So you wanna know?

So, you wanna know my current top 5 theDIHEDRAL shirts and what they mean?  Well, you came to the right place because I wanna talk about my current top 5 shirts as well.

All of our shirts have a connection to things that we love/love to do (which is why most of them are either climbing based or philosophy based).  My top 5 shirts fluctuate daily based on my mood, but as of now, some indiscriminate date in 2025, these are my top 5 shirts!

1. Grand Ledge Climbing.  This shirt is one of the most niche shirts we offer, which is probably why we have sold exactly 0 of them.  Despite the low no sales, this really is a great shirt, and this is why I love it.  Grand Ledge is the only outdoor climbing crag in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.  For many Michiganders it was the first place we were able to cut our teeth on real rock before getting the itch to try bigger and better stuff.  It’s a small crag composed of delicate sandstone, so there are no bolts, just top-ropes hanging from anchors beyond the grand ledge.  Because of the soft nature of the rock, climbers are required to put carpet down at the top of the routes in order to protect the rock from rope-drag based erosion.  Hence the carpet installer on the shirt. 
2. Sin is geographical.  Bertrand Russell is one of the best philosophers to ever live.  It is people like him who push me to stand back in awe of what the human brain is capable of.  His work on language, meaning, and logic is absolutely beautiful.  His ability to explain the complexities of his work in digestible ways is nearly unrivaled.  There are a million different ways to suggest or argue that morality is relative, but “Sin is geographical” does it in a perfectly unique and efficient way.  The design hints at a model of relativity in the scientific sense, bringing subtlety into the forefront of the piece.  Perhaps too subtle, but I really love this quote and design.  We’ve sold 0, but when vague references to Bertrand Russell and aspects of relativity catch on, watch out!
3. Loner!  More subtle references!!!  In Michigan and several places throughout the Midwest and Canada, there is a card game that goes beyond any instance of the simple referent “game”.  Euchre is a lifestyle, a venerable idolatry by which a quality life is measured.  When I left Michigan and found out that this way of life is not shared throughout the commonwealth, I understood very well the meaning of Russell’s quote “Sin is geographical”.  However, along my travels I’ve bumped into fellow wanderers who speak the language of Euchre, and this shirt is for them.  For context, in Euchre, at times, there comes a hand so good, that you can choose to play it by yourself, this had is called a loner.  This hand often includes 1 or 2 Jacks, and so a Jack with the simple word “Loner” is a call to all who have known the veneration of Euchre! 0 Sold!
4. Irish Goodbye.  My ancestors Carrot McKeown the 1^st and Celery Murphy were never fans of pomp and circumstance.  A long goodbye, a drawn-out valediction, a forever farewell, these gestures were not in their wheelhouse.  So, one day back in 1728, Carrot and Celery stood up during a party and walked right out the door.  It was liberating for them and confusing for everyone else.  ‘It must have been a fluke’ folks began to think, but at the next party it happened again.  This was no fluke, Carrot and Celery were on to something.  Others would begin to try this new style of departure, and slowly it spread far and wide.  First to Scotland, then England and France were soon to follow, today that invisible exodus has come to be known as the Irish Goodbye.  Personally, I couldn’t ask for a better withdrawal, just up and out the door. Surprisingly, we have not sold one Irish Goodbye shirt.  Carrot and Celery would be so disappointed!
5. Imperfectly Satisfied.  This may be the single most subtle reference we have available.  This shirt pays homage to another one of my favorite philosophers, Arthur Schopenhauer.  Although Schopenhauer is known as the prophet of pessimism, he was a brilliant philosopher who inspired many who followed. He held the notion that we cannot escape suffering we can only come to cope with it.  To explain that idea, he used an analogy called The Hedgehog’s Dilemma.  Imagine a hedgehog cold and alone while trying to sleep at night.  In order to find warmth, the hedgehog tries to cuddle up to a counterpart.  This of course brings a sense of comfort via the warmth that the hedgehog’s associates provide, but soon our friend the hedgehog finds discomfort from the jabbing of her fellow hedgehog’s spikes, in turn causing our friend to back away, thus leading to a sense of cold and loneliness.  This according to Schopenhauer is life.  A balance between alternating states of suffering in which (at best) we may attain a level of imperfect satisfaction.  Schopenhauer would not be surprised that we’ve sold 0 of these shirts!

It may say something that we haven’t sold even one of any of these shirts.  Maybe I have terrible taste, perhaps they are far too niche.  I haven’t met too many Schopenhauer enthusiasts who have heard of Grand Ledge, Michigan and play Euchre.  But we’ll keep trying, and perhaps there may be someone, somewhere, who finds our shop and happens to be in need of a shirt so specific that no other person on earth has thought to wear.

That being said, if you have an idea for a shirt that captures your specific tastes or passions, let us know below, we are more than happy to try and capture that desire on a shirt.  Even if we never sell a single one!  And in the quest to sell just one of these 5 shirts, I have put all of them on sale, just click the links if you are so inclined, and as always…Thank you for reading!