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Designer "T" - Designer T |
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Written by Erin Frustaci
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Wednesday, 20 September 2006 |
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Page 1 of 5
 He may not be a Versace or Armani, but Matt Schreiber is part of the biggest trend to ever hit the runway.
The 23-year-old of Fort Collins is a T-shirt designer. His slogan — This is like, designer shit here.
“I some how feel like it’s an identity crisis,” he said. “Am I a fashion designer or just making T-shirts?”
But the truth of the matter is, T-shirts are a fashion form that never go out of style. Made for the young and old — in white, in colors, simply plain, or decked out with words and designs — all are an American classic.
 Schreiber’s modest company, Daily Routine, officially started in his home in January 2005, after he graduated from Colorado State University, where he studied graphic design. His funky designs are sold for $32 in Fort Collins boutiques including Kansas City Kitty, Start the Press, Skateboard Market and Buffalo Exchange.
“It’s nothing to live off of,” he said. “I do make some money, but nothing too exciting.”
To pay the bills, Schreiber works at Go West T-shirt Company, where he is able to print his screen print deigns. In addition to the Fort Collin’s Market, he also has shirts in three shops in Denver, two in Colorado Springs and two in California.
“I don’t know anything about business, I just had to put myself out there,” Schreiber said. And with the growing popularity of T-shirt boutiques, it wasn’t a bad choice.
Trista Price, co-owner of Kansas City Kitty, said people are looking for something that is unusual and not mass produced.
“People want something a bit unique,” she said. “I think T-shirts say who you are. They are comfortable and easy and always different.”
She takes old T-shirts and recycles them by adding lace, buttons and fabrics. The revamped shirts are such a hit that she can’t make them fast enough.
“They are so easy,” Schreiber said. “Just throw on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. It’s a staple, I guess.”
And with fast-pace technology, the process of making and selling T-shirts has only gotten easier. Jason Cope, owner of Start The Press, a T-shirt silk screen shop in Fort Collins, generates business all around the country because of the Internet.
“I have shipped orders all the way to Italy and France,” he said.
Though he mainly does T-shirt orders, Cope has been known to screen print more bizarre items, like toilet seat covers.
Burt Nunelee, owner of Burt’s Shirts in Fort Collins, agrees that computers have revolutionized the screen printing business.
“You can virtually do the whole thing online these days,” he said.
Nunelee and his wife Mary Good have been in the business for about 25 years and have seen many changes in the industry, both in the process and in styles.
Angie Ward, a salesperson at Burts, said right now fitted light-weight T-shirts are popular for both men and women.
“We are really moving away from larger shirts,” she said. “We are also seeing a lot more metallics on screen printing. A person could come in with any idea and we could create it for them.”
Or, a person can always leave the creating to the pros like Schreiber.
Though his designing is limited to T-shirts right now, he hopes to eventually expand and actually make all of his shirts instead of just designing the screen prints. He is letting life take him wherever it’s going to take him and is just along for the ride, he said. So, for now he finds satisfaction woven within the shirt of choice — the T-shirt.
“It’s not just a T-shirt, it’s art — an expression,” he said.
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