It started with an idea...

By Pete Barkelew, developer

The concept for these original cartoon T-shirts started with a visit from my daughter in the bathroom...

No, it wasn't embarrassing... it was inspiring. I was looking in the mirror at a T-shirt I was wearing at the time, with the lettering of "Athens" across the front, a shirt I designed to help raise funds for our local battered women and children's shelter. I wondered where else I had used that same scripted logo of "Athens," and I remembered it was the top-center title of my local cartoon map of Athens (see map below). At the exact same time, I was looking at the back of my daughter's T-shirt (as she was admiring her new hair cut in the mirror behind me). She was wearing a popular Tee that has been around Athens for over 10 years, probably the #1 selling Tee outside of some hot Georgia Bulldog T-shirts (our hometown college football team). It was called "Athens Night Lights," and it features matchbook covers all over the back with logos of local bars and night spots (considered R-Rated). Click left image (above) on the right side, or click here for a larger view. Several years later, after the 'Night Lights' T-shirt sold 1000s, another company came out with "Athens Night Caps" (see right image, on the right above - or click here for larger view).

It dawned on me, looking at the Night Lights Tee, that those matchbook images where about the same size as my Athens Cartoon Map Ads... and I could use those in a montage for a very 'neat' design. Thus, the "Athens Cartoon T-shirt" was born!

The response was incredible! Not only ad sales, for the back montage design, but the excitement of advertisers to sell the shirts as well. Then, when other stores started calling to sell these Tees, I went to my local Wal-Mart and found them to be helpful in getting them into their stores, and perhaps nationwide someday. So... I decided to put together "TownTshirts" and TownTshirts.com... to help other map owners, AND THEIR TOWNS, produce a similar souvenir T-shirt... so their citizens and visitors could wear them proudly, wherever they go.

Click here to
SEE ALL THREE
Athens souvenir
T-shirts"...
side-by-side...
to compare looks!

These are photos
of actual printed
Athens T-shirts.


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