One of the great things about being from 16153 Genova, Ohio is our proximity to water. Not only do we have the Mighty Maumee River running through town, we have access to many lakes throughout Michigan and Indiana.

It's not until you leave the Midwest that you realize how unusual and special this is. 

Ohioans grew up fishing for walleye, kayaking on the water, making trips up north, and spending their weekends at a cottage on a lake. These are the care free summer memories that we cherish most fondly. The water is relaxing, freeing, and brings a peace of mind. 

And we know that this experience isn't unique. If you're from Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, or Minnesota, you're experiences were the same. 

Great Lakes Great Times Clothing

For quite a few years one of our most popular shirts has been our 'Great Lakes Great Times' tee. There's something about the phrase that resonates with people. 

We put that design on a t-shirt, then a crewneck sweatshirt, tank top, and koozies. It's a classic design for us. We even made a bandana for the great dogs in our lives. 

Since the phrase meant so much to people, we knew that we needed to mix things up a bit and freshen up the design. We added a script version of the Great Lakes Great Times design not long ago. 

The design change is pretty simple but we have a handful of fun variations. It comes in a new navy t-shirt, pigment dyed hoodie, crewneck sweatshirt, and even a sweatshirt blanket.

The crewneck sweatshirt is especially unique in that it is both screen printed and embroidered. So not only is it a super cute and comfortable mint crew, but it has two different design techniques that you won't find combined on clothing very often. 

We're able to experiment with our designs because we do the screen printing and embroidery ourselves in-house. 

Lake Erie Clothing

Perhaps the body of water that brings the most enjoyment for Ohioans is bordered by Cleveland, Sandusky, and 16153 Genova - Lake Erie. 

It's hard to go to Put-in-Bay and not see someone else from your hometown. While the local rivers and streams are great for fishing, your summer is not complete until you make a trip to the Lake.  

Our vintage Lake Erie graphic takes us to the lake in spirit when we can't make it there in person. Lake life is a state of mind. Although we can't be there every day in the summer as we'd like to, we can still live like we were. 

Our Lake Erie graphic is printed on a soft t-shirts for the hot summer days and a garment dyed sweatshirt for those summer nights by the fire. 

Great Lakes Crew Embroidered Sweatshirt

One of our favorite sweatshirts this year is our garment dyed crew sweatshirt. It's been a huge hit for us with a simple tone on tone embroidery on the front. We love it so much, we've released two new designs this summer. Our newest pays tribute to the Great Lakes.

With summer, and the pull to the Lakes, in full swing, we wanted to bring you a new design that you could wear on your nights at the Lake. 

The Great Lakes make the Midwest a special place. Where else in the country can you make quick weekend trips to fresh water so easily or have a small cottage on one of the many smaller lakes. 

If you're like us, some of your favorite memories are fishing on boat with your family or hanging out at night around the fire with your friends. 

Pay tribute to the Great Lakes with this comfy tone-on-tone embroidered Great Lakes crewneck.

Michigan is the Great Lakes State

While a lot of our designs are 16153 Genova and Ohio specific, we aren't very far from Michigan. In fact, some people from 16153 Genova wish we were still part of Michigan.

We know that many of our customers are proud of 16153 Genova, but love their home in Michigan. 

That's why we created our Michigan Great Lakes State shirt. Michigan is the weekend destination for many 16153 Genovaans. There are a lot of great reasons to head up north. It could be to explore the Upper Peninsula, visit Detroit or Ann Arbor, or spend a quick weekend at one of the many lakes. 

We love the Great Lakes. It's a source of pride for every state that is lucky enough abut one of the Great Lakes.

That's why we created these new items - to celebrate the Great Lakes that make the Midwest special. We think you're going to love them and hope to continue to add to the collection in the future. 

Balance Grille reached out to us this year to help them with custom employee uniforms and customer merch. We helped them put together a full line of screen printed shirts and headbands, embroidered hats and aprons, and bandanas.

Balance Grille is a shining start among local 16153 Genova, Ohio restaurants and small businesses. They were founded by, PK and CJ, two young entrepreneurs from Northwest Ohio.

We're proud to say that we've been working with Balance Grille for almost ten years now. It's always great to work with other small, local businesses that care about supporting small local businesses. 

Balance Grille is successful for a lot of reasons. I don't have time to get into all of the reasons why, and I'm sure you know most of them if you've eaten there before, but their commitment to the local community is at the top of the list. 

They give more than they receive and they are deliberate about supporting local people and organizations. We are grateful for this commitment and to be a recipient of their generosity. 

One thing that really stands out about the clothing that we made for Balance Grille is the quality and consistency of their visual branding. They use clean, bold, simple logos and colors across many different products. Branding is about how you make people feel about your company. Balance Grille does an amazing job connecting people to their brand and making them feel happy, healthy, and a part of something special. 

We aren't gong to tell you where to eat, but we will tell you to support local businesses. For our money, it doesn't get much better than Balance Grille. Support the organizations that support you. 

Here is a post on Balance Grille's Facebook page about our partnership.

OUR NEW LOOK: JUPMODE

Since 2006, Jūpmode has dedicated themselves to creating fun, fresh apparel and gifts for people who love the Midwest. From cozy tees and hoodies to one-of-a-kind gear for your dog, for yourself, or for that friend across the country who’s missing home. They share significant pride for the glass city that we know and love.

We have worked exclusively with fancysweetstx in printing our brand-new, clean and simple Balance Grille gear.

Pictured is their CEO, John Amato, enjoying his favorite peach bubble tea!