Denise Lesiak and Sandy Wiercinski, both now 51, grew up blocks away from each other in suburban Niles. They didn’t know each other at the time, but eventually met while attending Maine East High School.
That friendship has blossomed into a business relationship that is firmly established in Lakeview. They are business partners at Shirts Illustrated (3315 N. Broadway), now in its 17th year of business.
Shirts Illustrated offers custom orders galore—including embroidery and lettering—of orders from one to 1,000 and beyond. They also carry photo T-shirts, mouse pads and more. Plus, 30 percent of the 1,400-square-foot store features gifts and licensed merchandise such as Superman- and The Simpsons-related items. ‘We started carrying these types of items because, well, it just seemed like the next logical step and since we’re in such a retail [-oriented] location,’ Lesiak said.
Shirts Illustrated was the contract supplier for all officially-licensed souvenirs of Gay Games VII, held last summer in Chicago.
‘The Gay Games was pretty large for us,’ said Lesiak, who produced GGVII-related shirts, hats, pins and more.
The No. 1-selling Games’ item was the world flag T-shirt, which featured words about the event on the front left breast and world flags on the back. About 2,800 world flag T-shirts sold.
‘I thought the black Soldier Field shirt would be the No. 1 seller, but it wasn’t,’ Lesiak said. ‘To me, the top surprise seller was the white crew socks. I also was surprised with the sport-specific shirts; they were very popular. We sold out of almost every one.’
In addition, Shirts Illustrated has sold more than 1,000 Games-related items over the Internet over the past few months, Lesiak said.
Superman is the store’s biggest seller overall, followed by The Simpsons. Lesiak also noted strong sales of fad-connected shirts, such as the current craze that includes Daschund-related shirts with sexually-related text.
‘The most popular thing and the most interesting thing for me to do is people who only want one or two items. And we do that all the time,’ Lesiak said.
For instance, a customer once had a T-shirt made saying, ‘I gave my brother a kidney and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.’
‘That was one of my favorites,’ she said.
Shirts Illustrated also can monogram scarfs or handkerchiefs, and produce t-shirts with photos on them.
‘I think people often think of Shirts Illustrated as a contract embroiderer—that they have to order a bunch of one item. But they don’t. I’ll do one item,’ Lesiak said.
The store carries children’s shirts and blank t-shirts, too.
‘I don’t really stock any ‘gay things’ in the store, except for Gay Games items,’ she said. ‘Other stores carry that stuff,’ though she often made it.
Shirts Illustrated has eight employees, including four full-timers. ‘It’s weird to me that we’ve been in business this long,’ Lesiak said. ‘When we first opened, we both worked full-time jobs at a warehouse from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m., then went directly to Shirts Illustrated and would work until 6 p.m.’
Shirts Illustrated often produces the annual commemorative Gay Pride staff shirts for local businesses, such as Roscoe’s, Circuit and Sidetrack, among others. Plus, Shirts Illustrated produces many of the uniforms worn in Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association (CMSA) and Windy City Athletic Association (WCAA) games and matches, as well as those worn by several straight sports associations.