Guest Post: It's more than a T-Shirt

Before I left for college two years ago, I snooped through my dad's closet to find his most worn out shirt. My older brother's closet fell victim to my stealing ways shortly after. I didn't do this because I really needed anything or was short on clothes (trust me, I'm just as guilty as the next person for hoarding 5k/10k t-shirts throughout the years). I did this because I wanted the shirts that had been worn down to the softness that only time can bring. Well, that and they also smelled like the family I was about to leave 1,000 miles behind.

Fast forward a couple years and you'd find me sifting through the Third Coast Surf Shop selection of shop shirts for our models to promote in front of the camera lens. As I unfolded and matched the sizes to my dad's tall, lanky figure, my fingers felt a familiar touch. I was taken back to that rainy Sunday night that I cried as I made a mess of the upstairs closet in my dad's room. The material felt like the shirt crumpled in my hands when I grasped hold of my brother as I hugged him goodbye. North Carolina was pulling me back for the spring semester yet again. I hated the goodbyes that followed the hellos of winter break, and I needed a piece of Michigan to take with me. Hence, a stealing college student, robbing her family of comfy shirts for her own happiness.

The softness of our new TCSS shirts brought back these memories while I took picture after picture of our models in the new pieces of clothing. Without spending too much on a vintage shirt or rummaging through secondhand shops, we have multiple new options for that 'broken-in' feeling for a low cost of $20. The variety of artwork on each shirt, printed in California, provides a never ending style that can be paired with jeans, athletic attire, swimsuits, skirts, shorts, and (here in Michigan) snow pants. By purchasing these lightweight shirts, you can support your local shop and promote a thriving brand that we believe will only grow in years to come.

Our shop shirts are not just some old cotton/polyester thing to be forgotten. They are stories waiting to be told and a conversation waiting to be had when you travel (to the first coast or second coast or anywhere in between or beyond). You are paying for utility. You are paying for a legacy. These shirts are not like a Fleetwood Mac shirt you paid $50 for at a concert to only wear once before it collects dust in the bottom drawer. TCSS provides shirts that want to be stolen by your children ten, twenty years from now when they are on their way to college, or even when your spouse is seeking a vintage look to accompany their new hipster fashion statement. These shirts are memories from the past, being made right now, and waiting to come. They represent what we are doing here on the third coast. Fashions are cyclical. Be part of the first wave of the trend that is The Third Coast; years from now, you'll be glad you did.