A lot of small geek-catering businesses were impacted by the Coronavirus related cancellations of a number of conventions this spring. I have a special love of small and geeky businesses, so I checked out some of the listings that were trying to help advertise these businesses, and that is how I discovered The Colorful Geek.
The Colorful Geek sells clothing, enamel pins, and other accessories that are fandom inspired. Since many of their designs are quote-based, it means their shirts and tanks layer really well with the various jackets and cardigans I’ve picked up from places like Hot Topic, Her Universe, and Elhoffer Design. When I realized they use the same base clothing items as Jordandené, I knew I was going to like them because I love how Jordandené’s stuff looks on me. Some people might worry about overlap, but honestly, I found the two businesses to be similar enough that if you know a fan of one, they’ll probably like the other, but different enough that there were only a handful items that both had their own version of (most were Game of Thrones related). There’s a lot of fandoms out there, and no small business can quite cover all of them, so I feel like there’s plenty of room in my closet for stuff from both places. Over the last month and a half, I picked up a number of items between two promotions they had, and it’s only a matter of time before I go back for more, to be honest. There are quite a few designs currently on sale (I’m not certain if this means they will be discontinued soon or not), but I will be referring to the non-sale prices in the rest of this article.
First up is the clothing. I have a slighter build so with most unisex clothing, my challenge is finding something that is too big in a frumpy sort of way rather than the intentionally over-sized for style way. The tanks are one of my go-to items. They are a longer length and pair nicely with jeans, shorts, and leggings. They also manage to be loose enough to be comfortable but not so big they look frumpy. My Gryffindor loving self saw the GEEKY KING tank and knew it had to come home with me. The tanks are available in unisex sizes XS-XL for $25.
They also carry a Juniors fitted style which I do like, and since not everything I was drawn to was in a tank, I got some of these. The Juniors fit does run small, but they are happy to help you sort out your size for any clothing if you are not certain. Elena of The Colorful Geek was really great at helping me figure out that my Juniors size for these shirts was two above my unisex tank size. The shirts run long enough that they aren’t flashing my stomach all the time and have that loose but not too loose fit that I love so much. I grabbed their GREEK CAMP, THE SPARK, and SELF-RESCUING PRINCESS shirts as well as IF THE APOCALYPSE CALLS (pictured in the header). The Juniors shirts run from S-XL and are priced at $30.
My husband recently had a birthday, and I ordered two unisex shirts for him (SWORD IN THE DARKNESS and THIS IS THE WAY). He was happy to get both of them and I know several other geek parents have purchased the THIS IS THE WAY or I HAVE SPOKEN shirts to keep a sense of humor about pandemic homeschooling their kids. Unisex shirts are available in sizes S-3XL and are priced at $30.
These are not the only clothing options available. Other choices include hoodies, long sleeves, and more.
The Colorful Geek also carries a number of accessories and other product types. As usual, the product that finds its way into my cart is the mugs. They also carry lapel pins, lapel pin display banners, tote bags, makeup bags, and journals. I picked out the ROSE APOTHECARY MUG, which is a dangerously easy impulse buy at $15.
Overall, The Colorful Geek has a wide array of fandoms which includes the ones I picked items from well as well as Book Lovers, Disney, Broadway, The Good Place, Parks and Rec, Doctor Who, Stranger Things, and The Witcher among others. The fit and quality are great, as well as the variety of products. They have still been able to ship at this time, so if you are looking for gifts for special occasions and want to give a small business some love, check them out.