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T-shirt slogans reflecting our 'new normal'

A local embroidery company is printing t-shirts and promising 100% of the proceeds will go toward buying gift cards from local businesses affected by COVID-19 shutdowns.

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WTHR) - With so many people working from home in t-shirts because of coronavirus restrictions, clever t-shirts reflecting our new normal are becoming extremely popular. A local embroidery company is printing t-shirts and promising 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward buying gift cards from local businesses affected by COVID-19 shutdowns.

We also discovered a Hoosier family who has designed their own t-shirt to keep themselves afloat during these suddenly difficult financial times.

“We’re selling clever t-shirts, made with sayings that we all can relate to right now, like ‘United by Isolation’ and ‘Quarantine & Chill,’” said Tom Rector, the owner of ScreenBroidery in Noblesville. “We're trying to make a product that represents this strange world that we're all trying to live in. With the proceeds from the shirts that we're selling, we're purchasing gift cards from businesses that were hit hard by this mess - places that were forced to shut down by no choice of their own. Then we're taking those gift cards, and we're working with the United Way of Central Indiana, to get those gift cards to the people that were hit hard through unexpected layoffs and furloughs.”

Tom’s using his ScreenBroidery company to help others, while Ty Connally and his daughter Larue both designed and are selling their “Together Apart” shirts to help their own family’s financial situation.

That includes autumn college tuition for Larue at Indiana University, which she’s starting to worry about. “Yeah, I am,” Larue said. “We've been trying to figure out different ways to pay for college.”

So how many “Together Apart” t-shirts have the Connally’s sold so far?

“We sold about 20 shirts in a little over a week,” Ty said. “When we first started, I would have been happy to sell one shirt to somebody that wasn't my mom. We have total strangers contacting us, and we've shipped them as far Seattle, Washington.”

If you’d like to order a “Together Apart” t-shirt from the Connally family on Etsy, click here.

If you want to check out the t-shirt selection from ScreenBroidery, click here.

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