Wear Your Family Heritage on a T-Shirt

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Having pride in your family heritage is a wonderful thing. With so many dysfunctional families, it’s wonderful to see a person show they love their family. Be proud of who you are and who your family is. All families have histories and whether that history is recent or long running, it’s still family. Celebrate and have pride in your heritage. Custom t-shirts can be worn to show how much you care for your family and your heritage. Shirts can be created with your family name, so you can tell the world who you are.

Putting your name on a t-shirt may seem like a silly idea to some, but it’s a matter of pride to others. Imagine the reaction of family members when you display your pride in the family by wearing a shirt with your name on it. Honoring your heritage is a great way to show how proud you are to have grown up in your family. Wearing a shirt with your family name is an outward way to show that honor. Custom t-shirts are easy to make and design. Designing a shirt for your style should be easy and fun if you take the time to create on just for your family. Creating a family heritage shirt is fun as there are so many options available to choose from. Simply displaying the family name involves choices!

The font used to write your family name is important. If your family isn’t athletic, then choosing a font that looks like sports lettering will not have the same effect for your family as huge sports fans. If academics are important, then choosing university style lettering would be a great choice. With the wide array of fonts available, finding one you love may take time, but will make your custom t-shirt special.

A family crest is unique and special. Each family name carries its own nobility. A family crest displays that nobility. Create a custom t-shirt with your family crest or name and display it proudly. It’s not hard to find your family crest, just search on-line to find yours, if you don’t know what your family crest looks like. The crest can be printed onto several styles of shirts to fit your needs. Look at the colors in the crest design to choose a shirt color that goes well. The color of the lettering should also accent the crest.

Creating your family t-shirt should be about finding the best in your family. Celebrate who you are because of your family. If you chose to use your family name and flag on your custom t-shirt is your choice. Just be sure that your family is part of the design. Add a graphic or two, if desired, that showcases your family traits. Whether it is a book symbolizing education, or an acorn representing your family nuttiness, it’s your family so embrace it. Whatever you chose to do your family is part of who you are. Create a shirt that shows your pride in being part of your family.

Go Team! Cheering with Custom T-Shirts

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Being part of a team is a great way to meet people. It is also great for children and teenagers as it gives them socialization as well as an outlet for releasing energy. Getting a group to think like a team is the hard part. One example is sports teams. In competitive sports it’s easy to get caught up in the competition and forget about team members. If you are a coach, getting your team to think like a team is a challenge.

One fantastic way to get your team to act like a team is custom t-shirts. Having matching team shirts brings camaraderie among teammates. Wearing the team’s custom t-shirt is a sign of commitment and loyalty to the team. It also gives individual members a feeling of acceptance as part of a team. This is important as some members may not receive such acceptance elsewhere in their life. Creating your team custom t-shirt is easy and can be a team effort.

Creating a custom team shirt is fun, as there are many options and styles available. There are shirts for all sports, some hobbies, and even more unique teams. Football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, tennis, volleyball, hockey, ultimate Frisbee, and golf all have fantastic shirt options. The shirt can simply have the team name. Or for more elaborate shirts, add a graphic such as sports player, a ball, hockey stick, or racket. For a fun shirt, make it a silly graphic like a racket smashed over someone’s head, a football stuck in a helmet, or a golf ball in an alligator’s mouth.

There are also teams that have nothing to do with sports. There are custom t-shirts for those types of teams as well. For Scrabble players, try Scrabble tiles with the team name. Checker players can be witty with “king me”. There are so many teams that it’s hard to name all of them in one article, but there is a custom t-shirt for everyone. If you can’t find a sample, just create your own.

Create your team’s custom t-shirt by looking at what your team loves. If you are a fun loving group, have your team shirt reflect that. You wouldn’t want something too serious, if your team prefers silly. Or the opposite is true it wouldn’t make since to be silly if your team is all about being serious. If there is an artist on your team, have the artist create the artwork for your team’s shirt. Or ask for input on what each team member would like to see. By doing so, your team shirt will mean more to the players. You may also find that with every players input, you will create the most unique and fun shirt you have ever seen. It is fun to have matching team shirts. It’s not always feasible to wear the team uniforms, if you have them. However, it is easy to wear a custom t-shirt with your team name, logo, or attitude on it. Creating your team’s shirt is a great activity and may strengthen your team bond.

Tips and Ideas for Custom Family Reunion T-Shirts

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Planning a family reunion is not an easy task. There are many things to consider. Tasks include agreeing on and confirming a location to hold your event, set up food, arrangements, and prepare party activities. Don’t forget to include items to help family member remember your event. If you are planning a family reunion, consider creating a fantastic souvenir. Custom t-shirt with your family name and date of reunion make great souvenirs. Custom t-shirts are fun to design and fun to wear. Designing your family reunion shirt is exciting. With so many options available, it is easy to find a style that will work for your family.

When designing your custom t-shirt, think about your event. If you have planned an outdoor adventure such as camping or hiking, the color of your shirt should reflect that activity. Black is not the best choice, as black has a tendency to absorb heat, making the person warmer. White may not be a great option either, as it gets dirty easily. Pick a color that will allow all wearers to stay cool in the sun without attracting stains. Color is only the first choice of many in designing your shirts.

If you want simplicity, the family name and date of reunion is effective. Adding where the reunion is held is another choice. You can also add pictures or graphics to your custom t-shirts. If you have a family picture from a previous reunion, you can add that to the shirt. Some chose to add a picture of only the parents. This idea is great for families that have deep respect for the parents that created the rest of the family. A picture of their wedding day would be beautiful. Or since most families have more than one last name, as family members married or changed names, consider adding each last name to the back of the shirt, as a way to include all members.

