Page 250 - Tee Jays

STORY OF

In 1976 Terry and Jim founded TEE JAYS Mfg. Co working out of Terry’s garage with
nothing but a bunch of sewing machines. After a few years, Jim decided to leave the
company, and Terry continued carrying out his dream.

Living in the beautiful countryside of Florence Alabama, Terry and his family knew
textile manufacturing and worked in the industry for their entire careers. Terry’s
grandmother worked her whole life for a single garment-manufacturing mill running
a flat lock machine every day until her retirement. His father Paul started in the mills
right out of high school.

The garage with the 25 sewing machines quickly became a full vertical production
plant with knitting, dyeing, cutting, sewing, and screen-printing. The Wylie family was
determined to bring the complete T-shirt with decoration into the premium market.
Terry saw the potential in making printed and custom-made garments instead of
selling blank printables as a key strategy, which turned out to be a very clever and
lucrative move. In the period from 1976 to 2002, Terry and his family build a very well
respected company in Florence Alabama. At their peak, TEE JAYS employed 4000
people in Florence, had 19 production plants and shipping departments and was the
third largest employer in the Shoals area and the fifth largest T-shirt manufacturer in
the USA.

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
On a sunny day in 1979, my father George visited a tradeshow in Anaheim, California.
At that time, he and my mother Lone owned the wholesale business LG Sportswear
in Denmark. As my dad walked past the TEE JAYS stand, a man remarked, “I love the
smell of your pipe”. The man was Terry, and his comment became the beginning of
a lifelong friendship. My dad later visited Terry in Florence, Alabama to discuss the
possibilities for representing TEE JAYS in Europe. Four weeks later the first shipment
of Sof Tee heavyweight T-shirts was sent from Alabama to LG Sportswear. At that
time, my mom and dad ran LG Sportswear from the basement in our home, and my
older brother Anders and I earned our first pocket money packing the orders.

My dad did a great job for TEE JAYS. He made a success of selling the original US
SOF TEE T-shirt in high-end retail stores in Denmark and wanted to do the same in
other European countries. In 1980 he was hired as the European Sales Director for
TEE JAYS – a job that he was dedicated to for more than 20 years. The business grew
stronger, and so did the friendship between Terry and my father. In 1986 my dad had
a Danish artist draw a new logo for TEE JAYS, and he gave it as a gift to Terry. Terry
loved it so much that he changed the logo on all T-shirts, boxes, trucks, etc.

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