T-Shirt Designer - a Young Entrepreneur to Watch

 　　Micha Weinblatt is considered one of the 10 ‘Generation Next’ entrepreneurs to watch.  The 28-year-old T-shirt designer launched his Crooked¹ Monkey company in 2005.  Our reporter profiles the designer - whose shirts are playful and irreverent - and appeal to a younger generation.

　　Entrepreneur Micha Weinblatt says he likes to make people laugh, especially through his T-shirts. In 2005, he scraped together enough money to start Crooked Monkey to make and sell T-shirts.

　　"And 'Keeping it Fresh’ is just kind of a mentality², making sure you look good, having a good time," said Weinblatt.

　　His parents provided the corporate³ headquarters - the basement of the home where he’d grown up in Potomac, Maryland.

　　"Welcome to Crooked Money International Headquarters,' he said. "Let me bring you over to the men’s sections.  This is where all the men’s T-shirts are."

　　Weinblatt combines witty⁴ sayings with vintage graphics⁵ inspired by designs on T-shirts from earlier decades.

　　"This is one of my favorite T-shirts," said Weinblatt. "It’s ‘Keep the Ratio Strong’. It basically means that when you go to a party, you want there to be one sausage, one guy for every two buns, two girls."

　　He comes up with his own ideas but also gets some from other people. He says he got his humor from his father, Stewart, who is a rabbi.

　　"Some of them are a bit risqué but it’s a fun kind of a thing, and so he and I have an agreement - and the agreement is he doesn’t censor⁶ my sermons and I don’t censor his T-shirts," said Stewart Weinblatt.

　　Many of the shirts are designed for high school and college students.

　　"It shows that you don’t take yourself too seriously, but yet we also have that fashion angle on it as well so you still look good," said Micha.

　　Weinblatt and a friend launched Crooked Monkey at a bar near the University of Maryland, where he was a political science student.

　　"One of the main shirts that we sold that night was our 'Never Leave College' shirts," he said. "We were seniors at the University of Maryland.  We didn’t want to leave college and we knew a lot of our friends felt the same way. So this was a top seller that night and has continued to do well for us."

　　The event was so successful that they decided⁷ to expand the company to include more T-shirt designs.  Later, Weinblatt bought out his partner.

　　Now that he’s left college, his brother, Noam, who’s also at the University of Maryland, keeps him on top of the latest campus trends.

　　"Probably only two of my shirts that I own are not his. I’m a walking billboard," said Noam.

　　High school interns⁸ who work for him in Maryland also keep him up to date, as do 10 staff members who work in Crooked Monkey showrooms in Los Angeles and New York.

　　Micha Weinblatt constantly changes his catalog to add or drop designs.  He says animals dressed in clothes are popular now.

　　"So he’s wearing cool looking glasses, a fedora and a scarf," said Micha. "Looks like he’s ready for the winter. And so we’ve had a lot of fun with these animal T-shirts."

　　Weinblatt is now marketing⁹ a new high end line called 'Blueprint¹⁰'.

　　"The shirts have architectural accents on them and it looks like it has that rough draft feel when someone created that first blueprint," he said.

　　Crooked Monkey has also expanded to include T-shirts for children.

　　"This says ‘You’re the vanilla¹¹ to my chocolate," he said. "Vanilla and chocolate syrup¹² always go very well together.  And so it’s a good message and it’s a cute message."

　　Crooked Monkey shirts are sold on the company website, as well as in more than 500 stores in the United States and around the world.

　　"We’re sold in Guam, in Japan, in Saudi Arabia, in India, we have a distribution center in Canada and also in the Philippines," said Micha.

　　Weinblatt says fierce competition in the T-shirt business is making him think more creatively. From its modest beginnings, Crooked Monkey is expected to make $750,000 this year.

1 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

2 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

5 graphics   

n.制图法，制图学；图形显示

参考例句：

• You've leveraged your graphics experience into the video area.你们把图形设计业务的经验运用到录像业务中去。
• Improved graphics took computer games into a new era.经改进的制图技术将电脑游戏带进了一个新时代。

6 censor   

n./vt.审查，审查员；删改

参考例句：

• The film has not been viewed by the censor.这部影片还未经审查人员审查。
• The play was banned by the censor.该剧本被查禁了。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 interns   

n.住院实习医生( intern的名词复数 )v.拘留，关押( intern的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Our interns also greet our guests when they arrive in our studios. 我们的实习生也会在嘉宾抵达演播室的时候向他们致以问候。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• The interns work alongside experienced civil engineers and receive training in the different work sectors. 实习生陪同有经验的国内工程师工作，接受不同工作部门的相关培训。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

10 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

11 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

12 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。