The graphics on the shirt can be anything from a tree, stick figures, state your family grew up in, a world globe, a flag, or more. If you would like to be more specific you can include a graphic of the activity you have planned. If you are taking a cruise, a cruise ship would be appropriate. Reunions on the beach can include sunsets, palm trees, or sand volleyball. If your family is having a barbeque, a grill would be a fantastic choice.

With so many styles to choose from, you will be able to find a custom t-shirt to suit your family reunion. After the reunion, the shirts will bring back wonderful memories of the fun that was shared. Your family will be talking about the reunion for years to come. With the right t-shirt, they could be talking about how great your design was. So go ahead and make a great memory and design custom t-shirts for your family event. No other family is just like yours, so make your special. Have fun creating your shirt, and remember how many memories you are creating. Family reunions are wonderful events to share.

Support Your Family Sports and Hobbies with T-Shirts

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Having a family member participating in an activity such as a sport is an exciting time. Supporting our family members is necessary to show them just how much we care about them. Knowing how to support your family member can be confusing. Just attending the event may not seem like enough support for some. Luckily, we have the option of displaying our pride for all to see.

Custom t-shirts are a great way to show our support for our loved ones. Wearing your child’s name proudly on a shirt will tell everyone in attendance, just who you are cheering for. If the activity is a sporting event, then adding your child’s number to the shirt is a great idea. Creating the custom t-shirt can be a blast.

If you want to include your family member to design the shirt, that is a great idea. The family member can help decide what should be, or shouldn’t be, on the shirt. Some kids may not mind, and may even enjoy, seeing their picture on a shirt. For some families, wearing a shirt with the child’s picture may horrify him or her! Embarrassing your child for life may not be the best way to show support.

Adding a picture to your custom t-shirt isn’t the only thing you can do. There are graphic for almost every sport and hobby. The graphic can be pretty much anything. If you have a baseball pitcher on your hands, a picture of a ball with flames behind it might just be the answer. A similar graphic is available for all sports.

For other activities such as drama, there are options as well. The classic theater masks graphic can be used. Or choosing a witty saying such as “drama queen”, or a quite from Alfred Hitchcock, “What is drama but life with the dull parts cut out” might be appropriate. You can also choose a line from the play that might be perfect for your shirt.

With custom t-shirt designs there are more options than you might imagine. The number of font styles available will astound you. Then there is the word graphic. You can manipulate the letters to create different styles. The words can be in a circle, vertical, shaped like a cone either horizontal or vertical. Then there are the graphics. Finding the perfect graphic for your shirt can be a fun experience. With the Internet readily available, the possibilities seem endless.

There are so many activities that family members can be involved with. All it takes is a little research to find the most appropriate saying or graphic for your custom t-shirt. But the time you take to create that shirt will be meaningful. Your family member will know how much you support him or her. Attendees of the event will know just who you support and how much. It’s fun to wear a custom t-shirt showing your support for a family member. It’s also fun to see the pride in the face of those that wear custom t-shirts to support their families. Supporting your family member is a great way to build the bonds in your family. Wearing a custom t-shirt is a great way to show that support.

Why Create Custom Firefighter T-Shirts

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Do you have a loved one who is a firefighter? If so, then you know how much we as a community owe the men and women who put themselves on the line to keep their towns and cities safe. Whether your loved one is a volunteer or a full-time employee of the fire department, you can let them know how appreciative you are by making them a custom-made t-shirt, designed by you, highlighting the service they give to the community.

You could go a couple different directions with the t-shirt. You could just design a very straightforward, simple shirt that honors the firefighter wearing it. This shirt could have the person’s name on it, and the town and department number, and perhaps a quote expressing thanks or gratitude. You could also have a quote about courage or service, or even just a personal quote like, “Dad, we’re proud of you!” Along with the text, you could have a picture of the person, maybe with the whole department. Or you could include a picture of the fire department or the fire engine, or even a graphic that is not specific to your town, but that will let people know right away that the person wearing this shirt is a firefighter. This image could be anything from a fire hat to a truck to a dalmatian.

You could also, if your firefighter has a sense of humor, be a little more creative and make up a slogan to put on the t-shirt. Think of something that would get the same point across, but in a humorous way. Maybe something like, “This man gets up at four in the morning to rescue your kitten Mimi from a tree. Respect him.” Or, “This man keeps you and your kittens safe from harm. And he looks good in a uniform.” You could also list the years of service, and maybe include a more serious quote or statement of thanks to make sure everyone knows your feelings of pride and gratitude.

You could make t-shirts for the fire department even if you don’t know anyone on the force. Maybe your house was saved from damage by the fire department. Maybe your son wants to be a fireman when he grows up. If you want to show support for the fire department, you could design a t-shirt and give one to each of the firefighters there. Try putting the names of each person on the back of the t-shirt, like a sports jersey. This personalized effect will be exciting to everyone that gets a shirt. The firefighters do their job because they want to, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t like recognition every now and then. Whether you are thanking your husband, wife, dad, mom, teacher, or just the friendly firefighter you see on the way to work everyday, consider making a custom t-shirt to show how much you care. It’s a great way to bring the community together and show your support for a very important group of people.

Support the Heroes in Blue with T-Shirts

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If you have a loved one who is a policeman or woman, chances are you are very proud of them. They risk their lives to protect the citizens of their towns and cities. If you would like to show your appreciation for these valuable people, what better way to do it than with a custom-designed t-shirt that they can wear proudly when not on duty?

