Nicole Wilcek lined up a cut-out design, double checked it with her ruler, then lowered the hefty screen-print press. Just 15 seconds later, a navy T-shirt is adorned with the phrase: “,la.”
It’s a play on the pronunciation of Vice President Kamala Harris’ first name (“comma-la”) and it’s been a huge hit for The T-Shirt Deli — a custom shirt store on Damen Avenue in Chicago’s Wicker Park, where Wilcek is the manager.
“We’ve had it up for about a month, and we’ve sold so many of them,” Wilcek said. “It’s just kind of the shirt of the season.”
The T-Shirt Deli on Damen Avenue in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood has been serving up custom shirts for more than 20 years. With the DNC in town, they have been busy churning out designs related to Vice President Kamala Harris. Store manager Nicole Wilcek and employee Rae Tanney were manning the counter on Tuesday.
Courtney Kueppers/WBEZ
The Democratic National Convention has been a boon for T-shirt makers. Vendors have traveled to Chicago from across the country to sell their unofficial, unsanctioned and wildly creative merch. Shirts featuring Harris’ face, along with funny quips and slogans are suddenly a common sight on Chicago’s streets.
Among those moving merch this week, The T-Shirt Deli is definitely the established veteran in the game. They’ve been in business for more than 20 years and know a thing or two about designing eye-catching Ts.
“Definitely strong messaging and a smart graphic. That’s kind of like the two components of a good shirt,” Wilcek said.
In the shop‘s window this week, there are shirts that say things like “Kamala for president,” “Kamala is brat” (a Charli XCX reference, of course), “Say it to my face” (a quote from the campaign trail moment when Harris dared former President Donald Trump to show up to the debate stage). And then there’s the bestseller — ,la — which can also be found on baseball hats, along with “Kamala is brat.”
Wilcek said their business has been a swirl of activity between Harris becoming the nominee and the convention coming to town.
“Even before we had the stuff in the window, people were coming in, looking for stuff, asking for stuff,” she said. “We were like, ‘OK, we got to get on this.’”
About seven miles south, some traveling T-shirt vendors are also trying to capitalize on that excitement with unofficial pop-ups outside of Chicago’s McCormick Place, where daytime programming is happening throughout the DNC.
One seller, John Robinson, came from Mobile, Alabama, and has shirts that say things like “Chucks & Pearls” — a nod to Harris’s tendency to wear Converse sneakers and pearl necklaces. That design is available in bright pink and green — the colors of Harris’ sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Robinson’s family has a T-shirt business, and he’s been selling merchandise outside of Democratic conventions for years, including when former President Barack Obama was the nominee.
Another seller, Adrian Robinson — no relation — lives in nearby Gary, Indiana. One of his shirts features the pictures of hometown heroes Barack and Michelle Obama and Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington. Tuesday was his first day out for the week, and by mid-afternoon, he said sales had been steady.
The bestseller among his shirts — set up on a folding table near the corner of South Michigan Avenue and East 24th Street — is the one with the words “Voting is my ‘Black job’” across the chest.
It’s a clap back to a comment Trump made on the debate stage and while in Chicago last month for the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference.
For timely designs like that one, Adrian Robinson says they’re able to get them turned quick.
“At the maximum, two days,” he said. “All we gotta do is send the idea to our T-shirt designer. He designs the design for us, and then we take the design to the printer.”
After all, when it comes to T-shirts like these: It’s all about being hot off the press.