As many students scramble for jobs in an increasingly competitive market, third-year Engineering student Joe McGrath and third-year College student Stewart Fortier have created their own. Both Virginia Beach natives, McGrath and Fortier began their own T-shirt printing business in 2010 as a way to supplement tedious summer jobs.
The third years got the idea for 14th Street T-shirts from a friend in high school who worked with screen printing and was willing to sell them his equipment.
Originally, the duo planned to start a company that catered to the demands of University students. McGrath and Fortier recognized that numerous groups on Grounds make T-shirts for their events, and there likely would be a demand for a cheaper, local printer.
"All these organizations went through local screen printers," Fortier said. "We figured we could become the go-to company for custom apparel."
The students eventually realized that the high demand for shirts could make the endeavor daunting for full-time students, and that a more focused goal would benefit their company.
"We decided it would be more economically profitable to make one shirt that had the same print on it," McGrath said. He added that they knew they could generate high demand for a Virginia Beach T-shirt and would have a more solid customer base than if they had to keep looking for different student groups in Charlottesville.
When McGrath and Fortier began their venture in the summer of 2010, they were printing in a shed in Fortier's backyard, with a fairly rudimentary design. Initially they planned to sell to just friends, but once they posted the shirts to Facebook, their business took off.
Fortier said they received between 700 and 800 orders on their Facebook wall requesting specific sizes and colors. The partners decided to print just enough to respond to the increased demand. Fortier said though they started with more shirts, they eventually sold about 500 because they made a number of errors when adjusting to their printing gear. The shirts quickly sold out as people responded to their local appeal.
"We envisioned a shirt that would be cool for locals to have," Fortier said, explaining that their design included Virginia Beach icons like the Neptune statue on the boardwalk and the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse.
McGrath agreed and said that local pride is one the biggest selling points for their shirts, especially for college students who are nostalgic for home. It has even become a way for fellow Virginia Beach natives to identify each other.
"Kids from the beach are kind of a minority," McGrath said. "A beach town is a different culture and kids like to connect with people from the same culture."
After the success of their first endeavor, Fortier and McGrath decided to raise the bar for their 2011 T-shirts. To meet the high demand, they contracted printing to another company and turned to an old friend for a professional design.
They hired fellow Sigma Chi brother, Miles Morin, to help them come up with a new look. Morin, a 2011 graduate of the College, now runs Collegiate Art, a company that sells oil paintings of college icons to university bookstores. Morin had both the artistic talent and the experience for the job, as he had designed several popular T-shirts for his fraternity.
"I put together the view and colors I thought would be best," Morin said, adding that he brought to life his idea of Neptune as an aging surfer dude.
Morin, also from Virginia Beach, kept the local appeal in mind with his design and said the shirt was intended for locals - not tourists.
"We want to keep it a locals only shirt," Fortier said. "If someone from out of town bought the shirt, I'd consider it a compliment, but they wouldn't understand the subtleties of it."
Now that school has started, hype about the VB T-shirt has died down as both McGrath and Fortier have turned their attention to their studies. But once summer comes, they plan to start again with a new design featuring similar themes.
Fortier said their success shows the kinds of things student entrepreneurs are capable of.
"You just have to have the willpower to take action and you can create a great thing," he said.
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