The days of using puffy paint and glitter pens to create homemade t-shirts are over - Cincinnati entrepreneurs Jaydev Karande and Chad Reynolds' latest company is taking t-shirts high tech.
Wearcast is an on-demand merchandise company that allows people to create something physical out of the digital by "casting" social media content onto apparel.
On Friday, July 15, Wearcast will pair with Cincy Apparel and Yelp.com to sponsor the
Cincy Apparel T-shirt Fest on Fountain Square. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. local t-shirt vendors will celebrate all things Cincinnati with locally themed t-shirts for sale. Wearcast will appear on the JumboTron facing Fountain Square, picturing t-shirts being "cast" live at the festival.
"The festival serves to encourage more people to come downtown and spend time on the Square, while creating new customers and visibility for participating vendors," says Christy Samad, communications director of Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), which is organizing the event.
Karande and Reynolds have been friends for more than 10 years and were both successful entrepreneurs before Wearcast. Karande is co-founder of
Zipscene, a mobile-app marketing firm. Reynolds brings years of clothing-design experience from
Fanattik, a company he started in high school to design school spirit wear.
Wearcast is accessible online or through mobile apps on Android and iPhone. The software lets the user create, purchase and ship a personalized t-shirt in as little as 30 seconds. With the ease and simplicity of updating your Facebook status or sending a tweet, you can now create your own t-shirt with an inside joke, or even a picture snapped from your mobile phone.
"The idea is that you can tell your story through what you wear," Karande says.
"Just as Instagram has turned the average person into a photographer, Twitter has made the average person a news reporter, LinkedIn has made everyone a networking genius and Facebook has made everyone a stalker," Karande jokes. "We've created an outlet with tools that make it easy for anyone to become a t-shirt designer."
Not only does Wearcast provide individuals with creative freedom, but it's an excellent tool for marketing, brand identity and promotion. Local music personality Bootsy Collins plans to use the website to promote his latest tour.
Wearcast has a lot of projects in the works, with new clothing styles being added just this week. Users can now design tank tops and v-neck shirts along with the original t-shirts at a reasonable price.
Karande is also in talks to provide Wearcast services to charities and political candidates as a fundraising tool. Sizes for children and group orders should also be available through the website within the next month.
Writer: Sarah Blazak
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