Purchase Power: "Napoleon Living" from Emperial Nation

First to arrive was my shipment from Emperial Nation in New York. I had been planning to order a single Napoleon Living t-shirt in the garish bright pink colour that's mainly advertised on the Emperial Nation site, but at the moment of ordering I caved and ended up ordering the white version as well.

After just over a week, the shirts arrived, and I'm delighted with them. They look like they did on the website, and best of all they're low maintenance - just stick them in the wash with everything else. This is important because Napoleon Bonaparte or otherwise, washing by hand is never an option.

Total cost: 2 x $41.00

Delivery time: 8 days, from USA to Europe.

Verdict: Bang on the money.

Napoleon Tees: Purchase Power!

So, having reviewed several Napoleon-themed t-shirts over the past few months, I've now ordered a few for myself. After a couple of weeks, they are finally starting to arrive. As I receive them, I'll review them. Check here for updates...

9. "Napoleon Cookie Shirt" from Topatoco

This is the ninth t-shirt to be reviewed here at The Emperor's New Clothes, and it's the least militaristic by some margin.

Printed on a vibrant Royal Blue American Apparel t-shirt, Napoleon Cookie Shirt depicts a cartoon Emperor gleefully nibbling on a cookie. Napoleon's Ride may have featured a doughnut, but at least that one was on a flag. Here, the snack food is all too real, with Bonaparte munching on a biscuit with the wide-eyed delight of man who has been looking forward to a sugary treat for quite some time.

Sold by the Topato Corporation at topataco.com, this shirt was designed by artist Kate Beaton as part of her Hark! A Vagrant collection, which also includes several other historically-inspired t-shirts.

At $19.50, it's good value, and while stocks are running low, it's still available in larger sizes. Shipping is with USPS, and Topatoco's policy regarding international delivery is clearly summed up on the site as "We ship to every country that accepts packages from the USA, even the ones where people talk funny and don’t eat 20 hot dogs every day! These packages may take a bit longer because of all the pointless bureaucracy."

In short, this is a fantastic design, and though I disagree with Topatoco's description of the big guy as "a terrible sort of dictator", I heartily endorse this t-shirt.

8. "Napoleon Complex" from Ecko

Possibly the meanest-looking shirt to be featured on this site, and definitely one of the coolest I've seen so far.

Available from Shopecko.com, this Mark Ecko t-shirt takes the same picture of Napoleon Crossing The Alps by Jacques-Louis David as featured on the Threadless shirt "Napoleon's Ride", but runs with it in absolutely the opposite direction: here we see Napoleon clad in a gas mask, and brandishing a rescue flare. The Emperor as urban rioter.

With graffiti-style slogans adorning the front of the shirt, the back is empty apart from the phrase "Writing All Wrongs" in large red letters.

Designed predominantly from red, black and white, Napoleon Complex is only available on black t-shirts, and retails for $28 dollars.

On Shopecko.com it's described as follows: "Riding high. A Napoleon hat clad skeleton is robed and charging on a horse on this Ecko Unltd. screenprint tee with Ecko logos and designs. "Writing All Wrongs" and the iconic rhino weld logo in back. 100% cotton. Machine wash. Imported."

Now I don't see the skeleton myself, and think it's just the man himself wearing breathing apparatus, but I could be wrong. However, that's not my biggest gripe. On checking out Ecko's shipping policy, it turns out that delivery is only an option for US addresses (including Alaska and Hawaii) but nowhere else. This seems like a crazy decision, and I'm sure most international Bonaparte fans would be quite willing to pay a few dollars more to get their hands on one of these shirts.

In September 2007, designer Mark Ecko paid a hefty $752,467 to get his hands on the baseball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run. After polling vistors to his website, Ecko branded the ball with an asterisk to denote the questions which hung over Bonds' achievement, and sent it to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Now for my money, if you can do that, you can stretch to international delivery for a humble t-shirt.

7. "Napoleon's Ride" from Threadless

The image is unmistakeable: Napoleon Bonaparte, right hand aloft, sitting on his rearing white horse as he makes his way over the Alps. During the period 1801-1805, artist Jacques-Louis David painted five different versions of this iconic portrait of Napoleon, and now, after 200 years, a sixth has been created... adding a stockinged cat and a hugh flag of a turquoise doughnut.

Napoleon's Ride is another in the collection of Bonaparte t-shirts available at Threadless.com. Created by Berlin-based Martin Krusche, the shirt was printed in 2008, and at the moment looks like it's pretty much sold out, with the exception of junior sizes. Once again, I've submitted a re-print request, and will let you know if there's any movement.

Details: available on a plain white t-shirt, Napoleon's Ride uses "plastisol ink and a chino additive for softness", and is entirely drawn using grey, black and turquoise. Currently $9.

I love the ghostly faces on Napoleon and the cat, and the fact that even his horse Marengo has been made to look quite sinister. Thinking about it though, Marengo outlived Napoleon, and eventually made it to the ripe old age of 38, so I'm guessing he probably was looking more than a little creepy by the end anyway.

6. "Napoleon Ohio" from Greatcitees

Napoleon, Ohio, was founded in 1834 and is the home of the world's largest Campbell's Soup plant. It has a population of 9,300 people, and is the county seat of Henry County. Sounds lovely, but critically, it's got the name we need.

These t-shirts from Greatcitees.com ("Show off your favorite place"), and are available for towns and cities across the United States. The Napoleon, Ohio tees look cool, and come in five different colours and 16 different fonts. In terms of fabric and print quality, the site says they're "Direct to fabric digital print. NOT a transfer. Ink is embedded in the fabric for ultimate wearable comfort. Unisex t-shirt is 100% cotton, preshrunk Hanes Heavyweight 5.5 oz. with double needle sleeves and bottom hem."

