The Story

It Started in a Store

I was browsing a store one day during the height of the graphic tee era when something clicked. All around me were shirts making statements — bold words, powerful messages, striking art. And I noticed something: no matter what was on the shirt, people couldn't help but look. They were drawn in. Compelled to read. Compelled to engage.

That got me thinking. What actually makes people pay attention — the words, the art, the design? And then a bigger question: what if the shirt itself required a physical interaction just to be read? What if the message was designed to make people move?

The answer was a circle. Put the words in a circle, and suddenly reading the shirt isn't passive — it requires you to tilt your head, rotate, engage. The shirt demands attention in a way nothing else does.

My first shirt was I Am Not Your Negro. The first time I wore it out, heads were turning and rotating all day. Hypothesis confirmed. Need The Tee was born.