Cold World — Drop 01

Description

Every Latino house has one.

Above the door. Over the bed. In the hallway where the light never quite reached.

You grew up under that cross whether you prayed or not. Abuela made sure of it.

This is that cross — drawn by hand, in ballpoint pen, one stroke at a time.

Then look at the feet.

He is wearing sneakers. He did not stay on the wall. He came down and walked the same cold blocks we walk: the late shifts, the border, the rent, the call you did not want to answer.

That is the whole piece. Faith that does not stay in the church.

The artist

Cold World is the work of KingPen Art, a self-taught Chicano artist who draws entirely in blue ballpoint pen.

No brushes. No software. No undo.

Every value in that figure — the ribs, the folds in the cloth, the weight in the shoulders — is built from thousands of individual pen strokes laid down in one direction, then crossed. There is no way to lighten a line once it is down. The only way through a drawing like this is to get it right the first time, for hours.

He keeps ownership of the drawing. We license it, and he earns a royalty on every piece sold. You are not buying a graphic. You are buying his work, on his terms.

Read his story →

Construction

• 275 GSM heavyweight combed cotton jersey
• 300 GSM heavyweight 1×1 rib collar
• Shape-retaining neckline — engineered to resist stretch and shrinkage through repeated washing
• 100% cotton, Canadian milled
• Classic fit
• Black. One colourway. No alternates.
• Woven RBL neck label · red selvedge tag at the hem

Combed cotton means the short fibres are removed before spinning. Fewer stray fibres, a smoother surface, less pilling. It costs more to make and it lasts longer. That is the entire reason to do it.

Provenance

Canadian milled. Canadian made. Knit, dyed, cut and sewn in Toronto.

Not “designed in” one place and manufactured somewhere cheaper. One city, end to end.

Fit

Classic fit — true to size. Order what you normally wear. Between sizes? Size up for a looser drape.

Fifty pieces

Drop 01 is an edition of fifty. There is no restock.

The next drop is a different artist, a different story, a different shirt.

Latino by birth or Latino at heart.