This Is the Most Time I Have Ever Put Into a Single T-Shirt

It started with a message from my sister's husband. He had seen her wearing one of my cockatiel tees, liked what he saw, and sent me a few photos of their ginger cat. "Can you make something like this for him?"

I said yes. I had no idea what I was agreeing to.

CritterFit Co

"Unbothered Yawn" Ginger Cat Tee

Hand-painted portrait on a premium black tee. Free shipping worldwide.

$55 AUD Shop Now →

The problem with most pet tees

You know the ones. A cartoon cat clip-art slapped on a plain tee, printed in bulk, designed in an afternoon. There is nothing wrong with them exactly, but there is nothing right about them either. They do not say anything about who you are, or how much you love your cat.

I started CritterFit Co because I believed pet lovers deserved better than that. Real designs. Real craft. Something you would actually reach for.

But I did not know how far that would take me until I started painting this cat.

Thirty-plus hours on a single yawn

The first problem was the angle. The photos he sent were great for a phone album but wrong for a design. I started tracing anyway. It did not feel right. I scrapped it, went back to a rough digital sketch, and kept adjusting the pose until something clicked.

Then came the painting. Photoshop, pen tool, mouse. Colour by colour, layer by layer. Fur is one of the hardest things to paint convincingly and I was doing it without a tablet, which meant every stroke took longer than it should have. I stayed at my desk until my back started complaining every time I stood up.

I nearly stopped. I did stop, actually, for a few days. Told myself I would come back. Started working on something else.

Then I got a message from my sister.

"How far along are you? I was hoping to wear the tee on my camping trip. I am bringing a few close friends and my cat."

That was the deadline I needed. I dug out my old Wacom tablet and got back into it. The tablet helped but I was still stuck at a desk, still fighting the same sore back. So I made a decision: bought a Galaxy S10 FE, moved into Clip Studio Paint, and suddenly I could paint from the couch, from bed, from wherever.

Within two weeks of that message, it was finished. Not rushed. Finished. There is a difference.

Why it is printed on black, and only black

The painting needed a dark background or the colours would not land the way they did in the original. Ginger fur against white fabric looks washed out. Against black, it glows.

So black it is. No exceptions, no compromise. That is the tee this design deserves.

The base is a soft, unisex tee with a relaxed fit. It runs true to size, holds its shape wash after wash, and the print does not fade or crack. We have tested it. A lot.

What cat owners are saying

How it compares to generic cat tees

Available now

"Unbothered Yawn" Ginger Cat Tee

Sizes S to 2XL. Black only. Free shipping worldwide.

$55 AUD Check Availability →

This is not a fast-fashion product

We are a small Australian pet brand. Every design we release gets the time it deserves. The "Unbothered Yawn" took longer than anything else we have made, and it shows. That is not a sales line. It is just what happened.

If you have a cat who owns every room they walk into, who yawns at precisely the wrong moment and somehow makes it the most elegant thing you have seen all week, this tee is for you.

Or for the cat person in your life who already has too many tees but will absolutely make room for this one.