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May 15, 2008

Local T-shirt shop takes risk with new line

By Trent Moore

trentm@cullmantimes.com



Hip department stores such as Buckle and Kipson Boutique have lately been looking to the little town of Hanceville for the cool new threads. The Cullman-based T-shirt licensing business American Classics, operating out of Hanceville, has recently become a trendsetter in the T-shirt market thanks to a new clothing line they have started.

“We’ve created our own, unique property,” President David Brown said. “It’s called Sanctify and includes hip, religion influenced designs.”

The change came about because Brown and his co-owner brothers, Greg Brown and Tommy Cost, want to use their company as a tool for ministry, he said.

“We wanted it to be different from all the other Christian shirts out there,” Brown said, adding he is happy to have found such success without compromising his morals.

“We only print things with a positive message,” he said. “We’ve done it that way ever since we got started.”

Brown said he has begun letting his faith guide his business decisions recently, and since then American Classics has made a big change with the Sanctify brand.

The gamble paid off, and Sanctify shirts have become American Classics most popular product.

“These shirts have just caught fire,” Brown said.

Not only has the Sanctify brand become popular with the public, but some Christian popular musicians have also become fans.

“Mark Hall of Casting Crowns was actually wearing a Sanctify shirt at the Dove Awards when he accepted the group-of-the-year award,” he said. “David Crowder has also been spotted wearing a Sanctify shirt at some recent concerts.”

Sanctify has become so successful that American Classics has actually switched gears and begun licensing the brand out, most recently to a headwear company.

Though the company is based in Hanceville, few stores in Cullman actually sell their clothing, Brown said.

“There just aren’t a lot of places around here that carry our kind of stuff,” he said.

To give Cullman residents a chance to check out their products, Brown said they have started having a yearly $1-per-shirt parking lot sale at Crosshaven Baptist Church to clear out their overstock merchandise.

In addition to raising local awareness for their business, Brown said they also try to give back to the community by donating leftover shirts to the local Hannah Home and Childhaven orphanage.

“Last year we donated close to 10,000 shirts,” Brown said. “We let the kids from Childhaven come up and just take whatever they wanted.”

This year’s sale is scheduled for May 22-24.

American Classics got its humble start as a small retail store 14 years ago in Birmingham’s Riverchase Galleria, but when the store ran into trouble, Brown and his brothers decided to become a T-shirt licensing company.

With that new focus, American Classics began licensing classic television properties such as the Dukes of Hazzard and Miami Vice, and producing T-shirts from those properties. They also create shirts for local causes such as the Cullman High School baseball team.

“We’re actually working on something for them right now,” Brown said.

The company plans to keep working with various other licenses, even though things have gotten busier with the Sanctify project.

“That business is still our bread and butter,” Brown said.

Brown said American Classics is doing better than it ever has.

“We now employ around 15 people,” he said. “Right now we’re working two shifts because we’re so behind on orders. God has really blessed our company.”

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