T Shirts

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

Concerned citizens have taken to blogs, Twitter and Facebook to post their concerns about the case of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager slain by a neighborhood watch captain in a Florida townhouse development. They have also, famously, posted them on their backs. The Trayvon Martin protest T-shirt has become a staple at rallies across the country, and it's difficult to think of another item of clothing more representative of the nation's twitchy zeitgeist in April 2012.

On the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," Neil Patrick Harris plays perhaps the most style-obsessed male sitcom character since Alex P. Keaton. Hardly ever seen sans suit since the show debuted in 2005, Barney Stinson uses his wardrobe as a weapon for womanizing. It's a suit of armor and a security blanket rolled into one. It's become such a trademark of Harris' character that when the show's 100th episode, "Girls vs. Suits," found him confronted with the choice of a beautiful bartender or his signature suits, the result was a full-blown, street-filling, suit-sporting song-and-dance number -- favoring the suit.

Football coaches wear them on the sidelines. Toddlers sport them on trips to the park. They are what we grab when we run to the market or head out in the cold to walk the dogs. Yet somehow the humble hooded sweat shirt has evolved from basic, everyday apparel to a sinister symbol of urban terror. It has become a touchstone in the conversation about the death of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was wearing a hoodie when he was fingered as "suspicious" and shot by a Neighborhood Watch patroller.

How to dress like a jerk Kids can be found jerkin' in streets, classrooms, grocery stores and even on top of ice cream trucks, so it's no surprise that jerkin' fashion stands out. Jerkin' style is about invention: cutting off skinny jeans to create "half-calves," wearing colorful shoelaces as belts or screen printing your crew's name on T- shirts. You can put together pieces — skinny jeans, Vans, a colorful T — to replicate the look, or check out the offerings at Hot Topic or Zazzle.

TV's latest guilty pleasure, MTV reality show "Jersey Shore," follows a group of hard-partying, trash-talking twentysomethings in a summer house in Seaside, N.J., where they live to get dressed, throw back shots, grind on the dance floor and hook up in the house hot tub. Critics have taken issue with the cast's use of the term "guido" and "guidette," with Italian American groups pressuring sponsors, including Domino's Pizza, which pulled out as...

Personalized T-shirts - The Better Business Bureau is warning that a company that sells made-to-order T-shirts has pocketed consumers' money without delivering the goods. The consumer group said it has received more than 100 complaints from consumers who said they paid a company called Personally Yours for personalized T-shirts, did not receive them and could not receive refunds. “When making online purchases, the best recourse consumers have is to pay by credit card,” said Robert Crockett, chief executive of the BBB serving Southern Nevada.  “In the event of fraud, non-delivery or non-communication with a business, consumers can dispute charges with their credit card company to try and receive refunds.” Ponzi scheme - A federal grand jury in San Francisco has indicted two people on charges related to a $129-million Ponzi scheme.

Apparel chain Old Navy is reprinting thousands of college T-shirts to correct an embarrassing error. The shirts debuted this month, featuring the names and mascots of dozens of schools including USC and UCLA. Printed at the top of each shirt are the words "Lets Go!!" The problem is that "lets" is missing its apostrophe, which is necessary to create the intended contraction of "Let us go. " Without the apostrophe, "lets go" means to release something. The shirts are part of Old Navy's new "Superfan Nation," an in-store shop that sells college- and professional-licensed sports gear.

Many big-name L.A.-based designers - Rodarte, Gregory Parkinson, Rachel Zoe, Barbara Tfank, Skaist-Taylor and Juan Carlos Obando among them - have already shown their fall 2012 collections at New York Fashion Week. Now in the middle of Los Angeles Fashion Week, it seems like a good time to meet other designers and labels that are shaping the L.A. fashion scene and giving it global reach. Of Two Minds The look: L.A.'s answer to Isabel Marant. The goods: Designer Sunjoo Moon marries Parisian chic and West Coast cool for a world-traveler vibe seen in fur vests, maxi-length dresses done in relaxed 1970s silhouettes, cozy knits and trousers festooned with subtle tribal patterns.

In calmer times, the true blue Dodgers fan might decide whether to buy a Matt Kemp T-shirt for his wardrobe or a Clayton Kershaw jersey. In these turbulent times, the discerning Dodgers fan can decide whether to buy a shirt that supports a player or maligns the owner. As Frank McCourt has expanded his two-year legal battle to retain ownership of the team from divorce court to bankruptcy court, the opportunities for fans to share their discontent have expanded as well. And, for a few entrepreneurs among those agitated fans, those frustrations have turned into business opportunities.

