REUNION T-SHIRTS: Decatur shop supplies keepsakes for wearing

By David A. Markiewicz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/10/08

Dekalb County will host about 500 family reunions this year, most taking place by Labor Day.

At 85 percent of those get-togethers, the family members will wear souvenir T-shirts, said Carol Murray, reunions specialist for the DeKalb Convention and Visitors Bureau reunion planning office.

Considering that those reunions average 80 to 100 people each, that's a lot of T-shirts that have to be designed, printed and sold.

One Decatur business trying for a piece of that work is the aptly titled Family Reunion T-shirts, operated out of a nondescript cinder-block building on Midway Road.

A giant billboard on Memorial Drive announces the shop to passersby.

Co-owner Tange Hogue said she hit upon the idea of printing family reunion shirts "because of the demand. Whenever you tell someone you print, they ask if you do family reunion shirts. It's really big in DeKalb."

The 26-year-old Decatur native says she stumbled into her line of work after studying industrial engineering in college. After holding various jobs with different employers, she said she realized they weren't the kind of work she wanted to do.

One day, Hogue recalled, she walked by a shirt printing shop, asked if she could help with some artwork and promptly decided it would be her career. She learned the trade, got some equipment and began printing out of her house. Later, she began selling from the store.

Murray said there are plenty of competitors in the reunion T-shirt business and that it's no secret why T-shirts are such a standard part of reunions

"T-shirts are important because they symbolize the group," Murray said. "It shows belonging, that you're part of something."

Hogue has tried to stand out by calling her shop "the home of the $5 family reunion T-shirt," and by offering 23 different basic designs that families can modify to their desire.

She's also tried to offer personalized service, a key in serving family members who might be inexperienced in how to plan and organize a reunion.

Shinita Jordan, who ordered T-shirts from Hogue for her Barksdale family reunion last week, noted how personalized the service sometimes becomes.

"We must have called Tange four or five times a day," said Jordan, who deemed the end result was worth it. She even invited Hogue to the reunion in Stone Mountain.

Hogue said she enjoys the work because of the people.

"Everybody," she said, "has a story. To me, family reunions have a lot of sentimental value. A lot of memories. I like to see the smiles on peoples' faces. It's like their very own work of art, their family's stamp."