There's a war going on in the streets of Denver and Michael Salamon is supplying both sides. The whole thing is, in fact, a conflict of his own creation. Small, opposing armies decked in red and blue, look to remake Colfax Avenue in their image.

Not bad - it's not every day, after all, that a t-shirt designer's work carries with it the echoes of arms deals and gang wars.

Salamon is the mind behind Attack Colfax and Defend Colfax, t-shirts on sale at the Fabric Lab, 3105 E. Colfax Ave., and online at attackcolfax.com and defendcolfax.com. He says that others are quick to bring their own meaning to the imagined conflict, seeing statements on gentrification, law and order and more.

The truth isn't nearly as sensational.

To hear him describe it, the message is an example of the "surf, sample, manipulate" ethic laid out by University of Colorado associate professor Mark Amerika. Or in laymen's terms, "I totally ripped this thing thing off."

"At some point in my travels I think I saw a Defend Something, and made some notations in a travel notebook," he said. "Later, a friend of mine called me and told me where I'd seen the original: it was a Defend Brooklyn T-shirt - and it looks exactly like the Colfax versions."

But then, the local analogue to the "Defend Brooklyn" gear, with its characteristic AR-15 silhouette to Brooklyn's AK-47, was never meant to make waves, but as a way to whip together an online billing system that could be used in other projects. "It's a reason for no reason," Salamon said.

The shirts can be bought at attackcolfax.com or defendcolfax.com for $28.