The Metro Blue version pictured above retails for $13. International shipping costs a further $12 for up to four shirts, sent with USPS First Class Mail International.

All in all these look like decent t-shirts, and seeing as the city of Napoleon began life in 1834, just 13 years after his death, I think it's a pretty safe bet that they're named after Mr.Bonaparte himself.

5. "Elba Rocks" from Zazzle

One of the simpler Napoleon t-shirts available on the web, this one from Zazzle.com features a charicature drawing of the man himself, alongside the slogan "Elba Rocks".

Created by abrager, it's only available in white, and the shirt used is a "classic heavyweight t-shirt. Tagless design for ultimate comfort. Pre-shrunk, 6.1 ounce 100% cotton. Double-needle stitched bottom and sleeve hems. Loose, classic fit, wears well on anyone. Imported."

t's not the most eye-catching Bonaparte t-shirt out there, but I must say I like the sentiment. Napoleon's time on Elba has always been one of my favourite parts of his life. When he was exiled there in 1814, it must have been a devastating blow, but Napoleon quickly picked himself up and got down to business. Elba's 12,000 inhabitants soon realised that while the Allied Powers might have given him the title of "Emperor of Elba" as a sop to his vanity, Napoleon was fully committed to using what small powers he had, and in less than a year on the island, he put together a small army and a navy, passed legislation on issues as diverse as agricultural methods and taxation, and pushed ahead with work to develop Elba's roads and iron mines. Elba Rocks!

$15.95 from Zazzle.com, plus shipping. I couldn't find international shipping costs on Zazzle, but they use USPS Airmail Standard Shipping, so I think it's about $25. Alternatively, you can use your local Zazzle site. On Zazzle.de, for example, this t-shirt costs €14.85 plus delivery, which seems pretty reasonable.

4. "The Napoleon" from RVCA

OK, it's Word Association time. Here goes: Napoleon... Wellington... Waterloo... Giraffe... Corsica... Wait - Giraffe?

Nope, I don't get it either, but I love the look on the giraffe's face, and the fact that its clothes make it so immediately recognisable as Napoleon.

The shirt was designed for RVCA by skateboarder Kevin "Spanky" Long, and is available in four colours from the RVCA site (Black, Cement Gry, Marco Red and University Red), and other colours (red, gold) from online resellers such as Titus, Zumiez and Infinity Surfboards. RVCA don't seem to have many sizes on offer at the moment, but again, it looks like there's more choice over at their partner sites.

Easily the most unlikely Napoleon t-shirt I've encountered so far, and I think I'll buy one just as soon as I can find the right colour/size combo somewhere.

(Hat-tip: Thunderfrogs.co.uk, from "Top 5 Giraffe T-Shirts & Facts!")

3. "Napoleon Living" from Emperial Nation

In a clothing genre that tends to be dominated by digitally-printed monochrome designs, it's nice to see a new Napoleon t-shirt that boasts a soft touch print featuring "layers of shadow effects and gold foil highlights giving it a ghostly vibe", and a "signature epaulet in the lower right corner" (not on the shoulder, oddly enough).

Available in pink or white, this is a classy design from Emperial Nation, who specialise in historically-inspired clothing covering periods including the French Revolution, the Wild West and Ottoman Empire, to name but a few.

A large design on the front of the t-shirt is based on Andrea Appiani's 1805 portrait of the Emperor in good health, and decked out in some pretty robust finery, my favourite part of which is some kind of bandolier made of Imperial Eagles.

Napoleon Living is currently retailing for $41, down 9% on its original price. International shipping costs aren't listed on the site, but I've emailed Emperial to find out more. Details when I get them.

UPDATE: With incredible speed, Emperial Nation have got back to me to say the cost of delivery to the Netherlands is $25 for up to three shirts. Might have to buy one now...

2. "Napoleon In War Paint" from Threadless

This is a neat little t-shirt from Threadless.com, designed by Jesse Lefkowitz, and featuring Napoleon decked out in traditional native American warpaint.

I love the idea of Napoleon as an American, and often wonder what the modern world would be like if he hadn't sold Louisiana back to Thomas Jefferson. Back then, the French held a vast chunk of mainland America, going all the way up to North Dakota, and representing nearly a quarter of what is now the US.

Luckily for us though, Bonaparte sold up, and got on with the business of conquering Europe. In the meantime, America grew into the country we know today, and 200 years after the Emperor cashed his cheque, Threadless was born.

I've bought from Threadless in the past (this t-shirt), and delivery to Europe was prompt. The t-shirt cost me $25 and delivery was another $8. But that was 2006, and now in 2009 prices have plummeted, with most Threadless t-shirts seeming to cost $18, and classics like Napoleon In War Paint going for a very reasonable $9.

So price definitely isn't an issue for this design, but unfortunately availabilty is. Right now it's out of stock in all sizes, men and women, but I've just submitted a request for a reprint, so let's see what happens. If you'd like to join my one-man campaign, head on over to Threadless and help me bring Napoleon In War Paint back into print.

1. Blue Napoleon T-Shirt from Found Item Clothing

My first and favourite Napoleon t-shirt.

I bought one of these back in August 2006, and still get regular use from it. Navy blue American Apparel t-shirt with white print on the front, inspired by a t-shirt worn by Murdock in the very first episode of The A-Team. I paid $21.95 for it, plus a further $3.95 to ship it to Europe. Delivery was fast, and without problems.

This is just one of many t-shirts available from Found Item Clothing, who specialise in making high-quality replicas of t-shirts from movies and TV shows. Well worth checking out.