Thanks to the growth of online Jewish themed clothing shops, witty Jewish phrases are popping up faster than you can say “I heart my Bubbe” (one such design). There are no boundaries to this pop Jewish fashion craze where you can find anything from “I heart Hashem” underwear to "Getting Chai” tshirts and everything in between.
I got a chance to speak to one of the newest players in the Jewish apparel scene, Bradley "Kosher Meat Head" Bailes, of Challah Clothing (www.challahclothing.com).
Brad and his friend David "Shiffy" Shiffman have always been intrigued by funny shirts and would always show each other new shirts online or in stores. Constantly joking about creating different t-shirt ideas, the two friends finally made their own clothing line a reality 2 weeks ago when they launched Challah Clothing.
So how did they decide on the name “Challah Clothing”? Brad explains that he and his friends would always say “Challah” when they would see each other, instead of the slang ”Holla", meaning "What''s up", and Brad says the name Challah “just kinda stuck”.
Now that they’re both out of college, Brand and David are devoting the necessary time to this project and have already designed and created 12 t-shirts and plan to release 2-3 new designs each month. When either Brad or David has an idea, they just text each other and then within days they have a new shirt getting printed. One of their latest designs is “Fill Up My Cup Mazal Tov” inspired by the latest Black Eyed Peas song “I gotta feeling” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19rG2CHvCQY). Other shirt designs on the site include “Hebrew School Dropout”, “Jewdo Chop” and “Challah at your boy”.
Even their pricing scheme has a Jewish twist, with each shirt at $18, the symbolic Jewish number, meaning life and good luck.
Also, Brad says that Challah Clothing prides itself on the quality of their clothes, which are printed on sweatshop-free (Jewish guilt free?) American Apparel t-shirts.
But is this Jewish tshirt trend here to stay? Challah Clothing seems to think so and is banking on it. It seems that everywhere you look, from Jew wannabe Madonna wearing “Kabbalists do it better” to trendy Upper West Side Jews in Manhattan sporting “Moses is my homeboy”, people are eating up the Jewish t-shirt shmaltz and wearing Judaism on their sleeve.
For more information, visit challahclothing.com