If making a t-shirt for your policeman or woman, you can personalize as much as you want to. Put his or her name on the back of the t-shirt, or on the front, perhaps on an arc, like on a sports jersey. You can accompany this name with an image and a funny slogan about your loved one. The image could be many things, ranging from a picture of the person to a recognizable symbol of the police force, like a pair of handcuffs, a police cap, or a police car with the lights on.

Perhaps you’d also like to make t-shirts for the whole police department. Reasons for doing this could be wide-ranging: maybe the police department did you or your family a huge service recently, or perhaps your children are learning about the police in school and want to show their respect and appreciation. Making t-shirts for the whole department could be quite fun, too. You can still personalize the shirts, with each person’s name on the back, and perhaps their picture on the front. Then you can come up with a slogan to encapsulate the whole department. It could be funny or just sincerely appreciative, like, “Thanks for all you do!” or “We couldn’t live without you!”

In the sad event that your community has lost a police officer, you can make memorial t-shirts, which the whole community could wear. Making that large amount of t-shirts wouldn’t be too expensive, and the community would likely appreciate a silent way to pay their respect and show their appreciation.

Getting your children involved in designing the t-shirts with you will be a great way to help them learn about the police and what their function in society is. Your children can brainstorm about what their ideas of police are, and why they are important in the community. This idea holds true whether you are making t-shirts for a close loved one, one particular officer that your family is familiar with, or an entire department. If you decide to make funny t-shirts, make sure that they are still respectful to the police force. Instilling a sense of gratitude and respect in your children early will probably help them later on!

Though the policemen and women won’t be able to wear their t-shirts while on duty, they can wear them proudly at home and at work functions. If you’re making the t-shirts for yourself, in honor of the policemen and women in your life, you can wear them whenever you like and give a shout out to the police department and its hard work.

Raise Money and Awareness: Illness Awareness T-Shirts

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Raising money and awareness about an illness that’s affected your family is easy with customized t-shirts. You can be a walking and talking billboard that informs and educates anyone with questions.

Try some of these curiosity-raising ideas for your shirts.
“I have lupus, What’s your excuse?”
“Diabetics are naturally sweet.”
“Juvenile Rhuematoid arthritis: I’m worth the cure.”

You can customize a shirt with your friend or family member’s photo too. Try their picture with “A lung transplant saved my life. Be a hero. Be a donor.” Or “CF Superhero.”

Any of these attention getting slogans could have you signing up donors to your local organizations. The best part of customizing t-shirts, is that you can add the website address and phone number for your group right on the shirt. It’s an easy way for people to get access to your group and help with an issue that’s important to you.

Buying the shirts is easy online. You pick your t-shirt color, add text, pictures, and names. You can choose from ideas and ready-made art and slogans or use your own. You can also choose from different styles. Then, get a quote. In some cases there is a minimum order. But, usually, the more t-shirts you buy, the better the discount. It typically takes about two weeks for your shirts to arrive.

Check with the shirt company to see if they offer discounts or incentives for non-profit groups. It’s easy to sell the shirts as fundraisers on your group’s website and at events.

When the Amy R., president of the Canton Young Professionals, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 28, her colleagues jumped into action with supportive, fundraising t-shirts. They chose the edgy slogan, “Feel Your Boobies” to encourage other young women to do a simple self-check for breast cancer. The shirts were a hit at the group’s American Cancer Society fundraiser. Even the men wore them! Not only did the shirts inspire and bring the group together, they helped everyone keep a sense of humor during Amy’s recovery. The group sold the shirts and raised a couple hundred dollars in one night!

Political T-Shirts as a Way to Support Your Favorite Candidate

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Wear what you preach!
Want to show your support for your favorite candidate this election season? Wear it!

“You’re in for a Rudy Awakening”
“Democrats are sexy: whoever heard of a sexy piece of elephant?”

There’s a t-shirt for all national contenders in 2008 from the current front-runners to the far-fetched politicians that could use some more name recognition. Name recognition is the number one reason why people vote for a particular candidate. So, get out there and start sporting spreading the word by just walking around.

You can easily find political t-shirts online. Look for their name, your party or the issue that you wear on your sleeve. Check out these ideas: a picture of Mitt Romney with “Got Mitt.” Hillary Clinton’s face with “You Go Girl.”

Don’t see your candidate? Created your own cool slogan? Supporting a local candidate? It’s easy to design your own shirt from the comfort of your computer and place an order online. Scan in a picture of them. Use the creativity of your campaign staff. Have a contest to create the coolest t-shirt. In no time, you can create walking billboards.

You can wear the shirt to raise awareness, buzz and name recognition. You can also have them printed and sell your sloganized shirts to raise cash for your candidate. Sell them on your website or at area events.

Buying the shirts is easy online. You pick your t-shirt color, add text, pictures, and names. You can choose from ideas and ready-made art and slogans or use your own. You can also choose from different styles. Then, get a quote. In some cases there is a minimum order. But, usually, the more t-shirts you buy, the better the discount. It typically takes about two weeks for your shirts to arrive.

Once you’ve got your shirts, start wearing them! Get people talking about your candidate and issues.

Political T-Shirts–Tell Everyone Who You DON’T Want

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Want to get your anti-message out? Use a t-shirt! Online you can find a shirt to be against any politician or issue you want.

Check out these ideas.

“Nancy Pelosi’s to do list: Raise taxes. Amnesty for illegal aliens. Civil War for Iraq. Lose the war on terror.”

“Evil Conservative.”

Be a billboard for change and bring attention to your viewpoint or just poke some fun and get people talking.

Try some of these edgy slogans on a shirt.

