Microsoft to push cool factor with retro-inspired clothing line

It's actually kind of amazing how much dough Microsoft has spent over the past little while in an attempt to polish its image in the minds of the general populace, and as if those "I'm proud to be a PC" and completely incomprehensible Gates / Seinfeld spots weren't enough, the Redmond-based outfit is about to roll out its own clothing line (dubbed "Softwear") this month. And no, we're not kidding. Not even a little. Microsoft has purchased the assistance of Crispin Porter & Bogusky in order to ensure the results are actually desirable, and it has also hired rapper Common as a spokesman. We can't definitively say the shirt you see above is as fly as Pharrell's Gizmondo Enzo tee, but we'd rock it. We'd rock it hard.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

[Mark Anderson @ Dec 6th 2008 2:29PM]

This makes the inner nerd in me weep with joy.

Must. Have.

[Konstantin @ Dec 6th 2008 2:38PM]

Despite the shameless begging for attention from Microsoft I would totally throw that thing on.

[Quix @ Dec 6th 2008 2:58PM]

I think there's a typo in this post headline.

Shouldn't it be "Microsoft to push tool factor?"

BTW, you'd think the automatic grammar check would point out that "cool" and "Microsoft" aren't grammatically correct when contained within the same sentence.

[Samboini @ Dec 6th 2008 3:18PM]

In for a penny, in for a pound. Want.

[giuliop @ Dec 6th 2008 3:26PM]

That's because DOS is the best operating system Microsoft ever did (and that's telling).

[Kris120890 @ Dec 6th 2008 3:39PM]

What about this.
http://www.slipperybrick.com/2008/06/blue-screen-of-death-t-shirt/

[mike @ Dec 6th 2008 3:47PM]

Yeah. I'd be a bit embarrassed to wear a microsoft shirt. but damn that looks geeky good.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 6th 2008 3:55PM]

@Kris120890
I'm sorry, but I don't see any text in the picture :p more like damn big boobies ^_^ xD

[maveric101 @ Dec 6th 2008 5:17PM]

i have no inner nerd. i'm all nerd.

[giuliop @ Dec 6th 2008 5:29PM]

Sorry, you're right. Windows 1.0 was slightly better.

[Blacksheep @ Dec 6th 2008 6:42PM]

Wow, I'd totally wear that also, such an awesome nerd shirt it's unbelievable.

[giuliop @ Dec 6th 2008 6:59PM]

Oops... That wasn't even an OS. Back to DOS, then.

(Low-rank me if you are a MS-brainwashed zombie).

[KarlW @ Dec 6th 2008 7:47PM]

Notice there's no women's version

[who? @ Dec 6th 2008 8:46PM]

Firewall red?

[Russ @ Dec 7th 2008 1:01AM]

actual website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/softwearbymicrosoft/default.aspx

[buu700 @ Dec 7th 2008 1:43AM]

@giuliop

You do realize that Microsoft didn't even make DOS, right?

[EricC @ Dec 7th 2008 2:48PM]

@ giuliop: Just because Windows is too complicated for you doesn't make it a bad OS.

[Chris @ Dec 6th 2008 2:30PM]

*Insert Blue Shirt of Death joke here*

[Stem $ell @ Dec 6th 2008 2:45PM]

The back features the, um, blue silk-screen of death?

[J-Rad @ Dec 6th 2008 2:58PM]

I think the blue looks like just about the same color as the background of your "highest ranking"

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 6th 2008 3:09PM]

In that case, J-Rad, Engadget could sue Microsoft.

[thedesolate1 @ Dec 6th 2008 4:01PM]

Engadget should patent the color: #D8F0FB .

Damn you guys beat me to the BSOD jokes...

Blue Shirt Of Death

Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[willxcore @ Dec 6th 2008 2:31PM]

I'd buy it.

[smp @ Dec 6th 2008 2:33PM]

I think you meant "dubbed 'Softwear'", not Software.

[ILoveApple @ Dec 6th 2008 2:40PM]

Darren Murph, didn't your mother ever tell you that spanking the monkey(Ballmer) would make you go blind?

[Mam00th @ Dec 6th 2008 2:51PM]

I'd buy it too, the shirt is kind of cool but I don't know, might have been cooler if it wasn't made by Microsoft. Because it just feel like your parent trying to be hip when you were young...

[martin @ Dec 6th 2008 2:33PM]

wow, I like it. Lets hope they don't go crazy with the abstract shapes an concepts ala threadless. Simple designs like this are nicer.

[Tom W Browning @ Dec 6th 2008 2:34PM]

Is that shirt using Helvetica rather than Arial? The audacity.

[Murphy Mac @ Dec 6th 2008 2:34PM]

Between this and the video of the Apple Store opening in Munich I might be ready to give up computers...

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/12/06/apples-munich-opening-is-mobbed-in-fullscreen-panorama/

[smp @ Dec 6th 2008 2:35PM]

I meant that as a general comment, not a reply to willxcore :)

[nak @ Dec 6th 2008 2:35PM]

It looks like it says "Softwear."

[chickenator @ Dec 6th 2008 5:46PM]

...for soft guy.

[El Taco @ Dec 7th 2008 12:19AM]

@chickenator

That's what she said.

[dotAaron @ Dec 6th 2008 2:35PM]

Desperate times call for desperate measures i guess :P

[patriotsn1 @ Dec 6th 2008 2:37PM]

I wish I was as "desperate" as Microsoft.

[ben @ Dec 6th 2008 2:54PM]

Yeah, something tells me things are going to get real _tough_ for the guys at microsoft...

[sepirioth @ Dec 6th 2008 2:38PM]

Id get one if they are prices descently. Whats wrong with a company "reinventing" itself? Stop hating and get on board people!

[who? @ Dec 6th 2008 3:27PM]

The problem is that they're only reinventing their outer image, just like when they came out with Vista. The potential BSOD still lies at their heart.

[iofthestorm @ Dec 6th 2008 7:32PM]

@Who?: The BSOD is always a driver/hardware problem these days. I haven't seen a BSOD since Windows XP, and I'm on Vista now.

[r3loaded @ Dec 6th 2008 9:43PM]

I'm up for a "Bill Gates is my homeboy" T-Shirt!

[Chris Smith @ Dec 6th 2008 2:46PM]

why are me amazed with ad spending, when there is a apple commercial every 10 minutes?

[maveric101 @ Dec 6th 2008 5:23PM]

theres even the apple commercial that berates MS for spending money on advertising when it should be using it to fix all of Vista's "problems." like OSX doesn't have problems of its own.

[Alex @ Dec 6th 2008 6:48PM]

Maveric,
OSX isn't perfect, but it gets pretty damn close.

Ooooooohhh!

[Thats What He Said @ Dec 6th 2008 10:20PM]

haha
good one
:-|

[username @ Dec 6th 2008 2:46PM]

in 20 years i can totally see microsfot being a clothing company and have nothing to do with electronics or software at all

[who? @ Dec 6th 2008 5:23PM]

And I can see that you need to renew your prescription.

[Jhongerkong @ Dec 6th 2008 2:46PM]

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN\DOS\RUN

[Decoy @ Dec 6th 2008 4:58PM]

I wish I could rank you higher than highest rank. That's brilliant.

[Jason @ Dec 6th 2008 6:57PM]

That was a shirt that the comic-book guy was wearing in an episode of the simpsons... give credit where credit is due...

[warrrennnnn @ Dec 6th 2008 8:12PM]

Wor-
oops.

Best. Shirt design. Ever.