PRLog (Press Release) –
May 22, 2008 – It began with a simple Bless yer Heart, now there are dozens of Southern sayings parading around the South on people who have grown to love SweeTea, not the drink – but the shirt. SweeTea shirts are soft, comfortable t-shirts that let people express their long-time Southern favorite expressions. The company’s founders would have never guessed that their shirts would give birth to SweeTea groupies, people who own dozens of shirts and eagerly wait for the new saying of the month to be added. Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit (a retail favorite) pretty much sums up the reaction to their success.
Today, SweeTea is sold in retail stores all over the South. But surprisingly enough, owners Karen Hall and Susan Bashford are not Southern. These relocated Yankees actually married Southern boys who often left them in a tizzy trying to understand their conversation. That’s when the light bulb went off. “We called our husbands and said, ‘Start talking’,”
Hall said. There is certainly no shortage of funny things people say. This duo gets suggestions daily on their website http://www.sweeteashirts.com. “We love the personal feeling we get with SweeTea. Our customers are helping to mold our business and preserve the Southern heritage for generations to come,” said Bashford. And this duo is achieving that, one t-shirt at a time. Their business has doubled this year in an economy that has most people nervous. “I think our shirts give people something to smile about when all the news these days revolves around doom and gloom,” Bashford adds.
As they approach their third year in business, it’s their friends and family who have helped launch SweeTea to where it is today. From the webmaster daughter to the t-shirt folding friends, Hall and Bashford are truly living the dream. While other occupations battle mounding stress, these two spend days laughing with friends as their new shirt’s are tagged, packed and shipped to some cute main street store in the good ‘ole Southern USA.
Contact – SweeTea, 6320 Johnsdale Road, Raleigh, NC 27615 919-790-7900 http://www.sweeteashirts.com susanbashford@aol.com
