Turning to T-Shirts to Spiff Up Downtrodden Cities
By CATRIN EINHORN
ST. LOUIS — As Jeff Vines pulls down the iron on the heat press in his small studio here, he is trying something far grander than simply searing another image onto another T-shirt. The machine hisses, Mr. Vines opens it and sizes up his handiwork: a cotton weapon in his quest to revive his long-challenged city.
The St. Louis-themed shirts that Jeff Vines and his identical twin, Randy, make are not for tourists. They sport neighborhood references and inside jokes unintelligible to those not from here. Some easily offend, displaying profanity and raunchy innuendo. But to the Vines brothers, their edginess is part of their mission for St. Louis — a place many of their friends from high school fled — to rehabilitate its image from the inside out and, ultimately, to make future generations want to stay.
“You have to get the people who live there to be the best advocates for the city, or else you don’t really have much,” Randy Vines said. “So you need to change the psyche and change the way they see their own city.”
The Vines brothers, 30, are not alone in their effort. In cities like Youngstown, Ohio, and Detroit, damaged by the decline in manufacturing and decades of population loss, entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s are pushing back with the simple stuff of T-shirts, tote bags and soap. Faced with condescending attitudes from outsiders and grumbling from many locals, they are determined to peddle in pride, and hope to convert others in the process.
“It’s reframing the identity of these places that have been misrepresented,” said Abby Wilson, a co-founder of the Great Lakes Urban Exchange, a new group dedicated to bringing post-baby boomers together to work for the health of postindustrial cities in the Great Lakes region.
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P6, Cut my hometown, STL,
P6,
Cut my hometown, STL, some slack. (-:
With the recent sale of Anheuser Busch, the city just lost its primary identity. You should read some of the hand wringing going on on some of the local boards. Utterly fascinating.
It's amazing how much folk are vested in 'civic pride'.
That's what happens when
That's what happens when you're of it but not in it.
Well, looks like Anheuser
Well, looks like Anheuser Busch isn't leaving town for a while.
Classic STL sentiment....
Link
"Meanwhile, Ray Schmidt took pictures of the words "Anheuser Busch" spelled in script lettering on the brewery's wall. He snapped photos his wife asked for of the flags that fluttered over the visitors center courtyard. He didn't have a lens with a wide enough angle for the shot they really wanted — one that took in the whole brewery.
"I just wanted to see it again," said Schmidt, 68, a lifelong St. Louisan who lives in Ballwin. He wore a Cardinals polo shirt. "There will be changes. I hope it will be positive."
His wife, Margie, wasn't so sure.
"What changes have helped St. Louis lately," she said. "You have to be pessimistic. What will become of the Clydesdales?"
Her husband said he doubted the new owners would do anything to damage the brand or the company.
"We just want something to remain American," Margie Schmidt said. "Where is this all headed? Are we going to wake up someday and it's all owned by someone else?"
Her husband offered the final word: "It's business."
Y'know, it's interesting
Y'know, it's interesting that after the end of World War II American and their leaders thought that our dominance of the world would go on and on. Nothing lasts forever. The nativists among us are going to continue freaking out about this sale. Just wait until the new owners propose moving the Cardinals to Venezuela.