Students profit from Dakota Days t-shirt sales

Who knew the t-shirt business could be so profitable?

Students at the University of South Dakota have been designing and selling Dakota Days t-shirts for years. This year’s designs range from jokes about the apocalypse to the usual Cherry Street puns.

But regardless of the vulgarity of the joke, students are still buying.

Junior Jordan Schumacher and senior Samantha Drake have made about $2,000 selling three different shirt designs and a hat.

“It’s kind of a lot of work taking care of the logistics,” Schumacher said. “It’s hard, but it’s worth it.”

The pair used several wholesale t-shirt companies they found on the Internet to print the shirts, of which they have sold about 300.

Graduate school student Aaron Gunderson used Nordic Premiums, a t-shirt printing company in Sioux City, to print his design that reads, “STD Days.” He is also is selling a tank top that says “Tanked.”

“One of our friends a couple years ago said the STD t-shirt one and we thought it was a good idea,” Gunderson said.

His shirts are $18 a piece or $15 for two. He has sold about 150 shirts so far and has made about $1,500. But even with the profit, Gunderson doesn’t know if he’ll do it again next year.

“Maybe my brother will do it,” he said.

Schumacher said even though the experience has been stressful, he will probably do it again for the money next year. He plans to use this year’s profits for spring break.

But not everyone is making a profit.

Junior Brion Chute has been selling shirts that read “Prepare for the apocalypse,” for $12 each and has not yet broken even.

“I saw some sweet designs last year and thought I could do one on my own,” he said.

Chute said the hardest part about selling shirts was getting the word out on Facebook, but as a marketing major, knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“I just kind of played off the doomsday prophecy thing,” he said. “You pretty much go with what’s trending.”

So far, Chute and a friend with whom he has been working, Mimi Generous, have only sold about 100 shirts, but he said everyone he knows has purchased multiple designs.

“It’s been a learning experience,” he said.

Reach reporter Anna Burleson at [email protected]