“Hey ACLU, Merry Christmas.”

“01.20.09.”

Imagine the opportunity you get to start a debate when people come up to ask you about your shirt. For many, the most exciting part of buying custom t-shirts is the actual design process. You will not only have the ability to choose from a wide variety of shirt and ink colors, but you can also upload your own image. This allows you to get the exact t-shirt you want. And of course, the end result is quite professional, and will be something that you are proud to wear day in and day out.

Take a current design online and add contact information about your local group or cause like a website or phone number. Or design your own shirt with your own catchy slogan.

It’s easy. On most sites, you pick the artwork, graphics or photos then add text and names. Pick colors and styles. You can actually see a mock-up of the shirt while you design it. That makes it simple to see what you like and make changes before you order the shirts.

Get started with a t-shirt and get your message out there!

Support the Troops with T-Shirts

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In these hard times for America, many citizens have loved ones who are currently in service to their country. Whether in a war zone, simply overseas, or on duty at home in America, our servicemen and women are part of a dedicated group who deserve all the support we can show them. If you have a friend, family member, or spouse who is currently serving the country, you might want to design a custom t-shirt for them or for yourself to show your support and pride.

Whether your loved one is in the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, or another branch of service, there are many types of t-shirts you could design to send a message of support. If your loved one is a soldier stationed overseas or at an American base, they may not be able to wear clothing you send them, so why not make it for yourself and wear it around as a walking tribute to the one you love?

You could make a t-shirt personalized with your soldier’s name and picture, along with many choices of images, such as a yellow ribbon, an American flag, or perhaps the image most closely associated with their branch of military. You could also include their dates and places of service.

If you do want to send a t-shirt to your soldiers, a great idea would be to design a t-shirt that reminds them of home. Get a great picture of the soldier’s family together—children, parents, brothers and sisters, spouse. You can choose any type of picture you see fit, but consider something fun, spontaneous, and informal. It will be great to remind your soldiers of what’s going on at home and what’s waiting when they get back. So instead of something more posed and fancy, try a picture of your family’s real life back at home. You can then include text from the family, like, “We love you, come home soon!” or “Thank you,” or “We’re thinking of you!” You can also get creative with inside jokes or quotes that would help keep your soldiers’ spirits high while they are away from home.

In the sad event that you have lost someone who was serving his or her country, you could make a t-shirt in memorial. What better way to remind the world on a regular basis of the person you loved who was lost in the line of duty? A simple t-shirt is one possible way to honor your loved one even as you walk down the street. Choose your favorite picture of your loved one—either in or out of uniform—and include their name, the dates of their birth and death, and perhaps a quote or song lyrics that are especially meaningful to you.

However you decide to do it, designing a custom t-shirt and wearing it proudly will help you and your family honor your loved one who is serving the country.

Why Create Custom School Class T-Shirts?

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One great way to solidify your class spirit is to design and order custom-made t-shirts for your class. T-shirts are an inexpensive and memorable way to get creative and bond your class together. Whether you make t-shirts for the entire class, or just for a few of your friends, wearing them can help you show your spirit and bond with others at the same time.

Say your school is having a spirit week. What better way to cheer yourselves on than with t-shirts proclaiming your pride? In a school of four or more grade levels, you can make yourselves stand out immediately by walking the halls in your matching t-shirts. Giving your classmates a basic uniform-type outfit to wear during spirit week (such as your custom-made t-shirts with a pair of khakis or jeans) will help boost their excitement and inspire their competitive spirit. The t-shirts make the week even more special.

You could also make class t-shirts for incoming freshman. Handing out custom t-shirts to incoming students shows the school is excited to receive them, and gives them a sense of the solidarity of the group right away. It is important for each class to have its own identity, and you can help by giving the new class that gift as they walk into school for the first time.Another great time for t-shirts would be during a time of high stress, like exam week. With everyone worried and tired, studying for finals or midterms, why not lighten the mood by creating exam time t-shirts for everyone in your class? You can put jokes on the t-shirts about each teacher, perhaps ranking the tests in order of how much people dread each one. These t-shirts could help put things in perspective for students who are feeling at the end of their rope. It will remind them that everyone else is going through it, too, and that the world will go on, even after exam week.

Along the same lines, class t-shirts can be great unifiers in times of crisis or trial. If, in the worst case scenario, something happens to one of your classmates or teachers, you can make t-shirts to show your support and solidarity. Matching t-shirts with a message can give people a surprising amount of strength during a hard time. Like with the exam week t-shirts, they will help show unity and persistence.

Or perhaps a major issue in your school or community is putting your class under pressure. Issues like funding, teachers, and extra-curriculars are always important to students. If there is a cause that you and your classmates believe is important, you can make your voices heard by wearing t-shirts stating your views or your support.

Class t-shirts also make great mementos. Years down the line, you will take your class t-shirt out of the closet and remember the times you had with your classmates, good and bad, during your formative years. Give your class the gift of preserving time, if only in the smallest sense.

Student Election Campaign T-Shirts

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You’ve decided to run for student council vice president. You are qualified, with experience leading groups, keeping track of money, and brainstorming ideas for improvement. You have already been in student council without holding office for two years, and your record is solid. You have helped out a lot and taken on more responsibility each year. Your close classmates and fellow student council members think you would do a great job in the office if you win.

But you need more votes than just those of your closest allies. You need the majority of the student body to vote for you. This includes all kinds of people who don’t know you, and who couldn’t care less about what kind of job you will do if elected. Imagine, for the sake of argument, that they are all being forced to vote in their homeroom classes, so the amount of people voting is a lot bigger than the amount of people voting who actually know you.

