Bringing People Together One T-Shirt at a Time

Yet another post inspired by a conversation at our local brewery - https://www.ashtonbrewing.com/ - (regular readers will notice a theme here) regarding a t-shirt that was made as a joke now being a local viral sensation. One of the beertenders, who also has his own custom apparel business - https://decaynj.com/ - made a t-shirt with the likeness of a friend on it. He used the sketch of her face that was featured on a beer can from the brewery she works at - https://www.twinelephant.com/. For those interested, the beer was a pretty good IPA.

That was a little over a year ago and that shirt had not been heard from in a while. It turns out that one of the recipient’s friends pilfered the shirt from her house during a party with a plan in mind. The shirt was passed from friend to friend with each one taking pictures wearing it at various locations. As the “where’s Liz” game continued, pictures started to be seen by people outside this group of friends and critical mass began to form. Almost exactly a year after the original t-shirt appeared, requests and orders came pouring in for t-shirts from those who know the face on the front. The “Liz shirt” had gone viral. Not only that, but it served to introduce 3 strangers to one another. The 3 wore their shirts to the brewery where Liz works and ended up talking and hanging out together; brought together by that simple t-shirt.

Those of us who frequent our local brewery are working with the creator to get a group photo taken with all of us in our shirts. We are hoping to have the real Liz there too, in her own shirt of course.

In a more personal t-shirt story, we met a couple, who are now good friends, thanks to a t-shirt I had made a few years ago by the same guy who made the Liz shirt. Unbeknownst to me, he had made a few extra shirts and had sold them to other regulars at the brewery. I found that out when I sat down at the bar in my shirt and the guy next to me said “I have that same shirt”. That caught me by surprise and started a conversation. That conversation was the beginning of a new friendship, and a couple of trips to the Keys together (we both booked for 2024 before we left Fl this year so look for a post about that trip around March of next year.).

It's amazing what a simple t-shirt can do. A logo – especially of a sports team – or likeness will often spark an initial question or conversation, and for a sports team, may even lead to bonding. Particularly if the interaction occurs while watching that team play at a local watering hole. So let us not underestimate the humble t-shirt. It has the power to bring people together just by being worn.

Below are pictures of the 2 t-shirts:

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com 5-1-2023