Two University alumni have combined paint, social slogans and cotton knit to weave a career.
Shirts that say “Make Wetlands, Not War,” “Iraq Needs a Contraflow” and “More Huey P” are among the Baton Rouge T-shirt company’s offerings.
Purple Monkey Design co-founders Michael Shoemaker and Quintin Good started coating T-shirt screens in their bathtub and printing T-shirts in their bedrooms. After making their first sale to the Ra Shop, Shoemaker and Good decided to make it a business – but they needed a name.
“Everybody that started with the business was a big fan of the Simpsons,” Shoemaker said. “There was a teacher strike episode where all the teachers were in a big group and Bart sends around some gossip around the classroom. [Bart] says ‘The teachers are going on strike,’ and by the time it gets around [the classroom] they say ‘The teachers are going on strike, purple monkey dishwasher.'”
Shoemaker said the name represents “word of mouth,” with a relation to how rumors begin.
“We kind of needed a name at the time, and that seemed like the best candidate,” Good said. “That’s why [the monkey] is washing a dish in the logo.”
Upon founding Purple Monkey Design, business quickly took off for Shoemaker and Good. Shoemaker said the business completed small jobs and printed shirts for the service industry after Hurricane Katrina.
“We’ve gone from our bedroom to this in 2 1/2 years,” Shoemaker said. “We’ve been here since May, and we’ve been doing this full-time for at least a year now.”
Purple Monkey prints original designs, like the Freshies line, and designs by its business partners, like the Revolutionary Rascal’s line and DOPE line.
“The Freshies are a fresh spin on old mascots,” Shoemaker said. “We’re trying to get away from some of the [steroidal], big, ferocious monsters. We’re doing something for kids and girls that’s just a little bit more approachable.”
LSU, Texas, Georgia, Alabama and other college mascots are available on the Purple Monkey Design Web site, Gopurplemonkey.com.
“We’ve expanded the Freshies to try to cover every mascot we can think of, then we’re going to expand to other genres later,” Good said.
Shoemaker said the Revolutionary Rascal’s line features a lot of politically satirical work. One shirt features Gov. Bobby Jindal as a rat and shouts opposition to the recent legislative pay raise. Another shirt boldly states “Geauxbama” with a stylized picture of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“The Revolutionary Rascal is a retired school teacher and a cartoonist,” Good said. “He claims he’s cartooned almost every kid that ever went to school in Baton Rouge. He goes to schools and does group caricatures. He’ll draw 150 kids in six hours, one by one.”
The DOPE line is satirical and plays on the way drugs are presented in our society, Shoemaker said.
“The first time you see it, you think it’s pro-drug,” Shoemaker said. “But the more you know [the artist] and her style, you know it’s satire.”
One shirt features “DOPE” in the same typography as D.A.R.E, the anti-drug group, and says “to keep kids fresh.”
“[The DOPE brand] goes for the connotation that drugs are cool,” Good said. “But that her stuff is really cool and fresh and drug-free.”
Good said he believes their shirts are appropriate for anyone to wear.
“We target [college kids]. Anywhere from 10 to 12 up to 20s,” Good said. “I’d like to think that anyone could wear our shirts and be comfortable and happy with it.”
The shirts range from $16 to $22.
Had Shoemaker and Good not founded Purple Monkey Design, they said they would probably use their degrees to teach. Shoemaker has a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, a master’s degree in Spanish and Hispanic studies and an associate degree in graphic design. Good received his degree in biology.
“We both made a pretty good switch,” Good said.
—-Contact Scott Holley at sholley@lsureveille.com