Serpent Bloom Tee

蛇 (hebi): "the snake."

Every twelfth year belongs to the snake. The zodiac came to Japan from China, and the sixth of its twelve signs is written with an old character of its own, not the everyday word for snake. 2025 was a snake year and the next is 2037. The same signs once named the hours, so the hour of the snake ran from about nine to eleven in the morning. Every New Year, greeting cards carry that year's animal.

A hooded green snake coils up a branch of red tree peonies on the back, tongue out, petals dropping around it. The black character by its head is 蛇 (hebi), "snake," and the red seal at the bottom right says 毒 (doku), "poison," which seems fair. The chest badge pairs a coiled snake with a peony.

Snake-year birthdays in 1989, 2001 and 2013 make an easy excuse, and so does a taste for flowers with a bite. The red peonies come out soft on washed pale gray. The serpent tees run from gentle to venomous.

• Fabric: 100% combed cotton, 230gsm, pre-shrunk and soft-washed
• Print: direct-to-garment (DTG)
• Color: washed pale gray
• Fit: unisex, regular; size up for a boxier, oversized look
• Sizes: S to 3XL
• Size reference: 6 ft 2 in wears L; 5 ft 7 in wears M

Measurements for every size are in the size guide.