You can’t rely on word of mouth in a campaign like this. You need ways to get your name out to the entire student body. Think of it as an advertising campaign: you need people to remember the product, and the product is you. Even if they don’t care about you or the job you’ll be doing, they need to remember your name so that when they see the ballot they will circle your name—because it’s the one they recognize.

A great way to get people to remember you—to really get yourself engrained in their memories—is by offering a visual. That’s why billboards are so popular, and why advertising companies so often put memorable or strange images in their commercials or print ads. People remember pictures and simple slogans.

So what can you do? Everyone will be putting up posters. What can you do to go a step beyond?

How about making t-shirts? T-shirts will make anyone who is wearing them a walking billboard, a walking advertisement for your candidacy. You don’t need to put too much information on the t-shirts—just your name, the office you’re running for, and maybe the date of the election. Other than that, think of the t-shirts as a way to sell yourself to total strangers. It would be great to include a solid reason to vote for you—believe it or not, there are people in the school who care about who ends up being student council vice president. But mostly you want to have a memorable image (say a giant picture of your face), and a clever slogan that, ideally, includes your name. Your name is, after all, what’s going to be on the actual ballot.

Once you’ve designed the t-shirts, distribute them to your friends and supporters. Try to get them to people who have different types of schedules, classes, and activities. That way you can reach more people. You could also hand out free t-shirts at lunchtime or on breaks. Just get the image of you and your name out their, so on voting day, people will remember you and smile—and circle your name!

School T-shirts – Custom Shirts for your Student Club or Organization

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If you are in a student club or organization—anything from a sports team that already gets a lot of attention, to a new, small club you started with a couple friends—chances are you’d like to recruit new members and supporters. You’d also like to keep your current members excited about the club. What better way to achieve these goals than by creating some custom-made t-shirts to give to your club’s members?

Here are some possible clubs that could benefit from custom-made t-shirts:

Foreign Language Club (Spanish, Latin, French, Japanese, German, etc.), Chess Club, Key Club, 4-H, Choir, Band, Orchestra, Show Choir, Drama Club, Art Club, Environmental Action Club, School Newspaper, School Yearbook, Sports Teams (Swim Team, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, etc.), Student Council, Literary Magazine, Film Club, Prom Committee, Student Committee to Promote Respect, Poetry Club, Knitting Club, Sororities and Fraternities.

There are so many types of clubs and groups and organizations in every school that it’s often hard to even remember them all. If you remember when you first started school, you’ll recall how hard it was to keep all the clubs straight, and how much you wanted to find the right ones to be a part of yourself. Why not make the choice easier for incoming students by highlighting your club or organization on a t-shirt?

The beginning of the year is a great time to wear recruiting t-shirts. Clubs have all kinds of ways of recruiting and accepting people. Some will open their doors to anyone. For these clubs, make t-shirts that have some specific information about what your club does, and maybe who might want to join. Put this information on the back so people can read it in the hallways or sitting behind you in class. If your club is higher profile and has a selection process, like try-outs, auditions, or an application, then you can probably afford to put less information on your t-shirts. You can probably safely assume that people coming out for your club know enough about it already to submit themselves to a selection process. You just need to advertise the name of the club and the date that people need to sign up for try-outs, for instance.

Throughout the year, you may want t-shirts to boost the spirit of the club, or to advertise upcoming events. Having matching t-shirts is always fun, and you can then determine which days you will all wear your shirts, which is a fun group activity that takes the bond between your members a little further. It also may help recruitment next year, for other students to see your members walking proudly in their club t-shirts. If you have a special event or fundraiser coming up, t-shirts are a great way to get the word out, and to provoke questions from people who are curious about your group.

You can also get t-shirts to celebrate a victory or milestone for your group: a win in a special competition, an amount of money raised, an anniversary, or a welcoming of new members. It’s a great idea to design several t-shirts for each year. Any club that goes to the trouble to design t-shirts is an appealing club to be in.

Graduation T-Shirts Help Commemorate the Big Accomplishment

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After long years of hard work, you are finally graduating! Whether from high school, college, or trade school, your graduation is a giant accomplishment that you should be very proud of. Now is the time to celebrate a job well done and years with your friends and classmates, now coming to an end. Why not commemorate this special time with some custom t-shirts?

If you are in some organizational position, like class president or student council, or graduation committee, you could consider ordering t-shirts for your entire class. You could design a standard t-shirt with “Class of 2008,” your school name, and perhaps a picture of your mascot or something like that. The shirts could show your school colors, and perhaps some unifying facts about your class—pop culture from the year, class songs, or slogans. In the days leading up to graduation, the class would appreciate a t-shirt to wear together and to keep as a souvenir of their entire class. When will the class be more unified than on graduation day?

You don’t have to be class president to design and order class t-shirts, however. Why not design t-shirts for yourself individually, or for your group of friends, or for a club or team you belong to? If you’re making a t-shirt just for yourself, you could take the opportunity to celebrate your personal accomplishments—best hair, most likely to succeed, high grade point average, captain of a team—or highlight your favorite memories from school. Think of yourself as a walking version of your yearbook write-up. What is your favorite inspirational or funny quote? You could list your favorite songs and movies from the year, or your favorite classes and t-shirts, or your best friends.

If you want to get t-shirts made for a small group of people—like your high school choir, or your softball team, or just the kids you eat lunch with every day—you can get creative and individualize each t-shirt for the specific person. You can put their names on the front or back, and maybe a picture of them that captures their personality. If you already have nicknames for people, you could use those, or you could make new nicknames up. For small groups, you can think about inside jokes you and your friends have enjoyed over the years without having to worry about leaving anyone out. Commemorating jokes and memories on t-shirts will help people go back to the days of school much easier as the years go on and they move on to new parts of life.

