University Tees, an apparel company offering custom t-shirts, sweatshirts and promotional products for college clubs and events, has established its presence at Notre Dame with its first campus representative, junior Mike Shepardson.
The company, established at Miami University (Ohio) in 2003, typically sells its products to fraternities and sororities at other colleges. However, Shepardson said Notre Dame students' involvement in service work and nonprofits offers a different customer base.
"At other schools, the biggest clientele is the Greek life," Shepardson said. "At Notre Dame, our biggest customers will probably be the charity groups because there's so many different [charitable events] going on."
Despite the lack of Greek organizations at the University, Shepardson said the company sees Notre Dame as an excellent opportunity to expand given its many clubs and service groups. He said University Tees offers discounts to charitable organizations and fundraising events.
"They were excited to [work with] Notre Dame, regardless of the fact that there's no Greek life, because there's a lot of opportunity here," he said.
With University Tees having a number of online competitors, Shepardson said the company differentiates itself by offering a more collaborative and customized approach.
"I can help work with people's budget and control the pricing," he said. "I'm able to get to know the customer and, by doing that, I can get them better service and help get what they need."
Shepardson said the company's business model offers Notre Dame students a more user-friendly experience.
"[University Tees] makes the ordering process more efficient by having someone on campus who's available 24/7, rather than dealing with a big company with a ton of different customers," he said.
