“Go with the Contraflow,” “Make Levees not War” and “Nagin for President” seem like statements shouted by protesters rather than a design on a T-shirt. But thanks to the efforts of local clothing store Metro Three – located on Magazine Street in New Orleans’ shopping district – customers can wear their heart on their sleeve, or shirt.
“We have always been T-shirt designers,” said Starbuck Laney, co-owner of Metro Three with his wife, Lori. “But since we moved to New Orleans, we have been designing shirts related to the city.”
Originally from out-of-state – Starbuck from Texas and Lori from Alabama – the couple has made New Orleans their home for the past few years. In 2003 the husband-and-wife team opened Metro Three’s doors, offering unique designs on graphic tees and witty sayings to the Big Easy.
But since Hurricane Katrina, the Laneys have not been able to keep them on their shelves. So much so, that the store closed its doors on Dec. 23, at the height of the holiday rush, until the New Year.
“We were really low on everything that we had a hard time keeping up,” Starbuck Laney said. “One of the biggest misconceptions about our shirts is that we order them from elsewhere, but we make them all here by hand.”
With a high demand from the walk-in customers and Internet orders, Starbuck, who uses a silk-screen printer to stamp the designs on all of the boutique’s merchandise, temporarily shut down shop for the first time since the storm to restock.
“It was crazy,” said Jeremy Campbell, Metro Three marketing director. “When we closed down for Christmas, there was literally one shirt left on the shelves. It looked like we were going out of business.”
But the tremendous demand seems like a dream compared to what the Laneys expected to come home to.
“We were in Atlanta launching our baby clothing line and saw that [Mayor Ray Nagin] was calling for a mandatory evacuation,” Starbuck Laney said. “We drove home that night at 1 a.m. and closed up our store. It looked abandoned when we left here.”
But as thousands of local New Orleanians and the world watched as the Crescent City became submerged in water, Starbuck and Lori expected the worst for their store.
“There was a fire in the block of our store,” Starbuck Laney said. “We live in the same block as our store, and when we heard there was a fire that had spread throughout a few houses, we did not know whether or not we had a home or a store to come home to.”
In the days after the storm, the Laneys also had to face the possibility of losing their store to the looting that ensued.
“They thought they were out of business. They thought it was all over,” Campbell said. “That’s where they were emotionally, and so they did what they always do – design.”
For the six weeks the store remained closed and the city remained abandoned, the Laneys kept up their Web site and continued to make shirts.
“They were used to being busy all the time,” Campbell said. “So designing shirts about the city they love was a way for them to keep busy.”
Two weeks after the storm, the Laneys drove into the still-flooded and destroyed city to find their house and store exactly as they were left. With a feeling of gratitude and relief, the Laneys said they were determined to open up as soon as city and federal officials would allow.
Oct. 15 Metro Three re-opened with a new sense of loyalty to the Big Easy.
“We are not trying to be a voice for the city,” Starbuck Laney said. “We know the city and love this city and are trying to do our part for the community, for New Orleans.” Metro Three has continued expanding, and the number of new designs continues to evolve.
“We have some new designs coming out regarding the hurricane,” Campbell said. “We also have some Mardi Gras shirts coming out for the spring.”
By word-of-mouth and of customers wearing the T-shirts around the country, the Laneys said they hope Metro Three continues fueling the New Orleans renaissance.
“We are coming back to the city. We are finally home and again, and it is nice to be back,” Starbuck Laney said.
 
 
Contact Sarah Gernhauser at [email protected]