In 1994, three easy phrases saved John and Bert Jacobs’ failing attire enterprise: “Life is sweet.” After years of wrestle, the Boston, Massachusetts, brothers added that cheerfully decisive slogan to their graphic T-shirts, and nearly in a single day, their enterprise morphed into an entrepreneurial powerhouse.
Whereas the corporate continues lending its message of positivity to T-shirts and equipment like backpacks, slippers, mugs, hats, and water bottles, its classic and used items stay fashionable with thrifters and resellers. Why? It may very well be as a result of we by no means outgrow our want for a optimistic message.
From Rags to T-Shirt Riches
After quite a few suits and begins, the Jacobs brothers realized that the message you’re promoting can typically turn out to be extra necessary than the merchandise you’re promoting it on. Their journey to success started in 1988, with a seven-week cross-country highway journey throughout which they determined to embark on a T-shirt retail enterprise. The brothers tried and failed for a number of years with their “Jacob’s Gallery” firm, touring to school cities alongside the East Coast and promoting T-shirts from their Plymouth Voyager van.
As the corporate continued its freefall, the brothers—as soon as with solely $78 of their checking account—requested themselves, “What will we stand for?” It grew to become the drive that turned the enterprise round, John Jacobs stated in a 2016 interview with Business Insider. Bored with studying destructive information within the media, they looked for an uplifting slogan and ultimately landed on “Life Is Good.” John Jacobs, the creative brother, drew “Jake,” a cartoon stick character carrying sun shades, a beret, and a giant smile, and mixed it with the slogan. “We puzzled if there was room to create some image of optimism, a hero whose energy is the way in which he views the world,” Bert stated in in 2012. He added that the beret confirmed “open-mindedness, the smile as a result of he all the time finds a motive to be glad, and the sun shades as a result of we needed it to be cool to be optimistic.”
After that, the brothers printed forty-eight T-shirts and shortly offered out at a 1994 Cambridge, Massachusetts, avenue truthful. “The response was so fast,” John stated. “It was precisely what we had hoped for. Folks ‘obtained it’ they usually purchased it. No rationalization was essential.”
By 1997, the newly rebranded Life Is Good firm reached $1 million in gross sales and employed three workers. In the present day, with its headquarters in Boston, this international enterprise sells its merchandise on-line and worldwide in over 4,500 retail shops.
I recall discovering the Life Is Good retailer for the primary time within the early Nineteen Nineties on a fall purchasing journey to Brown County, Indiana. It was like getting into a world of happiness and shade, all the way down to the store employees. I walked out of that retailer with Christmas items for my complete household. I nonetheless really feel I gained Christmas that 12 months exactly as a result of everybody liked how the message made them really feel—glad. The shirts themselves, whereas they had been glorious high quality, had been secondary.
Promoting Good Vibes on a Good T-Shirt
Whereas the present information continues its every day cycle of adversity and heartbreak, the “Life Is Good” message nonetheless resonates with consumers. Though the corporate commonly provides new gadgets and designs to its stock, its classic and used items promote properly on-line and at thrift shops. Looking on-line marketplaces like Etsy, Mercari, and eBay revealed 1000’s of listings for classic ceramic coffee mugs, T-shirts, coolers, and baseball caps. Additionally, some thrifted tops on websites like Poshmark run from $15 to $40, relying on situation and theme.
With the financial system nonetheless in topsy-turvy mode, used and classic items stay cheap, which is crucial since vacation gift-giving is on the horizon. For instance, “Life Is Good” classic ceramic espresso mugs ran about $10 to $20 every, relying on the theme and availability.
Shopping for Used Stuff Is Additionally Constructive
It’s a wonderful time to thrift Life Is Good merchandise as a result of, now greater than ever, it has turn out to be an appropriate follow to offer used gadgets as items. A 2023 story on Parade famous a survey on {the marketplace} app Mercari which revealed that 61 p.c of its consumers had been okay with receiving a used or thrifted present. Whereas solely 38 p.c of these aged 55 and older accepted it, 49 p.c of these aged 18–34 supported the follow. It tracks because the youthful era is extra involved with an unsure financial system and the atmosphere, particularly local weather change. They’re additionally recognized for his or her savvy in scoring high quality gadgets at reasonably priced costs.
Even GQ journal heaps reward on the classic T-shirt as a substitute of the fresh-out-of-the-box items. “Classic tees include character that may’t simply be faked,” Gerald Ortiz wrote in a 2023 story. “They’re the antithesis of the pristine, vacuum-packed bulk buys you’ll discover at huge field shops. They’re a surefire approach to pump an outfit with character when issues are feeling a bit lifeless. And, in fact, they’re rather a lot higher for the planet.”
A T-shirt group on Reddit additionally mentioned the enduring worth of “Life Is Good” classic tees. “Life Is Great things is actually good high quality, too,” stated person @mercurialpolyglot. “It’s that thick cotton you by no means see anymore as a result of firms discovered folks would nonetheless purchase skinny t-shirts.”
As I end penning this weblog submit, my lavender Life Is Good “Namaste” water bottle is shut by as an emblem that good nonetheless exists. It’s dented and chipped, however taking a look at it makes me glad and jogs my memory that I can endure challenges if I simply relax.
“We’re aggressive individuals who stay in the actual world,” Bert Jacobs stated in an interview with InkandDescent.com. “We get up and battle like anyone else. However we’ve got a deep-seated perception that it’s highly effective to be optimistic. And for us, the enterprise is unquestionably a success of that philosophy.”
Between excursions to hunt for antiques and classic décor, Lynda Houston is busy restoring her Fifties cottage in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her accomplice Dave Beck function TheRustInPeaceShop on Etsy.
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