New customers, and sometimes even returning ones, tell us they appreciate the huge selection of Arizona shirts we offer.
You’re welcome.
The fact is, we do have more AZ shirts than … well, just about anybody. We say that without knowing if it’s true, of course, but it feels right.
It probably is true if we say it this way: We have a wider selection of creative, original, unique Arizona shirts than you’ll find anywhere else. And there’s a reason for that that goes back a few years. One of our founders, Mike Spangenberg, tells people that he saw a need for ... well, us, even as a kid.
“I was born and raised in Arizona,” Mike says, “and there wasn't anything representing Arizona in a positive, fashionable way.” He says one of his favorite things was back-to-school shopping every year. And being a loyal Arizona kid, he wanted Arizona clothes. But looking for AZ shirts then was pretty disappointing. “It was the three for $10 Walgreens shirts that were representing Arizona,” Mike remembers. “It used to drive me crazy because they were — no disrespect — but they were corny T-shirts.”
Why did that bother him enough to start a business years later that sells very uncorny Arizona T-shirts? Mike says, “There's a reason why so many people live here. And I’m very passionate, very proud of where I’m from.”
Proud enough to start a company about it.
Quality AZ shirts made with pride
So we’re going to assume for a minute that you’ve never bought one of our Arizona shirts. If you have, you can still keep reading and just nod in agreement. We’re pretty sure you’ll agree.
The AZ shirts you find at State Forty Eight are about as far from those Walgreens 3/$10s as San Luis is from Teec Nos Pos. (Don’t bother looking at the map — far southwest corner to far northeast; about 560 miles.) A long way from the shirts Mike remembers to the shirts he helps bring to you. And that’s just talking about the quality of the shirt. Our cotton blends would have lasted little Mike until he turned into no-so-little Mike and had to come back for more shirts as he Hulked out of them year after year.
Where the pride thing really shows is on page after page after page of Arizona shirts; different styles, different colors, different themes. And just to show you how deep that Arizona pride runs, think of this: We don’t run out of ideas! Really. We don’t get stuck. There’s always something else about this great state number 48 for us to celebrate on a new shirt.
But that doesn’t mean they’re all completely different.
We have shirts for just about everything Arizona
Yes, we have shirts that are just kind of generally about Arizona, like our ever-popular flag design, or “Est. 1912.” We have shirts that are about Arizona teams. We have shirts about holidays. About special places and towns. Special events. Worthy causes. Cowboys. Cactuses. Skulls. Universities. Beer. There’s so much that makes up life in Arizona that we’ll never run out of ideas for new AZ shirts.
But no matter what colors they come in, no matter the theme or the design, no matter how serious or crazy, there’s one thing you’ll find on every shirt from State Forty Eight: our logo.
Now the truth is, the logo can be a little hard to find on some of them. If you want to check them all after you finish reading this, what you’re looking for is:
1) the shape of the state of Arizona, containing the words;
2) State Forty Eight. Pretty simple, really. Except sometimes a designer will have trouble getting the shape to blend in just right with the theme of a particular shirt. So sometimes we have to get kind of clever about where we put it. But trust us, it’s there. In fact, we make you this guarantee:
If you ever find a shirt from State Forty Eight that doesn’t have the State Forty Eight logo displayed, either proudly or discretely, let us know. We’ll immediately give you the opportunity to come back to the site and buy a different shirt that does. No questions asked.
OK, we’re being funny. But the fact is, that logo is very important to us. In a way, it is us. It’s what Mike had never seen before but was trying to find while he was out with his mom shopping for new school clothes. It’s what he and Stephen and Nicholas sketched out when they started this whole crazy enterprise.
Arizona is a state shaped like no other. It’s the only 48th state the U.S. will ever have. It’s filled with fascinating people and places that are as different as all the different designs on our AZ shirts. But like all of those designs, they all have one thing in common:
We’re all State Forty Eight.