No matter how large the group that you decide to make t-shirts for, you can have a lot of fun with the t-shirts after you’ve all received them. Graduation is a great time to let people know what they’ve meant to you, and to wish them well. You could have a t-shirt signing party, or just bring them to school in the final days before graduation for everyone to sign, like yearbooks. Then you will all have a meaningful and fun memento of the years you spent together in school.

Marketing Your Business- T-shirt at a Time

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Imagine that you have recently opened a new type of hair salon. Your clients are, for the most part, young families. Your shop offers great kid cuts, a fun atmosphere, and all at a great low price. But how do you market it? Well, you could take out some billboard ads, but that’s pretty pricey. TV and radio spots are up there as well. Since you’re just starting out, you’re probably really watching your pennies, and are operating on a shoestring budget.

Lots of small-business owners decorate their cars to advertise their businesses. Some even go to the extent of having their vehicles painted with the business’s logo and a slogan or two, along with a name, phone number, website and e-mail address that potential clients can use to contact them. This is a good idea, but you can’t drive your car into the grocery store or the mall or the movie theatre, so how else can you get your business out there? You could try handing out leaflets, coupons, etc… which you probably will. I don’t know about you, though, I practically run the other way when someone tries to hand me a flyer or comes at me with a clipboard!

Perhaps the best way for you, the small business owner, to market you business is to use T-shirts. The big companies use it too, but they’re also up on billboards, TV and the radio. Since these avenues of advertising are probably beyond your reach at the current time, getting some custom t-shirts printed up is a great idea.

Chances are, your business already has a logo; all that’s required is for you to take the logo in to a custom t-shirt shop (or upload it to one online), pick some t-shirt colors, and get ready to market your business–all right there on your back! Getting a group of shirts printed up is fairly inexpensive; be sure to order a few in each size so that you can hand them out to your employees (if you have any), friends, and family members. They’ll love getting a new tee to wear, and you’ll be getting some free advertising time in the form of your friend’s or family member’s clothing when they go to the beach, the grocery, the library, or the park (or anywhere else they go, for that matter). While you may not be able to convince them to wear your shirt everyday, once or twice a week will spread the word about your business.

Let’s go back to the car idea. As I said, this is a good one, and gets the name of your business out there to be seen. There is one problem, however, and I think it’s a big enough one that it bears mentioning. The majority of people who will be reading your car will also be driving. It’s awfully difficult to write down the information they need in order to get in touch with you if they’re trying to drive! Of course, there’s always the drivers who are eating, chatting, texting, reading, and putting on lipstick, and can not be relied upon to get the information accurately, all while avoiding an accident. Plus, who can remember all that info from a car speeding past?

So, using t-shirts printed with your business’ logo and basic information is a good idea, and one that will help you market your business with little cost and almost no effort.

How T-shirts are Made

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You wear them almost everyday. Whether you put one first thing in the morning, wear on to work-out in or to sleep in; the T-shirt is part of nearly everyone’s daily life. It is definitely present in some form in every wardrobe in every household in America. We pull them on, tug them off, and throw them in the laundry, but have you ever stopped to wonder how they’re actually made? Like almost all products, they are largely made by machines in large factories. But there’s definitely more to it than that.

While making t-shirts is pretty simple and straight-forward, there are still a lot of steps that bolt of cotton, polyester or cotton-poly blend goes through before it becomes a t-shirt for you to wear. Special machines have been designed to integrate cutting, assembling, and stitching. There are different seams that can be used to put the shirt together. One type is the superimposed seams, which use an over edge stitch and results in a flexible finished seam. A second type of seam that can be used is the bound seam, and may be stitched together using the chain stitch, lock stitch, or the over edge stitch. This type of seam is typically found at the neckline of your tee.

Of course, the style of the t-shirt is important. Once the design has been decided on, the dimensions are transferred to patterns, with adjustments made for different sizes.

The different sections of the t-shirt consist of a tube body or separate front and back sections (depends on design, here), sleeves, and optional pockets and trim.

If a tubed body is not being used, the front and back sections are joined first, by stitching them up at the sides. An over edge stitch is most commonly used in this step.

With sleeves, there are a few more steps involved. First of all, the hems must be finished before they are sewn to the body of the tee; it’s much easier to hem the fabric when it’s flat. The seam, however (found on the underside of you arm) is not stitched yet. That comes later, when the sleeve and side seams are done at once. If the sleeve is being attached to a tubular body, the sleeve is completely sewn together (hem and seam) and fit into the body.

Next, the t-shirt body is hemmed. Again, the most commonly used stitch here is the over edge stitch, which helps the tee remain flexible and allow stretching. Sometimes, a combo of edge finishing stitches is used.

After the sleeves have been hemmed and attached (and seamed if going onto a tubular body), and the body of the tee hemmed, the pockets can be added. High quality tees will come with an inner-lining in the pocket; this helps the pocket hold its shape throughout all washing and wearing of the t-shirt. Pockets are simply laid in place, and the machine stitches it.

Shoulder seams are next. They typically require a simple superimposed seam, and may be reinforced with tape or a strip of elastic.

Attaching the neckband varies depending on the style of the shirt. With crew necks, the edge closest to the neck should be a bit shorter in circumference than the edge where it is attached to the garment. Tubular neckbands must be applied by hand; it’s important to prevent bulging, and a machine cannot be relied upon to be that precise. V-necks require an extra step; the point of the V must be overlapped or mitered. Another way of attaching the V-neck is to sew the neck band to the shirt, and then sew a tuck in to form the V.

