MANIFESTO
Totally Blown makes distressed clothing using shotguns. The shotgun is used to create beautiful and complex clothing that blurs the lines between contemporary art, contemporary fashion, and social activism. This unique approach creates intensely charged objects that are usable, aesthetically original, and address issues related to gun use and gun violence. The goal of TOTALLY BLOWN is to create wearable art that encourages a healthy dialogue around guns use and gun violence to enact change. By taking these issues out of the closet and getting them in front of people by wearing TOTALLY BLOWN, you yourself can begin to engage in the dialogue to end gun violence. In fact by shopping with TOTALLY BLOWN you are making a financial contribution to the cause as well, as 1% of sales goes to everytown.org, the nations leading organization mobilizing to educate and change gun laws to protect our people.
"TOTALLYBLOWN.US" was chosen back in 2012 because in our founder's mind, all of US are TOTALLY BLOWN by default. We have been blown apart as a society and as a unified planet. We have been blown apart by our borders and governments and wars. We have been blown apart by environmental degradation, famine, poverty, racism and gun violence. And on a psychological level, in attempts to escape it all, we have TOTALLY BLOWN our minds with drugs and vices to try and escape from it all.
Yes, TOTALLY BLOWN makes awesome clothing, but that's not the only thing that keeps us going. TOTALLY BLOWN is on the battlefront of addressing what matters. We are energizing a new way of looking at the world through the lens of fashion in the context of reality. A vision that is based on the harsh facts, not fanciful designer lies. We stand for change, complexity, individuality, self expression, and basic rights that protect and serve our people, not corporate greed and corruption. TOTALLY BLOWN is here to make something useful that reflects the times, that reflects the entanglement and destruction that corrupts and destroys our lives.
No one is perfect, and our world certainly is not perfect either. So why should our clothes be? Why should we dress like perfect robots? Sometimes it seems like that is what society wants…robots! Predictable, simple, manipulatable, boring! Well, TOTALLY BLOWN has had enough of that! We want to be human! We want to wear clothes that reflect our humanity, our individuality, our weaknesses, our strengths, our complexity, and the things we want to up against and change.
We have been ripped to shreds by greed and corruption and we are not going to lie about it- we are going to embrace it. All of our hardships, our troubles, our failures- we are not going to hide them away with lies of perfection. No! We are going to put the pieces back together, one stitch at a time, uniting together in our differences to do the hard work, to look the bull in the eyes, to stand up for what we believe in and make the changes and implement the support that is necessary right now.
With our honesty in heart, in mind, in appearance, and in action...we will move forward in brave new ways, and blast apart the systems, structures, walls and borders that no longer serve us! To be honest and whole once more, as a people, as a planet, as individuals, as an infinitely complex and interconnected universe...this is the TOTALLY BLOWN mission!
TOTALLY BLOWN is not here just to represent a clothing company, but a revolution. A new way of thinking, looking, and acting that is based on reality...not on the manipulations of corporate lies and greed. These are backward times that call for drastic new measures, processes, concepts, and fashions to wake people up to say "hey, the brighter future is right over there...I'm going to do everything I can to make it reality." We hope you will join us and thank you for your support!
We are TOTALLY BLOWN because we are all TOTALLY BLOWN
The real question is, what are you going to do about it?
