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MONDAY, NOV. 11, 2013
Local entrepreneur creates out of this world apparel CALEB HENNINGTON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
How does one manage to balance college classes, marketing work at an architecture firm, and running your own T-shirt company all while still having time to devote to your newly started marriage? One A-State student has found the formula for balancing all of these daunting tasks, and does so with ease. Charles Andrew Fleeman, a senior marketing major of Manila, has been managing and selling his own unique brand of merchandise since 2010, the summer before his senior year of high school. Fleeman’s company, Unearthly Designs, takes its name from a positive outlook on life. “I really wanted it to be a positive based T-shirt company, based on some nature/ earthy designs, but also have that unearthly look,” Fleeman said. “It was kind of like two opposing sides, and it got people interested.” The 21-year-old started off like many young entrepreneurs do, from the ground up. “I bought some T-shirt templates offline, to see what I could do with them. I really wasn’t that great at design at the time, and I had just gotten Adobe Creative Suite and was playing around with that,” Fleeman said. He posted his first design, “Jesus Loves the Lions,” online and asked others if they would be interesting in buying a T-shirt with his design on it. He received huge positive feedback from this first design, which encouraged him to create even more designs. “What really got me started was when I started designing shirts for my hometown high school. My senior year of high school is when I sold my first design,” Fleeman said. Fleeman sold his “Jesus Loves the Lions” shirt for $15 at Manila’s annual Chili Cookoff event, and ended up selling between 50 and 55 of his shirts. “Living in the Bible belt I felt like it was pretty easy to sell that first design, since a lot of the people I knew who bought the shirt also went to my church,” Fleeman said.
Courtesy of Andrew Fleeman and Unearthly Designs An example of Fleeman’s design work shows his involvement with creating Red Wolf apparel and fan gear.
As far as Fleeman’s creative process goes, he starts off pretty simply, with a pen and paper. “Honestly, I just sit down with a piece of paper, or get on my computer and open up Illustrator or Photoshop, and just start brainstorming. And I just brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm, and then I’ll finally come up with something I like,” Fleeman said. “If I’m creating a design for someone else I’ll sit down with them and ask ‘do you like this?’” The creative juices occasionally take a while to get flowing, he admits, but sometimes inspiration hits him suddenly and assuredly. “The last design I did took me like 10 minutes to come up with, but I remember one design I had took me about nine hours working on it, and that didn’t include the brainstorming time.” The Manila native has seen success selling his merch in local stores, such as The Refinery on Stadium, and also sells his shirts on his website, unearthlydesigns.storenvy.com. Having to pay for all of his shirt orders straight from his own bank account has been tough for Fleeman, but he’s never gone broke because of a failed shirt design. “I’ve made shirt orders of $1,000 before hoping that I’ll sell them all, so it’s kind of like
playing the lottery,” Fleeman said. “And it’s hard being a college kid, too. Between going to school, working 22 hours a week at another job, and owning a business, it gets pretty busy.” His designing skills have also come in handy working for A-State, designing posters and T-shirts for the university. One of Fleeman’s most popular Red Wolf shirts, his “Keep Calm and Howl On” shirt, was the subject of unauthorized distribution by another clothing seller last year, who took Fleeman’s design and sold it as their own. “I had the design copyrighted, so I think that’s where (I had problems with them).” So far, Fleeman’s designs have been well received by A-State students and fans. “I buy his shirts because he incorporates his personal designs with the Red Wolf brand. The designs allow you to support your team while having a unique look that the major companies haven’t thought of,” said Patric Howie, a senior sports management major of Crossett. Mark Reider, a junior history major of Cabot, has also bought shirts from Unearthly Designs, and said he enjoys the simplicity behind many of the designs. “I have bought two Red
Wolves T-shirts from (Unearthly Designs),” Reider said. “I like to cheer on my team, and Andrew’s designs are classy and spirited, which is appealing to me.” After graduation, Fleeman hopes to open his own clothing store in order to sell his merchandise to a broader audience. He hopes to not only carry his own designs in the store, but also shirts and merchandise from other companies. The designs Fleeman has created have received almost completely positive reviews, and he humbly brags that he’s never received a negative comment on any of his designs. “I really do pride myself on that, and I feel like people are really happy with what they get. That’s kind of what keeps me going, because I really want to make stuff that people enjoy. If I can design something that people are going to like and that I can make money off of, I’m definitely going to do it,” Fleeman said with a laugh. Both Howie and Reider agree they would continue buying shirts from Unearthly Designs and Fleeman if he keeps designing them. “I own all of his ASU shirts that he has made and I’d definitely buy from him again,” Howie said.
Campus Crime
Oct. 28
compiled by Grant Wise
Around 2:56 p.m. Officer Keith Gilliam was dispatched to NorthPark Quads building four for a fire alarm. Gilliam checked the fire panel, which said that the fire detector in room 4206 had been set off. Upon entering the room the officer found something that had been burnt inside of a microwave. After the fire department cleared the building for reentry Gilliam questioned the room’s owner, who said that she was trying to cook chicken nuggets in the microwave. She set the microwave for 10 minutes per the instructions on the chicken nugget box and then left the room. When she smelled something burning she went back to her room and opened the microwave door, releasing smoke and setting off the fire detectors.
Oct. 30
Around 7:20 a.m. Officer Kelly Campbell was sent to investigate a reported child standing on the sidewalk on Aggie Road unattended. Upon arrival Campbell recognized the child, aged 3, from her patrols in the area and took him back to his home. According to the report the officer learned that when the father of the household left to take his other child to the bus stop, the boy got out of his sleeping mother’s bed, unlocked the door and went to the sidewalk where he was later found.
Oct. 30 Around 3:50 p.m. Officer Jimmy Barker was patrolling on Aggie Road when he spotted 18-year-old Jordan Cooper and Matthew Blevins smoking cigarettes in a parking lot. The officer approached them and let them know they were in violation of The Arkansas Clean Air on Campus Act of 2009 and that he would have to write them a citation.
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CAMPUS BIKERS, Continued In all, Cummings said the rental program has proved to be popular and has experienced much success. There are a few simple rules students must follow to take a bike from the center. A helmet must be worn, for instance, and students may not keep the bikes overnight. Lukas Mayberry, a freshman mechanical engineering major of Sheridan, said he believes A-State has a bike-friendly layout. “I started riding my bike the day I moved in. I figured it would be a quick way to get to class, and I enjoy riding,” Mayberry said. Students aren’t the only ones riding bikes on campus. Richard Grippo, professor of environmental biology, uses his bike to commute from his home to campus. “I don’t ride every day, but when I can, I do,” Grippo said. He has been riding a bike on campus as long as he has been a professor at A-State, and bikes 16 miles total. “It’s been
about 18 or 19 years,” he said. Grippo said riding his bike to campus was slower, but it saved gas. “It helps me do my bit for reducing pollution,” Grippo said. One initiative laid out in the university’s master plan is “to balance all modes of transportation.” A-State was, in the past, geared more toward being a drive-through campus. It was less conducive to pedestrians and bicyclists alike. Grippo said he believed blocking off the portion of Caraway Road that once traveled through A-State helped make campus a safer environment for bicyclists. Mayberry and Hill agreed biking on A-State’s campus saved time. Though she had suggestions for ways the college could improve conditions for its bicyclists, Hill said she planned to continue riding her bike on campus. “I feel safe riding here,” Mayberry said.
Takako Okumura | Staff Photographer Ben Eckerson, a mechanical engineering major of Little Rock, rides his bike to get from his residence hall to the College of Engineering building faster.