place in Tel Aviv this weekend, Friday and Saturday, at Pasáž (pronounced passage), a bar/club occupying the formerly grungy and smelly underground passageway on Allenby Street, linking Sheinkin to Nahalat Binyamin. So named for its once questionable location, Pasáž is now a hipster hangout, a club with its own in-house art studio.

It’s a fitting setting for T:Market, which is always attended by a decidedly cool crowd, ranging in age from 19 to 40.

Another look for the T:Market, Indy Hait Edit by Shorty Yulia (Courtesy T:Market)

It’s also more of a guy event, said Ronen Hadash, one of the T:Market founders. And, he said, they’re very picky about who gets to show their wares, aiming for the younger, more unknown designers, like Haitham Charles Haddad, a Haifa-based, Shenkar-trained Arab artist who will be showing his hand-painted, T.sharliz brand shirts for the first time at T:Market.

“We’re not a bazaar,” said Hadash. “We don’t accept just any T-shirt designer. We really pick and choose our designers, and they’re people we search for, because we want them to grow with us.”

This weekend’s market is the first time that T:Market is doing a winter sale. It aims to be smaller, “more Tel-Avivy.” That will probably mean about 5,000 customers rather than the usual 10,000, he said.

“It’s more intimate this time,” he said.

There’s a NIS 10 entrance fee, and prices range from NIS 60 to NIS 650. Friday, December 21, 10 am-5 pm; Saturday, December 22, 10 am-9 pm. Pasáž, 94 Allenby Street, Tel Aviv.