It was a trip to Israel as part of the Helzberg Fellows program that was the final step in Greg Azorsky’s decision to start a new business where he would design and sell Israeli themed T-shirts.
He calls the company Meshugge Shirts and explains on his website exactly why he decided to start the business.
“When I found the same T-shirts in Israel in 2008 that I saw in 1979, I thought it might be time to create some new ones.”
When you talk to Azorsky, you can get more details.
“When we were in Israel as part of the Helzberg group, we would go to places and could not find souvenirs we wanted to buy.”
So he started thinking about designing his own T-shirts. That’s not too big of a stretch since he is also the owner of Recognition Plus, a business in Independence, Mo., which makes promotional products, awards and custom apparel. So he already knew how to make T-shirts from his experience in this business.
“Meshugge means crazy,” his website states. But his T-shirts are not crazy. In fact business is slowly growing.
“It has been an evolving business,” Azorksy said. “I started as an accounting major and then on to law school. I stopped practicing law in 1994, and slowly have been teaching myself about this business.”
He started with a company called Audio Visual Graphics, which did CD/DVD graphics. But as that business declined, he looked for something else and bought Recognition Plus in 2004.
He designed the logo for the Jewish Arts Festival, and that started his mind working on other design ideas.
Last year, 2010, was the birth of Meshugge Shirts. He had been working on design ideas for a while. But it was not until last year’s Yom HaAtzmaut celebration that he actually had T-shirts with five different designs to sell. By the Jewish Arts Festival, he had eight designs.
Now, in time for the Lag b’Omer celebration, which will be held 7:30 p.m., May 22, at Leawood’s Gezer Park, he will have many more designs including a T-shirt designed with the sculpture at the park on it.
He has three types of T-shirt designs: vintage shirts that use designs bringing up visions of the founding of Israel; modern shirts with sayings that he thinks of, and state shirts.
His first T-shirt had the “.il” that is at the end of an Israeli website. He thought this would be a good indication of Israel. After reading the book, “Start-Up Nation,” and learning about how Intel is one of Israel’s largest private employee, he came up with the “Israel Inside” design. His ideas for shirts continue to grow, and now he has more than 20 designs.
“I think that the shirts are very creative,” said Lilach Nissim, the Israeli shlichah to Kansas City who proudly owns one of the shirts. “It is a possibility for the community to say how proud they are to be Jewish and proud of the state of Israel.”
“It is fun for me as Israeli to see people from the community wear those shirts,” she added. “It is like a ‘private joke’ among Jews, and it’s great.”
He also makes T-shirts in college colors with the name of the state in Hebrew letters. Usually someone asks if he has a shirt for a certain state, and then he makes one. A friend asked for Texas, so he came up with several designs. But he does not use any college logos or designs.
Currently Meshugge Shirts does most of its business online through his website (www.Meshuggeshirts.com) and Facebook page. He’ll also sell shirts at a local event, such as the Lag b’Omer picnic. His dream is to open a store in Israel, but he doesn’t know when that will happen.
He is also looking at putting other art or designs on items, since he has the capabilities to do this in his business. And he has been speaking with Jewish artists to put their designs on T-shirts as well.
“I am pleased with the reaction I am getting,” Azorsky said. His business has more than 200 fans on Facebook. The majority are teenagers, who are not yet buyers. But he is hopeful for the future.