T-shirt makers trying to spiff up cities

Tag : Shirt Cotton

As Jeff Vines pulls down the iron on the heatpress in his small studio here, he is trying something far granderthan simply searing another image onto another T-shirt. The machinehisses, Vines opens it and sizes up his handiwork: a cotton weaponin his quest to revive his long-challenged city.
The St. Louis-themed shirts that Jeff Vines and his identical twin,Randy, make are not for tourists. They sport neighborhoodreferences and inside jokes. Some easily offend, displayingprofanity and raunchy innuendo. But to the Vines brothers, theiredginess is part of their mission for St. Louis to rehabilitate itsimage from the inside out and, ultimately, to make futuregenerations want to stay.
The Vines brothers, 30, are not alone in their effort. In citiessuch as Detroit and Youngstown, Ohio, damaged by the decline inmanufacturing and decades of population loss, entrepreneurs intheir 20s and 30s are pushing back with the simple stuff ofT-shirts, tote bags and soap.
These T-shirt makers know, of course, that their merchandise willnot cure the deep-seated problems of their cities. But they seethem as one way to fight against powerful stereotypes, and considerthem more authentic than city officials' public-relationscampaigns.
Mark-Evan Blackman, chairman of menswear design at the FashionInstitute of Technology in New York, said T-shirts can have aprofound effect on social change, and that these shirts should notbe underestimated.
"It's saying we're cool, we're here," Blackman said. "We've notjumped out of the boat, this city is cool and we're making itcooler, and look at us."