Labels are inserted next. They are usually found at the back of the neckline, on the inside. More and more, labels are printed directly on the shirt, as opposed to on a tag. Comfort is the main reason that manufactures are moving to this type of labeling.

Now that the shirt is assembled, decorations may be added. Screen prints, air brushed designs, or trim are added last. Snaps or buttons are added to t-shirts made for infants, as these shirts have larger opening at the neck to accommodate baby’s head.

Finally, the shirts must be inspected for flaws and then packaged and distributed to the merchants who will be selling the tees. In the end, you go out and buy yourself a new t-shirt and perhaps wonder just exactly how that shirt was made. Now you know!

What Does Your T-Shirt Say About You?

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Americans are addicted to self-expression. Among other things, we have the right to free speech, as recognized and ratified by our founding fathers. While I don’t think they had light cotton shirts that bare the arms and are emblazoned with witty sayings, graphics, and whatnot in mind, I’m sure they’d approve of this most American way of expressing ourselves.

Walk down any street in any neighborhood, town, or city across the nation and you’ll find you can feast your eyes on other folk’s “self-expression” by simply reading their t-shirts. One can buy a t-shirt for any reason, to suit any purpose, and to state any belief.

What does your t-shirt say about you? Well, that depends on the shirt, doesn’t it? If you have a quirky sense of humor, you may choose to wear shirts that show funny situations or have jokes printed on them. You might believe that part of your purpose in life is to spread happiness to your fellow man. Wearing a funny t-shirt is an easy way to achieve this goal. You may be free-spirited and happy-go-lucky, and just want the world to know it.

You may have t-shirts hanging in your closet that reflect your political views. Maybe you are a member of a political party and have graphics depicting a donkey or elephant on your shirt. Maybe you want to support a particular political issue, such as withdrawing troops from the battlefield and choose a shirt that sports a yellow ribbon.

Many people wear shirts that show-off their interests. Lots of these types of shirts include humor; one that comes to mind is the one with three cats or dogs walking on the front, and their rear ends on the back of the t-shirt. You many have participated in a big event, like a hunting convention, and bought or received a t-shirt commemorating your participation. Wearing this type of t-shirt is another way to show the world what you enjoy.

Perhaps you want to share your spiritual beliefs. You might then choose a shirt that has inspiring verses from the holy texts of your religion. Your shirt might show a particular icon that is sacred to your beliefs, like Jesus wearing a crown of thorns.

Still other people wear t-shirts that show their support of a particular sports team, whether it’s a professional or an amateur one, or their kid’s soccer team. This may be one of the most popular types of t-shirts you’ll see coming down the street, especially during play-off time. In fact, when showing their support for “their team”, people will gladly wear their team colors on their shirts, but will also match their shorts, socks, shoes, accessories, and sometime their hair and faces to their t-shirts!

Another group of people who wear t-shirts that will give you a clue about who they are are people who support a charity or a cause. Think about the piles of t-shirts that are given away to participants in Red Cross marathons, Alzheimer’s walks, Green Peace rallies, and so on. Not only do the shirts draw attention to the event’s particular cause, but they show the world that the wearer is aware of the issue, and supports it. A person wearing one of these types of t-shirts is working to raise awareness of their cause, in one of the easiest ways of doing it; by wearing it!

What you’re wearing does indeed say something about who you are. Whether you are supporting your favorite charity or sports team, or want to share your faith or your love for cats, you can do it with a t-shirt. The only difficulty lies in picking one from a nearly infinite number of choices!

The Fascinating History of the T-Shirt

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Long ago, in a land far, far, away, some very hot, very sweaty soldiers stripped off their uniform jackets to beat the heat. It was WWI, and the British soldiers knew just how to handle the hot and humid summer days…they stripped down! American troops, stifling in their wool uniforms, were amazed and impressed (and probably envious, too) at the sight of the other men in their lightweight cotton, and the phenomenon of the t-shirt was born.

In the 19th century, the idea of underwear was developed; it was an idea which had not been common before that time. At some point near the turn of the century, the underwear shirt was developed, and for the world of clothing and fashion, a whole new article of clothing was born.

While the actual beginnings of the t-shirt are unknown; there are some common ideas on where it first came from. Many industry insiders say that the t-shirt started out as women’s underwear. When Russell Manufacturing Company incorporated 100 years ago in 1902, the first finished product was a ladies’ undershirt, or summer weight vest. Some people believe that this was the very first tee.

After a lot of experimentation, cotton was found to be the ideal material for underwear, and t-shirts were made from this to prevent the harder, rougher outer clothing that was almost intolerably itchy from coming into contact with the wearer. Immediately, the
t-shirt contributed to an easier, more fitted wardrobe. Despite this practicality, it remained an undergarment, only ever seen on someone’s washing line. One could only buy this new undershirt in the very backs of the stores.

During the 1948 presidential campaign, the t-shirt industry was forever changed. The oldest printed custom t-shirt known is housed at the Smithsonian Institute and bears the mantra “Dew-IT with Dewey”; a familiar phrase from New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s campaign for the presidency. By World War II, the t-shirt was a piece of durable underwear in the United States. Soon after, it came to the forefront of people’s wardrobes through the influence of Marlon Brando’s performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and by James Dean’s bad-boy image. Movie fans everywhere were anxious to copy this new fashion trend. For many, it was an easy one; they already had loads of undershirts in their dresser drawers, and only needed to bring them out of the closet. Once moviegoers saw the comfort and attractiveness of this simple article of clothing, they couldn’t get enough. In fact, since Hollywood used the t-shirt in costuming its actors, the tee’s popularity has soared.

