The Shirt Shack, a 20-year-old screen-printing shop
in Norco, has been busier than ever since Hurricane Katrina.
Trucking companies, roofing businesses and newly
opened schools are just a few of the clients trying to get signs and
T-shirts printed.
Shelly Henning, a former Miss Teen USA, ordered six
dozen "I (heart) N.O." T-shirts and asked that they be
shipped to New York.
Shirt Shack owner Vic Bourgoyne hasn't intentionally
gone after Katrina-related business, but he's found the market hard to
avoid. T-shirts, hats and even coffee mugs referring to the storm are
in high demand across the region, he said.
At one of the only stores open on Canal Street, a
place simply called Mini-Mart, two racks of hurricane T-shirts adorn
the entrance. Daksha Pathak, a cashier at the store, said the shirts
help draw in out-of-town workers who are living in the city and often
buy more than one. She said about 25 dozen of them have been sold.
Among the most popular, she said, is one that says, "Forget Iraq.
Rebuild at home."
Natural disasters rank with major sporting
competitions and annual community celebrations when it comes to
creating a market for memorial items. And Katrina has been no
different. Some of the items specially printed in Katrina's wake have
functional messages, such as the T-shirts some disaster recovery teams
have designed for their members. Others carry inspirational messages
that urge hope and rebuilding.
People buy shirts for bragging
rights, said Cathy Johnson, who runs a Web site that sells shirts
commemorating every major U.S. storm.
"People want to be able to
say, 'I did it. I was there,' " Johnson said.
Katrina paraphernalia has been
especially popular. Johnson has created more than 50 designs for
Hurricane Katrina, compared with the 30 designs she has done for most
other hurricanes.
"Before (Katrina) went in,
they were standard humorous designs," Johnson said. "And
then they got political. And then they got sympathetic."
A portion of each sale Johnson
makes will go to two charities selected by each customer. Customers
can choose from a list of four charities on Johnson's Web site,
www.dopplerduds.com. Johnson would not say how much the company is
making or has donated.
"We're pleased with what
we're doing," she said. "Obviously, the more we sell, the
more we're donating."
While some commemorative T-shirt operations donate a
portion of their proceeds to charitable causes, others are for-profit
ventures run by entrepreneurs who are out of work because of the
storm.
Leilani Heno is the owner of X-Trainers, a personal
training and fitness business in Mid-City that has been closed since
Katrina hit.
Heno said she was bored without her business, but
the entrepreneur in her wouldn't let her be idle, so she designed and
printed T-shirts to send to her customers and friends as a way to stay
in touch. She had no idea that interest in them would be so great.
Heno ordered 50 shirts that say "I survived Hurricane
Katrina" and include an image of a hurricane. She gave away half
of them and sold the remainder. Now she's ordering more.
Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry, which is based in Baton
Rouge, has designed its own plastic bracelet in the same vein as the
ubiquitous yellow bands created by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
The jeweler's bands are green, yellow and purple and
feature a fleur-de-lis and the words "Relief. Renew.
Rebuild."
The bracelets are complementary, said Tricia Hurdle,
the company's advertising manager, although a $1 donation is
recommended. All of the money collected is donated to the Red Cross.
The company has raised more than $10,000 and has
ordered 10,000 more bracelets, Hurdle said.
Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com
or (504) 826-3494.
