Love Everyone on a t-shirt

E is very attached to his old clothes. His attachment is to the point where I have like one or two small bags of stuff I'm saving "for his son". I'm fine with it because it's cute stuff. I have his first little pair of Nike's. His two baby Ed Hardy t-shirts - before Ed Hardy was douchey. A sweatshirt he got his only time in the Hamptons. His favorite hat from his preschool days. There are other random things I can't think of off the top of my head.

At this point, his favorite t-shirt that he likes to wear to his music gigs is on it's way to becoming a belly shirt. It's REALLY soft which is why I think he's so attached to it. It's like that burnout material or something. I found it at a boutique in Asbury Park, on the boardwark, and I'm pretty sure the store itself doesn't exist anymore. I found the brand online but they don't have that particular shirt anymore. More importantly, E likes the message on it- "Love Everyone". I found variations of the shirt, but not THE shirt, with the saying the way he likes it.

He was performing at Garden State Plaza last month as a Finalist in the "Westfield's Got Talent" competition- something the mall was doing partnered with Bergen PAC. He wanted to wear his Love Everyone shirt and was pretty adamant about it. I thought it looked silly but what was I going to do??

I'll tell you what. I just happened to go to T-Mobile in Paramus Park to switch from years of getting ripped off by Verizon Wireless to T-Mobile. My friend Maria said she'd just gone to the T-Mobile there and had a good experience so that's what I did. Lo and behold, as I'm switching, I see a place called "Custom T's" across the way.

I left the mall because I had to be somewhere, but I got E's belly shirt and came back the next day. I figured they wouldn't be able to copy it, but I had to see.

The owner was working that day, and by golly, he DID IT. In mere minutes. He has some program where he can easily find fonts, download them for free, and then just do whatever you want! He copied it perfectly and I had the shirt that day, in minutes!

Now, you might say- yeah, but how often are you going to need that service?? Ok, well, if you have a kid with any kind of OCD or even a husband who doesn't want to give up his Golden Boy (Seinfeld reference), this is a great way to be able to recreate a second item. Or just for a militant toddler (five and under) who only wants to wear the same thing every day, but you don't have access to five more identical shirts!

1st Rockstar Revolution shirt

I've bought E shirts that I wished I bought them in bigger sizes for later- speaking of which.... E had a shirt when he was two years old that I love- it's made by a guy I see at NYC street fairs. The booth is called "Rockstar Revolution". I guess he grew out of it and I was able to buy him a 5-6Y later. He hasn't had that shirt in years. This past Saturday I was in NYC for his acting class and I saw the Rockstar Revolution booth as I was walking around. He had a youth large, which is E's size now, and I bought it. But the guy at the booth said he JUST started making it in the larger sizes, so I wouldn't have even been able to get it from him prior to now. E was very happy to see his old shirt.


My point is that there are definitely times you find yourself wanting your same old shirt but newer. That's the whole reason I even found Poshmark. I was looking for my old favorite pants, just newer than mine. What if you have a cute t-shirt your older kid grew out of and handed it down to their sibling. But you want a photo with the older one and younger one together wearing the same thing? Or you want recreate an old moment or photo with an adult sized version of a kid sized shirt? Think of all the possibilities.

I know this probably isn't what most people are doing with their Custom T's, and definitely not the majority of their business. Being able to just walk in somewhere and do this is just an added bonus. E was very happy with his new version of the Love Everyone t-shirt, because it was green, his favorite color since birth. However, it isn't as soft as E's original shirt because it's just a regular t-shirt. I wasn't prepared. I didn't think of bringing one of his or another soft t-shirt so I just bought one from the store that was there. But you can totally bring your own and have them put something on it.

 

All I know is that Custom T's in Paramus Park saved the day. I don't see an official website, but they do have a Facebook page and are on Yelp.
https://www.facebook.com/customtsparamus/