Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Why watch it when you can wear it?


My years of hard work toward finding an Internet t-shirt shop that fits my senselessly picky and narrow taste has finally paid off: presenting FoundItemClothing.com. Sitting here in my Senor Pizza t-shirt from Lover Boy, I just feel so complete that I had to spread the news. For you see, Found Item Clothing sells t-shirt designs that were worn by characters in movies.

"Wait, does that mean I can buy Cameron's Caduceus shirt from Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Yup. "What about the 'Surf Nicaragua' shirt from Real Genius?" Yup. "Did you ever see the Get a Life episode where Chris Elliot goes to Handsome Boy Modeling School?" No, but they have.

And best of all, the company's founder shares his first name and hometown with me -- so I feel kind of obligated to point people in his direction. What scares me is that Adam's been in business for only a short time, so there's bound to be many more awesome designs coming down the pipeline (my short dream list would include Jack Burton's shirt from Big Trouble in Little China, and one with the logo of the burger place in Fast Food -- in both cases, only for their sheer obnoxiousness and obscurity).

And because I was so delighted to find Found Item Clothing, I figured I would have a few quick words with its founder:

DVD PANACHE: Reading your "about" section, you got into this initially as a way to get a Real Genius shirt for yourself, at what point did you see the potential for your own business?
FOUND ITEM CLOTHING: It was a slow process. Since there was no other way of getting my I love Toxic Waste shirt fix than to print my own, I had to do a minimum run of 25 to work with the printer I wanted. It was pretty slow for the first couple months, but I did sell enough shirts to make my money back. Then people started requesting shirts from other movies, and I started noticing a lot more shirts in movies too. I figured that if I could get to make my own shirts to wear and be able to cover my costs, that would be awesome. Then over the course of the last two years, the catalog of shirts has grown, and we've started to make a little money, but Ihaven't quit my day job yet...

DVD PANACHE: What are some other designs you're considering?
FOUND ITEM CLOTHING:
Well, the end of this week will be "Stephen King Rules" from Monster Squad. Then in a couple weeks will be Booger's "High on Stress" shirt from Revenge of the Nerds. In November, we've got stuff form Rushmore and Roadhouse, and probably one more, but I haven't decided yet.

DVD PANACHE: I'm hoping to strike up a Loverboy conversation because of my shirt, do you find many strangers recognizing where your designs are from?
FOUND ITEM CLOTHING: Sadly, not that often. Maybe a couple times a year. The kids these days just have no appreciation for culture..

DVD PANACHE: Any chance I can get a matching Senor Pizza hat and fake mustache?
FOUND ITEM CLOTHING: Hmmm...I hadn't thought about it, but that would make an awesome Halloween costume. I've already got this year's stuff together for the new costume guide, but maybe next year.

(P.S. -- for skeptical mothers out there, the shirts are top notch quality as well, it doesn't fit me like a belly shirt or a flag like many other places out there).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome shop! Love the Bushwood CC and Charlestown Chiefs t-shirts.