Streetwear Sizzle: Custom Screen-Printed T Shirts for Rokstar Chicken Turn Fried Flavor into Fashion
When New York’s own Rokstar Chicken decided to drop merch, they weren’t about to go with generic. They brought the heat with the help of artist Vandy the Pink and the expert screen printing team at Teevisionprinting.com. The result was a custom screen printed t-shirt for Rokstar Chicken that’s as bold and crispy as their signature fried chicken. It was more than a marketing play. it was a celebration of community, creativity, and culinary culture.
Threading the Vision with Tee Vision Printing
What started as a dream to bring food culture into fashion quickly turned into a full-blown visual feast. We had the privilege of working with Rokstar Chicken to create custom screen printed t shirts that captured their eccentric, flavorful identity. The goal wasn’t just to make cool clothing. it was to craft a wearable extension of the brand that people could feel, photograph, and connect with on the street.
They selected LA Apparel’s ultra premium blanks, specifically the widely loved 1801GD product. a heavyweight tee known for its durability, comfort, and vintage-style look that matched the brand’s streetwear ambitions. Its soft texture and structured build made it ideal for bold graphics, while giving wearers that “worn-in” aesthetic from day one. For businesses seeking a lower-cost alternative, Smart Blank offers comparable cuts and structure at a fraction of the price, perfect for scaling up without compromising too much on look and feel.
To bring the visuals to life, Tee Vision Printing used plastisol ink, a classic screen printing method known for its vivid color and high durability. The shirts featured precise front and back prints, along with a custom printed neck label that completed the premium aesthetic:
Front: 6 inch x 6 inch, sitting just right 3 inches below the neckline
Back: A bold 13 inch x 16 inch, making sure the artwork dominates without overwhelming
Neck label: Printed at 2.5 inch x 2.5 inch using PMS 4288c for a clean finish
From ink placement to texture, every detail was thoughtfully dialed in. The result was a shirt that felt as good as it looked, designed to last, built to flex, and ready to turn heads.
The Artistic Flavor: Vandy the Pink
Rokstar Chicken tapped into the eccentric brilliance of Vandy the Pink, the creative outlet of designer Junghoon Son. Known for blending street fashion with high fashion, the brand is celebrated for its playful motifs, vibrant color schemes, and deeply personal storytelling that reflects Son’s experiences and cultural influences. Vandy the Pink’s "bootleg" style reimagines iconic logos, characters, and luxury symbols with a whimsical twist, making each product feel disruptive and collectible.
Originally gaining recognition through customized sneakers, Vandy the Pink expanded its offerings to include apparel, accessories, and even homeware. The brand’s appeal spans art fans and streetwear purists, with global celebrities like Billie Eilish and LISA of BLACKPINK proudly sporting his creations.
For this collaboration, Vandy blended food culture with fashion in a way only he could, whimsical, fearless, and full of character. The graphics didn’t just look good on tees, they carried attitude and narrative, turning Rokstar’s fried chicken energy into something wearable and culturally resonant.
Hitting the Streets: The FoodFest ComplexCon Release of Custom Screen Printed T Shirts for Rokstar Chicken
This wasn’t just a merch drop—it was part of a cultural moment. Rokstar Chicken debuted the collab at FoodFest, a special event within ComplexCon New York where streetwear meets culinary creativity. The event brought together food vendors from across the city, each paired with a different streetwear brand to cook up the dishes they’re best known for while celebrating their identity through fashion.
Rokstar Chicken’s booth was a full experience. Their signature flavors hit the grill as guests explored the bold graphics on their custom screen printed t-shirts for Rokstar Chicken. The vibe was electric and had great music, great food, and even greater community energy. Guests weren’t just shopping, they were engaging with a mashup of New York’s most expressive creators.
FoodFest was a perfect stage for Rokstar’s collaboration with Vandy the Pink. Surrounded by other cultural tastemakers and local favorites, Rokstar Chicken’s merch stood out not only for its quality and visual appeal but for the story it told: a fried chicken joint daring to be different and making streetwear deliciously personal.
Ideas That Inspire: Custom Screen Printed T Shirts for Other Small Businesses
The Rokstar Chicken drop proves that printing isn’t just about logos it’s about storytelling through every thread and ink stroke. For small businesses looking to explore merch, design should lead the charge. Custom prints can transform basic garments into limited edition artifacts of your brand’s personality.
Here are some inspired design driven merch ideas:
Illustrated menu tees featuring a hand drawn lineup of your best selling dishes in a chaotic, collage style print across the back
Secret recipe blueprint shirts with schematic style designs teasing the anatomy of your signature meal
Local landmark mashups blending neighborhood icons with food motifs to create wearable postcards
Typography overload using bold fonts to print punchy phrases, ingredient lists, or real customer reviews
Monochrome pattern prints based on condiments, ingredients, or packaging icons that wrap subtly around hems or sleeves
Each design concept offers a different emotional takeaway, whether it’s humor, nostalgia, hunger, or pride in local culture. With Tee Vision Printing’s screen printing precision, these ideas can come alive in rich plastisol ink on quality blanks, just like the Rokstar Chicken collab. And beyond aesthetics, these prints let your brand speak before someone even asks what’s on the menu.
Bringing a Design to Life: Behind the Shirt
Before the shirt made its debut at ComplexCon, it started as a sketch on paper. It was a conversation between ideas and identity. Rokstar Chicken and Vandy the Pink had a clear vision. They wanted something fearless, unapologetic, and fun. We took care of the ink, sizing, and alignment to make sure the final product matched their creative direction.
Tee Vision Printing’s process kept every shirt consistent across batches. Each print came out crisp. Colors stayed bold through multiple washes. The placements looked natural and intentional. No guesswork in how the shirt would fall on the body. Whether you are creating a collectible piece or searching for affordable custom shirts for your brand, the level of detail matters. This was not just fried chicken and fashion. It was quality control, brand storytelling, and flawless execution
Final Bites
The Rokstar Chicken project printed by Tee Vision Printing wasn’t just a merch moment. It was a blueprint for how small businesses can elevate their presence through fashion. By blending food culture, smart visuals, and precise execution, Rokstar served up a collection that was memorable, meaningful, and wearable. It proves that creative risk, local partnerships, and bold design language can pay off in brand recognition and revenue. Whether you run a burger shack or a ramen spot, the possibilities for creative merch are endless, and they start with a vision, a collaborator, and a printing partner that knows how to make it pop.
Hungry for more? Let your brand serve looks, not just meals. The recipe for iconic merch might be simpler than you think. Visit Teevisionprinting.com to explore how expert screen printing, premium materials, and careful execution can bring your next idea to life. Just like Rokstar Chicken did.