Many big-name L.A.-based designers - Rodarte, Gregory Parkinson, Rachel Zoe, Barbara Tfank, Skaist-Taylor and Juan Carlos Obando among them - have already shown their fall 2012 collections at New York Fashion Week. Now in the middle of Los Angeles Fashion Week, it seems like a good time to meet other designers and labels that are shaping the L.A. fashion scene and giving it global reach. Of Two Minds The look: L.A.'s answer to Isabel Marant. The goods: Designer Sunjoo Moon marries Parisian chic and West Coast cool for a world-traveler vibe seen in fur vests, maxi-length dresses done in relaxed 1970s silhouettes, cozy knits and trousers festooned with subtle tribal patterns.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Personalized T-shirts — The Better Business Bureau is warning that a company that sells made-to-order T-shirts has pocketed consumers' money without delivering the goods. The consumer group said it has received more than 100 complaints from consumers who said they paid Personally Yours for personalized T-shirts but did not receive them and could not get refunds. "When making online purchases, the best recourse consumers have is to pay by credit card," said Robert Crockett, chief executive of the BBB serving Southern Nevada.

Personalized T-shirts - The Better Business Bureau is warning that a company that sells made-to-order T-shirts has pocketed consumers' money without delivering the goods. The consumer group said it has received more than 100 complaints from consumers who said they paid a company called Personally Yours for personalized T-shirts, did not receive them and could not receive refunds. “When making online purchases, the best recourse consumers have is to pay by credit card,” said Robert Crockett, chief executive of the BBB serving Southern Nevada.  “In the event of fraud, non-delivery or non-communication with a business, consumers can dispute charges with their credit card company to try and receive refunds.” Ponzi scheme - A federal grand jury in San Francisco has indicted two people on charges related to a $129-million Ponzi scheme.

Stuck here at Staples Center on Valentine's Day night, I might have been inspired to cite everything I love about the Lakers. Except right now that would be nothing. Before the Lakers' 86-78 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, ushers handed out T-shirts that read, "I (heart) Lakers. " I don't. Not right now. I don't heart them. I don't soul them. I would, however, like to brain them. How could they go from one of the most exciting shows in sports to the third-most exciting team in their own building?

For lovers of (little) pets, the Cuddle 'N Carry Shirt may be barking up just the right tree. The cotton-polyester blend sweatshirt has a pouch sewn into the inside front of the zippered chest section that lets you keep your animal companion close to your heart - literally. A small dog, cat, ferret or any creature under 10 pounds can snuggle inside with their head free to look around. The Cuddle 'N Carry can be machine-washed and machine-dried and comes in black, blue or camel.

Now that a guy no longer needs a linebacker's physique, a Rat Packer's swagger or cartoon bags of money to justify the purchase of a made-to-measure dress shirt, here are a few local options - at different levels of wallet strain - worth exploring: Anto Distinctive Shirtmaker Anto has been a maker of truly custom shirts (along with neckties, robes, pajamas and boxer shorts - but no suits) for Tinseltown's well-heeled for more than five decades. Clients have included Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, Johnny Depp (at the recent Golden Globes)

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said it would stop selling several T-shirts that a group of teenage girls found offensive. The Women & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania objected to shirts for women emblazoned with sayings such as "Who needs brains when you have these?" and "I had a nightmare I was a brunette." "We recognize that the shirts in question, while meant to be humorous, might be troubling to some," the company said in a statement.

A Cypress College women's softball coach has been arrested on suspicion of selling counterfeit Super Bowl T-shirts. Brad Pickler, 45, of Dana Point allegedly sold registered trademark products. Officers also found that he had an outstanding arrest warrant in Nevada for nonsufficient funds with bail set at $10,000. Although Pickler was found with a couple of hundred dollars' worth of merchandise, Cypress Police Sgt.

Custom-made men's dress shirts were once considered the privileged peacockery of the moneyed set -- a dash of sartorial swagger that could be afforded only by Hollywood A-listers, Wall Street bankers and monocle-wearing aristocrats of a bygone era. But today, thanks to advances in technology, a competitive market and consumer demand, custom clothing has moved within the barrel-cuffed arm's reach of the common man. Click a button in Burbank and...

At Sevenly, a business started by young entrepreneurs in Orange County, a key to the operation is the number seven. Each line of T-shirts and hoodies designed by the company goes on sale for exactly seven days. No more, no less. The Fullerton company donates to seven causes: anti-slavery, hunger relief, clean water, medical help, disaster relief, anti-poverty and miscellaneous aid. And for every item sold, Sevenly donates — you guessed it — $7. "It's a great number," said co-founder Dale Partridge, who holds the title of chief world changer.