Thoroughly Distressing

Here’s some copy from the Attus Apparel website, used to differentiate their product offerings from the rest.

Your typical polo’s have little animals, crests, etc. embroidered on the chest that serves as nothing more than an advertising tool for the clothing co, and also serves as a status symbol for the wearer. We came up with a polo shirt designed to allow you to advertise for yourself, your mood, your interests. A shirt made for expression, to set you apart from the rest of the drones, clones, and social climbers out there. Hence our slogan, Threaded for Liberation.

Instead of alligators or little horseys, Attus offers a dude with a mohawk, a 40-ounce beer, a toilet bowl, the extended middle finger, and so on.
According to The New York Times, Whit Hiler, one of the company’s founders, knew that his products alone would not be sufficient ammo for breaking through the clutter. For that, real ammo would be needed. So, Hiler recruited several friends to accompany him to a field, where he videotaped them firing live rounds into unsuspecting manequins sporting his firm’s polos. And the “shot up shirt” was born…
Naturally, the video made its way to YouTube, where it’s been viewed a whopping 108 times.