We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Todd Schleuning. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Todd below.
Alright, Todd thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Our biggest risk came very early on when we decided to name our product Shart® and spent $3,000 to purchase the domain Shart.com.
On the surface, it makes sense because we’re turning shirts into art. Shirt Art = Shart, right?
But did we really want to align our beloved product with a meaning that had already been reserved by a foul, slang term?
After several days of thoughtful deliberation, we determined that taking such a risk might help offset the fact that we had an advertising budget of zero dollars. Also…it made me chuckle every time I said shart.com out loud.
So we made the plunge and named our prized tee shirt frame, the Shart® Original T-Shirt Frame and the rest is history:
• We’ve been in business over 10 years
• U.S. Trademark Reg. No. 4,397,731 for “Shart” was Registered in 2013
• U.S. Design Patent No. 9,296,552 B2 was published in 2016
• Over ½ Million Views on our Shart.com You Tube Channel
• Featured in the 2013 and 2017 Runner’s World Gift Guide for Runners
• We’ve made the Shark Tank Video Submission Round on four occasions in 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2021
Todd, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I met my wife at Woodstock 1994. Years later, unbeknownst to me, she decided to put my worn, but prized Woodstock tee shirt in a frame as a birthday gift.
When she presented the gift to me, I was thrilled. The artwork (or shartwork as we say) looked beautiful and it was nice to see one of our favorite memories proudly displayed on our wall rather than sitting in a drawer.
When I asked my wife how she was able to put the tee shirt in the frame without cutting it, her smile quickly soured as she realized she hadn’t thought about how I might feel about her taking scissors to my favorite Woodstock tee shirt.
That moment of realization was the exact moment the idea for the Shart® T-Shirt Frame was born.
We knew it made a great gift and that we loved seeing our tee shirt displayed so nicely, but wanted to find a way to frame it and preserve it without having to destroy it in the process.
After searching the internet and discovering that there really weren’t any high quality, DIY tee shirt frames on the market, we made the decision to create one.
After months of prototyping, we stumbled upon the idea for our, now, patented tee shirt framing system that includes the Shart® polyethylene foam insert (U.S. Patent No. 9,296,552).
What we discovered was that the foam insert, coupled with our high quality, black gesso frames could display your favorite tees with professional results WITHOUT having to cut or destroy your favorite shirt.
Over ten years later, the Original Shart® T-Shirt Frame is still our best-selling shirt frame and we have proudly helped our customers frame and display over 20,000 pieces of Shart®.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Even for an id*ot like me, this one’s simple.
We insisted on building a well-designed, high-quality product AND we have provided old-school, top notch customer service since day one. The combination has resulted in a 4.7 rating on both Amazon and Trustpilot plus a 100% Lifetime Feedback Rating over ten years as an Amazon Seller.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met my wife and cofounder of Shart.com at Woodstock 1994.
As I stood in what seemed like an ocean of tents with no place to camp anywhere in site, I stopped to gather myself and fire up one of the 30 or so joints a good buddy had rolled for me the night before.
Unfortunately, in all my haste, I failed to pack a lighting utensil.
That’s when she walked up to me and asked me if I needed a light.
Next year we’ll be celebrating 30 years together and will have co-produced three incredible daughters and over 20,000 pieces of Shart®.
Contact Info:
- Website: shart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shermanshart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shartme
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-schleuning-11987585/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shartme
- Youtube: @SHARTdotcom OR https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAN4DQrqF3d__-RT_UzP4eA
Image Credits
Laura E. Partain