T-shirts are typically made of cotton or polyester fibers (or a mix of the two) and then knitted together in a jersey stitch that gives a T-shirt its distinctive soft texture. T-shirts are often decorated with text and/or pictures. T-shirts are also now being made using organic textiles such as cotton or hemp.

Ideas for Creating School Reunion T-Shirts

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Organizing a class reunion? For your five, ten, twenty, or fiftieth class reunions—and all the ones in between—you gather together with former classmates. These are people you haven’t seen in years, and you may be anxious about the event. You want it to go off well—to be a great party, and also a great chance to catch up and share life stories.

Trying to think of some way to tie the whole thing together? Some way to start the reunion off on the right foot? Some way to send everyone home at the end with a token of the time you’ve spent together? Are you working on a budget?

One great, affordable idea for class reunions is to order custom t-shirts for the event. Whether you are planning a reunion for high school, college, trade school, or any other type of group learning experience (summer camp, dance school, etc.), you can surprise the guests with matching t-shirts to commemorate the occasion in the future.

If you’ve got a big class, you probably want to make the t-shirts matching—trying to personalize t-shirts for 200 people might be too much of a headache to think about! So, for a large group, think about unifying phrases and images that you could include on the t-shirts. What would grab everyone’s attention and jog everyone’s memories? The standard “Class of 2008” is always a great thing to include on the t-shirt. You also should include the name of the school, and perhaps the date and location of the reunion. Think about the t-shirt as an entry into a diary, or a scrapbook. Include information that will remind the wearers of the reunion—and maybe even his or her time at school—whenever they wear it in the future. You could include school mascots, quotes, song lyrics, or perhaps facts about the years you were in school together: what was happening in 1978? What were the current events, who was the president, what were the popular movies and songs? These are things that can remind the reuniting class of things that bound them together back in school, and now bind them together now as shared memories.

If the class is smaller, you can have some fun with personalizing the t-shirts, either for individuals or groups. One idea is to keep the fronts of the t-shirts uniform—this way, there is a common thread running through the reunion for everyone who’s wearing them. On the other hand, though, you could perhaps personalize the front of the t-shirts and use them as nametags, with each person’s name on the front of their shirt so everyone knows who they are. Consider putting the last name of each guest on the back of the t-shirt, as if it were a sports jersey. A funny idea for the fronts or backs of the t-shirts would be to include each person’s yearbook picture from the graduating year. Potentially embarrassing: but what reunion isn’t?

Having t-shirts as party favors for your class reunion is a great way to start the event off with a laugh, and to unify your classmates as they reminisce and reconnect.

Why Choose Organic T-Shirts?

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you know about “going green”. There is a huge movement across this country to change and improve the way we are treating and using our environment. Folks are waking up to the fact that our natural resources are not inexhaustible. Take a walk down the aisles of your local grocery store; you’ll find that there are more and more products available that are “organic”. From potato chips to cereal, consumers can purchase products that are organic–basically meaning that the food crops from which they are derived have not been treated with any chemicals, and have most likely been harvested locally.

Amazingly, the clothing industry is also getting into the mix. Consumers are not only demanding organically-grown foods, they want their clothes and other household goods like towels and sheets to be “organic” as well. There are several companies who sell organic t-shirts. But why should you buy these shirts, as opposed to the traditional t-shirts we are all accustomed to purchasing?

There are several reasons why choosing organic t-shirts is a good idea. First of all, it’s good for the planet. Literally, the earth – the ground you walk on – is improved and protected through the cultivation of organically grown cotton. Traditional cotton farming is the one of the most destructive farming practices there is. Cotton farming uses some of the largest amounts of pesticides of any crop–it’s in second place, in fact–and also uses large amounts of both herbicides and insecticides, many of which are known to be cancer-causing. Cotton crops that are grown organically, however, are farmed using sustainable farming practices and help save the earth. For every 100% cotton organic
t-shirt that is produced, 1/3 lb of pesticides and chemicals stay out of the environment. Taking care of the environment by buying and wearing organic t-shirts is an excellent reason to make the switch to organic clothing.

Another reason to buy and wear organic t-shirts is that, in most cases, the manufacture of these clothing items support fair trade. Most of the clothes we wear today are made in sweat shop conditions in poor, third-world countries. These workers are not paid decent wages, and must work long hours in factories that have no labor, environmental, of safety laws. Buying an organic t-shirt, or 3 or 10, helps provide these workers with a decent income, as well as employment and basic services, like healthcare and education.

Comfort is definitely something we look for when choosing clothes to wear. Organic
t-shirts, which are made of 100% organic, natural cotton, are extremely soft and pleasing to the touch. These shirts are typically non-dyed, and come in the natural color of the cotton itself. While you may not want to wear the same color t-shirt every day of the week, adding even one or two of these t-shirts to your wardrobe is one way you can “go green”. If you’re looking for some color in your organic t-shirts, you may decide to choose one that is made from other organically grown crops that may have natural colors besides the pale cream color of a natural cotton shirt. Some companies not only make t-shirts from organically grown cotton; they use other types of materials as well. For example, hemp, tencel, flax, recycled cotton and soda bottles, spandex blends and organic wool (meaning that the sheep and goats are eating grass that has not been treated by any chemicals) are all different materials that are being used to make organic tees.

As you can see, there are many reasons to pick up an organic t-shirt or two over the traditional variety when it’s time to update your wardrobe. Choose an organic t-shirt, and you will not only be helping your fellow man, but the earth itself.