Wearing catchy t-shirts is one way to show off your school or favorite indie band, but have you thought about giving your regional lakescape some love?
Great Lakes Proud and Great Lakes Shirts can help. Both companies are selling products with an outline of the Great Lakes, emphasizing pride for the whole region instead of an individual state like many other companies do.
Great Lakes Shirts and Great Lakes Proud print apparel and stickers showing off the world's largest freshwater resource. Photo: Timothy Furstnau
There are no logos, no advertisements, no political boundaries. Just water.
“I’ve never experienced any place like it,” said Austin Holsinger, creator of Great Lakes Proud. “The beauty, the sunrises, the sunsets, the fact that it’s this massive body of fresh water. I couldn’t be more proud of what it resembles and what it means.”
Holsinger grew up in Indian River, Mich., a short distance from Lakes Huron and Michigan. After graduating from Hillsdale College in 2010 and working for a short time in San Francisco and Montana, Holsinger returned to Michigan and began working on a new business venture – Great Lakes Proud – selling die-cut stickers with an image of the lakes.
For Timothy Furstnau of Great Lakes Shirts, a business venture wasn’t what he had in mind when he printed the first batch. In 2003, he made some to take to an art fair in Ypsilanti, Mich., and “they sold like hotcakes.” He printed more for the next year’s fair, and had to set up a site to manage backorders when he ran out.
“Originally it was just something I wanted to have for myself,” Furstnau said. “It just sort of snowballed from there.”
It’s not all about selling hip hoodies and bumper stickers with Holsinger and Furstnau. Education, fundraising and community are also part of the deal.
During its beginnings early this year, Holsinger decided to donate at least 10 percent of profits from Great Lakes Proud to various regional organizations like Great Lakes Surf and Rescue Project. People can post ideas of where donations should go on the Great Lakes Proud Facebook page.
He’s also looking into ways to promote conservation education about invasive species and clean water.
“We can’t take for granted the resources we have at any level, or in any way, and I think we do sometimes,” Holsinger said.
Using a familiar picture to help Midwesterners connect is one of Furstnau’s goals with the shirts. He recently heard from people in New York who met and discovered they were both from Michigan (and both knew Furstnau) because one was wearing a Great Lakes Shirt.
“The important part is that they both recognized the shape and struck up a conversation,” Furstnau said.
And if people don’t know what the picture is, Furstnau said wearing a shirt is a perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation about the Lakes.
Although many people associate the shirts with Michigan, Furstnau gets orders from Canada, Illinois, Wisconsin and all around the region.
“A lot of people identify with the Great Lakes, not just Michiganders,” Furstnau said.
Spreading the pride beyond Michigan is one of Holsinger’s goals with Great Lakes Proud. This summer, 40 retailers from Mackinac Island to Grand Haven sold stickers and stickers are available online. Holsinger hopes to expand to other states in the basin, and design bigger stickers in more colors. He also plans to move into apparel with the same logo, but stickers will always be his “bread and butter.”
Furstnau continues to change his business by adding new shirt colors and apparal options like hooded sweatshirts and baby onesies, all with the same design.
“I suppose if some earthquake or global warming or something changed the shape of the lakes I might have to re-design the shirt,” Furstnau said.
Furstnau now resides in Seattle with his wife, but plans on moving back to the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area, where the shirts are printed. He is an artist by trade, not a shirt salesman.
“It’s more for the project than for the money,” Furstnau said.
But while he’s in Seattle, he takes pleasure in describing the Great Lakes to people who have never been there.
“Imagine a freshwater lake that’s so big it looks like an ocean,” Furstnau said. “You remember what a special thing that is.”