Everyone has a favorite T-shirt. A new local subscription program wants to give people a few more options to add to their wardrobes.
Launched earlier this month, Akron T-Shirt Club is a collaboration between Sabertooth Public Art and Monochrome Canvas. Those who join the club will receive 10 T-shirts – one every five weeks – designed and printed by local artists. Membership costs $250, and people can either pick up their shirts at Bounce Innovation Hub or have them shipped for an additional $7.
Akron T-shirt Club is the brainchild of Marissa McClellan, co-founder of Sabertooth Public Art, and the first project under Sabertooth’s advocacy program. The program launched last year with Joëlle Zellman, founder of Monochrome Canvas, as the inaugural partner.
Through the advocacy program, Sabertooth (which also includes co-founder Elisa Gargarella) assists and supports Zellman in finding new collaborations and networking opportunities. McClellan came up with a list of ideas for Zellman, and the one that stuck was Akron T-shirt Club.
“It kind of ticked all the boxes in terms of collaboration, networking, spotlighting our local artists and all the cool things that they’re doing as individuals, and how that can all come together to be one big cool thing: the Akron T-shirt Club,” McClellan said.
The T-shirts will be printed locally by Micah Kraus of Work Studio Ltd. Kraus said he was drawn to the project because of its accessibility. Acquiring art can be cost-prohibitive for many people. But when that art is on a T-shirt, it becomes much more affordable.
“One of the things that attracts me to this … and any sort of affordable, accessible art is that it starts to create a culture of art and art collecting,” Kraus said. “The idea that through this club we could create cherished items that people wear out in the world and represent Akron’s artists — that’s really exciting.”
Creating art — and T-shirts — for all
The accessibility extends beyond the price point. Members can request a size change at any time – a great option for those who want to gift one (or more) of the shirts. Those who are disabled and unable to pick up their shirts from Bounce can set up free delivery.
McClellan said they plan to do a limited run of each of the shirts to sell individually, as well, but those will cost more.
The club’s first shirt was designed by Zellman and features a cat, pencil in hand, drawing away at a desk. In the background hangs an “Akron T-shirt Club” sign.
“I wanted it to have this DIY or kind of grungy feel,” she said. “I wanted … the first club T-shirt to be something that was like, OK, you’re in the club. And you’re cool if you’re in the club. And then also to be a little bit more in my drawing style, so trying to merge the two.”
Kraus and McClellan will also design shirts. The other artists are Bronlynn Thurman, Phil Guy, Tara Deetscreek, Kim Lavery, Matt Miller, Lizzi Aronhalt, Stephanie Baumberger and Sylvia Sykes.
In choosing the artists, McClellan and Zellman said they selected people they’ve admired for years and have wanted to work with.
“We tried to keep diversity in mind … and also just different styles,” Zellman said. “We didn’t want every T-shirt to look exactly the same.”
In terms of continuing the Akron T-shirt Club past this year, the three are ambivalent.
“We just want to see how it grows,” Zellman said. “It’s just such a good group of really creative people doing really awesome things. And I think that anytime you get people like that together, I think it’s good to keep an open mind. We don’t necessarily need to do T-shirt Club forever. I think it’s good to see how this group of people grows from this experience.”
Akron T-shirt Club sign-ups close Friday, June 14.