T-shirts can convey messages about style, politics and allegiances to bands and teams. Sometimes, though, the message can be as simple as an intense love of cats.
Rachal Chisholm, a junior at USF St. Petersburg, owns her own graphic tee and shirt making company, which features a whole line of cat-themed T-shirts, and a number of other humorous designs. They range from “The Office” character Dwight Schrute in cat form to “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” references.
Chisholm, 21, said she has loved “graphic tees” since high school. In her senior year she was shopping for them so much that she started to wonder how hard it would be to make her own.
One small investment from her mother later, and Chisholm had enough basic equipment to start production. The first shirt making method she tried was “direct to garment,” where an image is printed straight onto a garment with a special printer. Chisholm said she quickly found out the method was strenuous and expensive, and the shirt designs eventually came off in the wash.
From there, she switched to screen printing, where images are inked onto a mesh screen and pressed on to shirts, and transfer printing, where images are printed onto transparent paper and applied to the shirt with heat. Between the two methods, Chisholm was able to make shirts she was happy with. In 2011, she decided to see if other people would like them too.
“The name Threadish came about through joking with friends. I wanted something short and catchy,” Chisholm said.
Since opening, Chisholm said Threadish has had its ups and downs. She got some business online through her website and the online marketplace Etsy, but most of it came in the form of large orders for T-shirts for local organizations.
Chisholm said that even when she is filling a specific order, there is still a lot of room to be creative. Chisholm draws designs by hand on a tablet before editing them further on a computer.
“They tell me what their ideas are and I go from there,” Chisholm said. “It’s pretty much all my artwork.”
At the beginning of 2013, business was slow. Chisholm decided to take a hiatus to focus on school. Then towards the end of the year her friend and classmate Chris Carpentier posted about her business on the USFSP Know-It-All-Guide, the school’s semi-official Facebook forum, and a slew of new requests followed — mostly from clubs on campus like the Live Music Collective.
Now Chisholm, an Information and Decision Sciences major, is taking all online classes this semester to focus on the increased demand at Threadish.
“Computers are my backup,” Chisholm said. “Making shirts lets me be a lot more creative.”
Carpentier, who is also a former president of the Entrepreneurship Club, said, “I’m a big fan of student entrepreneurs as a member of the USFSP Entrepreneurship club. I had been in at least one class with her for four semesters in a row and had no idea she was running an online T-shirt store of her own designs until two months ago. Having a USFSP student entrepreneur be able to supply the demand of clubs and organizations have for shirts is absolutely invaluable.”
Right now, Chisholm runs the company completely out of her Seminole home with the help of her mother, whom she calls her “partner in crime.” However, Chisholm said she would consider opening a shop if business continues to grow.
She is also interested in having other artists contribute to her line of graphic tees.
“So far I haven’t gotten any bites yet,” Chisholm said.
At the beginning of April, Chisholm will travel to Orlando for the Imprinted Sportswear Show — a trade show for shirt artisans of all kinds. There T-shirt makers trade ideas, learn new techniques and explore the latest technology.
“Just about any way that you can print on a T-shirt, you will see it there,” Chisholm said. She said she hopes to look into laser printing equipment for Threadish.
To see the full line of Threadish graphic shirts, visit threadish.com.
