Monday, March 31, 2008

Down the shore with...Devin Haggerty

I'm a t-shirt person. I'm on a mission to find one vintage t-shirt of every shore town in my book (more on that later), and given that I work from home I'm always looking for cool t-shirts to wear to 'work.'

The gentlemen at www.dirtyjerseys.com are happy to oblige with shirts about the great garden state. Some are specifically about the shore (though all are not PG, so check the website for all the Dirty Jersey designs), so I asked Devin Haggerty to be part of our series.

1. What do you consider 'your' shore town and why?
There are actually two shore towns that are dear to our hearts, Belmar and Long Beach Island. We love Belmar because it's where we vacationed with our families during the summer. We spent hours at the beach, put up terrible numbers playing mini golf on the boardwalk and of course lost most of our allowance money at the late "Belmar Playland." Belmar also became important to us as we got older and discovered the wonders of Bar Anticipation.

Now that we're mature adults, a point up for debate of course, we have come to love LBI. LBI is has great beaches, great waves, and most importantly great Jersey folks that constantly remind us why we love the shore.

2. Most people go to the Jersey shore just to eat. Any recommendations?
Tough question. Pete and Elda's in Neptune City has by far the best thin crust pizza in NJ and quite possibly the world. On the other hand, one can never go wrong at the Ming Dynasty Buffet in Manahawkin where they offer everything from crab legs, to sushi, to unlimited soft serve ice cream.

3. Where did the idea of Dirty Jerseys come from?
The idea to start a T-shirt company actually originated on a long car ride back from Penn State after a night of desperately trying to recapture our youth. Tired and feeling less than perfect, we decided to pass the time by thinking of silly t-shirt slogans. After writing down about 20 or 30 ideas on the back of a Taco Bell napkin a business was born. I could be wrong, but I believe the story behind Microsoft is quite similar.

4. How do you come up with shirt concepts and designs?
We really just try to come up with things that New Jersey residents can relate to...especially if it is something that differentiates NJ from other states. A lot of times we are just sitting around joking and an idea accidentally gets blurted out. Some ideas are decent, but most are tossed aside. Other than that, we seek advice from friends and anyone on our email distribution list. If someone submits an idea that gets made into a t-shirt they are given a free shirt. What better incentive is that?!?

5. Where can people buy Dirty Jerseys?
Right now we sell them primarily on our website www.dirtyjerseys.com and at various street fairs and town events. We would really like to get our shirts into some boutiques or specialty stores, so if any store-owner is reading this and would like to make some money selling NJ shirts please contact us at information@dirtyjerseys.com. We'd love to create some great partnerships with local store owners right here in New Jersey. We also sell our shirts to our parents, because let's be honest, it's their job as parents to support their son's most misguided business ventures.

6. Any hints at new designs to come?
We've got a lot of ideas coming down the pike and we really wish we could make them as quick as we think of them. We're still taking some polls on shirts to gauge interest and hopefully the results of those polls will help dictate a few of the new ones coming out. Just as a sneak peak for your readers, we currently have one in the works about rock legend Bon Jovi and another focusing on the dangers that were Action Park.

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