|
SMARTY PANTS
Madalyn Hoerr
Chitown Clothing
If you've been seeing wittily unique t-shirts supporting Chicago culture and sports teams lately, chances are they are from Wrigleyville's newest clothing company, Chitown Clothing. Sara Kmiecik, a freelance writer, and Kevin Kasarski, interior designer with sales, both 25, launched their retail site, www.chitownclothing.com, in early May and have already received worthy praise of their designs and quality. Sitting in her quaint Wrigleyville apartment, where business is usually held, Kmiecik was eager to tell the stories her t-shirts couldn't.
What inspired you to create Chitown Clothing?
We just decided to do it randomly. He went to school for graphic design for a while, but he actually ended up majoring in fine art. I went to school for journalism, but I am now a writer; and I do internet marketing. Basically, we knew his dad owned a screen printing company, so why don't we just combine forces here. He can do the designs. I can do the internet marketing for it, and his dad will make the shirts. It's just a good business. I live in Wrigleyville, so we see Chicago sports shirts everywhere. They're always very traditional. We wanted to put a more unique spin on it. We didn't want to do just the norm. We didn't want to make another Lou Piniella shirt. We decided to do kind of on the humorous side, but also just different shirts that haven't been seen before.
How many designs did you come up with before starting the business?
We were just like, “Okay, we're going to start this t-shirt company,” and sat around one night and came up with a ton of of them. I think we started with ten. Some got voted out; some made it to the site.
Did you worry that going in to business with your boyfriend would be too much on the relationship or were you happy to work together?
We're pretty close. I didn't really think about it beforehand, but, no, it has actually worked out very, very well. He's more of the design aspect of it, and I'm doing the everyday business things. I'm very happy with it.
Are you both from Chicago?
He's from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago in Island Lake. I am from Cleveland originally.
Do you feel like you're kind of lying making shirts for Chicagoans when you're not a true Chicagoan?
I've been here for three years, so I think I am getting to the point I can kind of consider myself a Chicagoan, but in some cases that is true because we do have the LeBron James shirt on there. It took weeks for me to agree to put it on there because I am a true Cavs fan. We want to appeal to everyone in Chicago, and a lot of people here want him to come.
What do you think would happen to Chicago, both with sports and the city in general, if LeBron came?
I really don't know. I know that Chicago was a huge basketball town when Michael Jordan was here, but it kind of seems to be under the radar lately. It seems like he would definitely bring it back to the forefront. As much as I hate to say it, I think it would be really exciting if he would come. It is pretty mixed with the people I talk to. Some people want him to come; some don't.
Do you offer anything that tourists and visitors may be interested in, or are you targeting true Chicago-people?
I think some tourists and visitors will like our shirts. If they know anything about Chicago, if they know anything about Ditka, one shirt says “Ditka vs. God,” and that was brought on by Saturday Night Live. People know that. We do have a Chicago flag shirt on our site, but it has musical notes; so it's a little different design. It's not just for people who are in the city.
Has Kevin designed any shirt you knew there was no way it would make it on the site?
There was one design we really liked that we want to get back up. I think it might have been a little too complex for people. It was the Cubs “Fanology” Chart. It was like a phrenology chart, with the different aspects of the brain. Inside the brain it had all these different things for a Cubs fan. In the back of the mind was Steve Bartman, the curse of the Billy Goat, bad things like that. In the center was history, like Harry Caray, Bleacher Bums. The front was, “We'll win next year.” I think it was a great idea, but if people didn't know what a phrenology chart was, they wouldn't get it.
Do you guys have more good ideas produced in designs or more bad ideas?
We kind of come up with the ideas randomly. A few friends will make suggestions for the site, like the Duncan Keith Toothless one. Everyone was like, “You gotta' get that one up there.” It's like I was saying earlier how we don't just have the traditional people up there. We have Joakim Noah because he has a very distinct, kind of weird face. We've had a few ideas that haven't really panned out, but for the most part, they've all been pretty well-received.
How many shirts do you have to sell in one design to consider it a success?
We didn't really go into it with any expectations like that. If we think a design is cool, we'll put it up and see where it goes. We really like the Stanley Cup one, and that's been a big hit. We don't have any expectations of numbers or anything like that. We just started, so we're seeing where we go with it.
Which shirt is the most popular?
Right now it's the Stanley Cup, but before that Coach Q was actually really popular.
Are the shirts pre-made or do you have them custom-made for each order?
We have a lot that are stocked, and we'll send them out. The screen printing company is in the suburbs, so we just go out there when we need a new stock. That's what I was doing earlier today actually.
Have you had any requests for a custom fit?
Yeah, actually. A few weeks ago my friend asked me—her brother has just had twin babies—if they could get onesies for them.
What's the best compliment you've received on one of your shirts?
A guy e-mailed me yesterday and said, “Your quality and design are so great. I just love these shirts,” and ordered another one for his dad right after that. He really liked it. That was great to hear.
You guys have a lot of Cubs stuff. Are you tackling the Sox in the future?
That's a good question. We did have one Sox up there, but it was not selling. What I think we're going to do next is a Chicago flag with faces of all four championship coaches. There are more than four coaches, but we're going to do Coach Quenneville, Ditka, Phil Jackson for the Bulls and Ozzie Guillen for the White Sox. We'll have that, and that'll appeal to everyone. It's mainly because I live in Wrigleyville, and he's a Cubs fan; so we've kind of made everything a little more Cubs-oriented. We're not exclusive to that at all, though.
What strategies have you used to get your products known?
The big ones have been Facebook and Twitter, social media sources. That's been a huge one for us. We got on Thrillist. That helped a lot, too. From Thrillist, we actually did an event downtown at District Bar. It was a fashion-show event where we had our shirts displayed. Hopefully we will be doing that more. We're also going to eventually start selling our shirts out in front of Wrigley Field and other sporting events.
When you go to games at Wrigley do you make sure to wear your shirts?
Oh yeah! I'm actually putting pictures up today. We went to the Cubs/Sox game wearing our shirts. I was at the Oldtown Art Fair wearing the Marlon Byrd shirt, and a guy comes up to us like, “Oh my God, I didn't know anyone else made those shirts.” He was a designer, I guess, and he made one that was slightly different with just the head of Marlon on top of the body of a bird.
Do you guys have any promos going on for anyone interested in buying a shirt?
Yeah. We've sent out e-mail blasts and things like that with different promo codes. We've mostly just done percentages off, usually 10 or 15. Right after the Blackhawks won we sent out an e-mail for 15% off your next order.
Your slogan is “Unique Chicago-related shirts that deal with sports, movies and, of course, Abraham Lincoln.” Which do you personally like more?
I'm probably the movies, but my boyfriend is definitely the sports...It's summer in Chicago and with the Blackhawks; Chicago is a sports town. I think that's why it appeals to a lot of people. I think we are going to do a few more movie ones coming up. We talked about doing some takes on Ferris Bueller and maybe around Christmas doing some takes on Home Alone.
I personally vote for more Lincoln.
Actually we're probably going to put it up today or tomorrow: a Casimir Pulaski one with his face because his face is pretty interesting looking.
No one I've met outside of Illinois knows who he is.
I had no idea who he was until I moved here. Everybody here knows who he is. When I first started dating Kevin he mentioned Casimir Pulaski Day, and I was like, “What is that?!”
|
