KTJ, wanna buy this shirt

[AggieJohn]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/cartwrighteousness/sawemoff.jpg

[KTJ]

Nah, I'm the type of person who would rather support his own university than spend a lifetime making fun of another.

But the guy who started that t-shirt company is a UT grad and I actually saw one of those shirts (saw the legs off) at the UT/A&M game this year.

[AggieJohn]

i thought it was funny

[panther power]

Nick Schroeder, a UT graduate and president of Rivalwear.com, displays two T-shirts that are for sale through his Web site. Schroeder´s shirts provide students and fans a way to express their school spirit and make fun of other colleges. The shirts favor UT and single out Texas A&M University and University of Oklahoma. They sell for $12.



T-shirts reading "You Can't Spell 'Cousin' without 'OU'" and "Saw 'Em Off" are slowly making their way around campus and more people are wondering where they can find this rival wear.

The University Co-op doesn't sell them and neither does any other retail market.

Small business owner Nick Schroeder, who graduated from UT in 2004, came up with the idea for the T-shirts when he made a shirt that said "Saw 'Em Off" and wore it to the A&M game last November. He has since developed the company (Rivalwear.com) and said he is making a profit out of his humor.

"People around me thought it was really funny and kept asking me where I got my shirt," Schroeder said. "Some even wanted to buy it off of me."

The constant inquiries and compliments on his shirt gave Schroeder a "reason to make more." It did not take long for the former mechanical engineering student to get started on his newest endeavor, T-shirt making.

With the help of his roommate, Adam Massman, a senior psychology major and some friends who "are always looking for ways to make money," Schroeder said he felt this was the business he could "jump into."

He said he took the "logial step and asked around town" trying to find different vendors who would sell his merchandise but not "take advantage" of the product and that he was fresh out of college selling T-shirts.

Since Rivalwear is not sponsored by the University, the University Co-op is not authorized to sell the product. In a statement, George Mitchell, the University Co-op president, said that "none of our buyers have a record of this company asking to sell merchandise at the Co-op."

In the past, Schroeder said he tried to come up with a variety of other companies but each proved less than successful.

"It seems like everyone I know has an idea for a business, especially a T-shirt company," he said, "but they never actually do it. They often don't follow through with it simply because it's not important to them or they don't have the time or energy to mess with it."

Rivalwear.com currently sells five varieties of shirts and is launching three other designs. The updated Web site only sells rival wear pertaining to UT with banter against Texas A&M University and University of Oklahoma, but Schroeder said he hopes to expand to rival schools around the nation while keeping the company solely an online business.

"These are the funniest UT shirts you will find anywhere, and they don't even say UT on them," Schroeder said.

Legal matters, copyright infringements and talking to local retailers did not discourage Schroeder from developing T-shirts. According to him, it is against copyright laws to put the name of the school on the shirt, but Schroeder found a way around that.

"The word 'Sooner' is not trademarked by anyone, it's the word 'Sooners' that I can't use," he said.

A single letter can make the difference, and Schroeder said nothing is worth getting involved in a lawsuit for changing one letter. One strategy Schroeder relies on is the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, where he searches for different phrases to see if he can legally use them.

"People have been loving and hating my witty humor for years," Schroeder said. "So why not take it to the next level? Love and hate is what rivalries are all about, right?"

[panther power]

These guys shirts are pretty cool, he also has one that says you cant spell cousin without OU, check out his site at www.rivalwear.com

[lepfan]

Originally posted by panther power
These guys shirts are pretty cool, he also has one that says you cant spell cousin without OU, check out his site at www.rivalwear.com

I have seen some pretty clever ones from the other side of the fence...or should I say river. ;)