In The New York Times Magazine: Destee Nation T’s
The Indie Look
T-shirts celebrating little-guy capitalism — or at least the idea of it.
This week in Consumed, a look at a company that sells T-shirts that at first glance look as though they advertise long-lost, or possibly imaginary, places and businesses. Actually, they’re all real.
Destee Nation is not selling nostalgia or hipster kitsch but romance — the romance of the American small business, the neighborhood diner, the old bar, the mom-and-pop shop that has managed to linger into the era of big-box chains. It celebrates little-guy capitalism with an agenda: “Let’s keep it,” the founder says, noting that every time Destee Nation sells a T-shirt, the business it advertises gets a cut.
Founded in 2004, the company now has 21 employees and sales approaching 10,000 T-shirts a month, and this month will begin distributing through a number of Nordstrom locations. “Basically,” the founder says, “we’re using fashion as a way to save local landmarks.”
Read the column in the June 15, 2008, issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.
Special thanks to Dan W.
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