The Iowa City Tees store is officially open for business and the first product for sale isn't even related to Iowa City.
We're (soft) launching with a hat celebrating the anti-achievement of last year's Chicago White Sox and their losing-est baseball season of all time! The idea for this hat has been in my head since last fall and I never got around to making one until the notion of creating this store came to me.
I've been a life-long White Sox fan and that really hit a new (low) level with last year's dreadful performance. But I believe being a fan means taking your lumps when your team is down so what better way to own that then by wearing it on your head?
The connection to Iowa City requires an hour and a half road trip up to Dyersville, where of course the famous field from Field of Dreams is located. "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa." You know it. Worth a trip to this day, although parking is $20. You could probably do a better reenactment by walking through the cornfield depending on how you feel about trespassing, but that's a long walk from Dyersville East Road.
In Field of Dreams you'll recall this field was first built to give Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 Chicago White Sox a place to play ball after they were banned for throwing the World Series. That's the connection: two bad White Sox teams and Iowa.
I promise the next products will be Iowa City related! First up will be a shirt (and likely art print) celebrating Pagliai's. Then probably Hamburg Inn No. 2 and the Deadwood. Illustrations of the building façades. Taking requests too. These places have their own official t-shirts you can buy too and you probably should if you love them, because it makes them more money. We're going to send some of the profits their way too, but I haven't worked that all out yet. Honestly the rights are slightly murky for original artwork of public buildings, but this whole shop is a celebration of these special places so they will be paid if we are.
Well Iowa City is an amazing place with some amazing spots within it, including many places to get some great Iowa City t-shirts. This is just one more of those but we hope we have something to contribute to this important community.
Thanks,
-Jeff