With the possible exception of denim blue jeans, the T-shirt reigns supreme as the most popular and iconic piece of contemporary attire. The T-shirt is a universally popular garment. The majority of Americans own at least ten, and most have a particular favorite of the bunch, this being largely determined by some screen printed design, symbol, phrase, and most importantly, personal taste.
A good T-shirt is something that 27-year-old Dan DeAngelo, a lifetime Maumee native and the area’s latest up-and-coming graphic T-shirt entrepreneur, appreciates.
“I’ve always been a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy,” DeAngelo said, incidentally, he was wearing just such attire. “I hate getting dressed up with a suit and tie, it’s just not my thing. But the idea of throwing on a comfortable T-shirt is just natural and fitting.”
DeAngelo originally founded his first business, Kollective World, in May 2013 with his T-shirt design featuring a sunglass-wearing lion he came to name “Gilfred,” a German name meaning “oath of peace.” The laidback lion concept was conceived around that animal’s association with reggae singer Bob Marley and the Rastafari movement.
“For the first design I did, I wanted something that was hip, cool, and would resonate with a lot of different people,” DeAngelo explained. “I just thought that a hip lion was a cool way of doing that. The lion definitely got its roots from Bob Marley, representing good vibrations. That entire vibe was really what I was going for.”
After selling a few T-shirts for $10 a piece, DeAngelo decided to expand the business, changing the name to “Live the Good Life Clothing Brand,” or LTGL, and introducing new shirt designs with the updated slogan, “Live the Good Life” added. Buoyed by success, DeAngelo, along with his friend and business partner Andy Dybala signed up to have T-shirt booths at three Toledo area summer festivals.
“The first one was the Toledo Art Walk on the Mall [located at The Centennial Mall on UT’s main campus],” DeAngelo said. “This was our first festival and we had no idea of what we were getting into. We sold 45 shirts in about five hours for $600 in revenue.”
Following their initial success, DeAngelo and Dybala operated a T-shirt booth at both the Maumee Uptown Parade and the Toledo Pride Festival, selling increasing numbers of their shirts at each event. Eventually, in October, DeAngelo launched the company’s website, ltglclothingbrand.com, showcasing the company’s “Live the Good Life” merchandise.
DeAngelo plans on keeping the business open to the creativity and artistic talent of others, which he does by soliciting freelance design ideas and concepts from other artists. He stresses the LTGL message is that the brand is all about encouraging customers to break away from the bland corporatism of mainstream clothing companies.
“This not corporate American Eagle, this is not Abercrombie and Fitch,” DeAngelo said. “There, you are buying a corporate marketing message. You can have people in a marketing firm thinking up manipulative tactics to get more people to buy their shirts, or you can live life the way you want to.”
“I get all kinds of personal messages from people with their LTGL shirts on,” DeAngelo continued. “That’s what I enjoy most is people embracing the good life, seeing people tell their own stories or getting pictures from people out doing their thing. You’re telling your own story with LTGL.”
LTGL currently operates online exclusively. Browse selection and order shirts at ltglclothingbrand.com
