About SUM SHIRTS

SUM Shirts was born the way all great things are — after too many beers before a Cubs game (back in 2009) and one wildly specific shirt that said: Mustaches + Scotch + Cigars + Bacon= AMERICAN It wasn’t meant to start a brand, just to start conversations. But when people started complimenting it, photographing it, and one guy tried to buy it off my actual body, we realized we were onto something.​​​ ​Fast forward to 2023. I was laid off and had one of those “what do I really want to do?” moments. As a family, we dug in and realized the answer was pretty simple: I’ve always loved making shirts, my wife Alyssa has always loved fashion, and together we thought we could give this a real shot. SUM Shirts became our family-owned experiment in turning sarcasm, nostalgia, and math into wearable conversation starters. As far as what we do, we make shirts for the people who speak fluent Puns + Sarcasm + Nostalgia + Math — the ones who know the exact scene when you say, “Stove? What kind of name is that anyway?” or if you say "The Jerk Store Called" you think of George shoving shrimp in his mouth. We believe in local pride, pop culture Easter eggs, and equations that make no sense on paper but make perfect sense on a soft cozy shirt. Every design is a wink to the clever, the snarky, and the slightly-too-online. What makes us different? Our SUM-style math, of course — part formula, part fever dream. We also specialize in shirts that celebrate hometowns.Read their story