A Look Back at 2011

The year that Honeybadger grew from the smallest t-shirt company in Des Moines to a slightly bigger, more sophisticated and more well-known t-shirt company that still happens to be, for all intents and purposes, the smallest in Des Moines.

Mat hard at work on a screen-printing order for Carrier Access in Des Moines.

At the beginning of 2012, the Honeybadger web store had been officially launched (and we had thrown a big bash where we got our friends tipsy and sold them shirts), we had amassed a small, but sufficient inventory of original graphic t-shirts, and we had enough social media pages to keep us busy (read: dizzy) for hours every day.  After spending much of the winter months completing small screen-printing orders and building upon our own inventory shirts, it was now time to get down to the real business of making shirts and gettin' people in 'em.

As we all know, t-shirts are one of the most vital means of human communication proclaiming such important messages to the world as "I'm with Stupid" or "This is my drinking shirt," so we decided to let our shirts sell themselves. The key was to have them worn in a highly visible place. With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, we "Irished-up" our logo and designed an Irish clover shirt. Then we got the most popular people on St. Patrick's Day--bartenders and servers--to wear them. In the immortal words of Guinness: "Brilliant!"

With help from the fine folks at the Royal Mile and Hessen Haus, our two Irish-inspired Honeybadger tees were on display all day as the Irish and wanna be Irish population of Des Moines got good and sloshed. Though we didn't immediately start selling shirts like hotcakes, our first interactive marketing foray got a lot of people asking, "What's Honeybadger?" Some more YouTube savvy Des Moinesians laughed and asked if the shirts were based on the Honeybadger video that had recently gone viral. They weren't, nor is our company name, but thanks for laughing along and taking pictures of our shirts anyway.

After St. Patrick's Day, we went back to the drawing board and came up with a slew of new designs to add to our web site for the Spring/Summer.  As we built a substantial inventory of shirts (read: Holy Smokes, Batman, how are we going to sell all of these?), we caught a big break when applying to be a vendor at the 2nd annual Market Day. Though this popular event usually has a waiting list to participate, the stars aligned and vendors dropped out just in time for us to sneak in. June came and we eagerly set up shop and officially had a physical location to sell shirts.

The Honeybadger booth at this year's Black Friday Market Day.

And sell shirts we did! It's safe to say that Market Day was the biggest thing to happen to Honeybadger Shirts since we discovered Strip-E-Doo Emulsion remover. Not just because we sold a significant amount of shirts--we sold out of 24 moustache shirts in several hours--but because it was a great way to infiltrate the local/indie shopping culture of Des Moines. For that we can't thank the organizers behind Market Day, Cat and Dani, enough for all the hard work they put in marketing and organizing the event. We can't wait to be a part of Market Day 2012!

Still flying high from our first Market Day experience, my relentless use of social media as our only major means of marketing paid off in a big way--I scored free VIP tickets to 80/35 thanks to Dwolla! I had already planned to rock out at Iowa's best music festival in my Honeybadger garb, but now I could do it in the comforts of the VIP section, while enjoying free food and booze and turning my nose up at the general admission hipsters.

Hipsters cram in at 80/35, while I enjoy so much more room for activities in VIP!

Turnning my nose up (and drinking waaaay too much red bull) was great, but the highlight of my 80/35 experience, was on the second day of the festival when a stranger, recognizing the Honeybadger logo shirt I was wearing, asked if I was with Honeybadger. I was thrilled that anyone would recognize our logo, but I was even more excited to learn that this stranger was none other than Ben Anderson, an owner of 8/7 Central, the downtown screen-printing company.We talked shop for a bit, and Ben was nothing but friendly and supportive of our efforts to bring another t-shirt and screenprinting company to Des Moines. Having your "competition" all but cheer you on, is one reason among many that Des Moines is a great place to start a business. If there is a more supportive community out there, I'd love to see it.

The summer rolled on and before we knew it, it was slipping away. Determined not to let that happen, Mat and I took a break from designing and printing and rocked the New Belgium Urban Assault Ride as team Honeybadger.

Great ride! Now where's the beer?

This crazy race, which consists of biking all over town, completing somewhat bizarre team activities in order to get a clue about the next checkpoint location, and washing it all down with New Belgium beer, inspired us not only to drink lots of  beer, but to think about the possibility of hosting our very own Honeybadger extreme race some day. It may be long down the road, but this is definitely something we want to do, and if you have any ideas or would like to help make something like that happen, feel free to let us know!

Moving into fall, Honeybadger got busy on the screen-printing side of things. We designed and printed Oktoberfest shirts for Hessen Haus, which were a big hit, selling out in the weeks following the festival. We also teamed up with a friend of ours to make motorboat t-shirts to support breast cancer awareness. (We still have shirts available if you want to support the cause!) And we printed shirts for our friends at Party! Party! Karaoke Band. If you haven't been to see Party! Party!, then you are missing out on a genuinely awesome Des Moines experience. Sing karaoke with the band on Thursdays at People's downtown.

With the cold weather coming we geared up on new Honeybadger designs including our first hooded sweatshirt, a beanie hat and a line of scarves. Then we put our cold-weather gear to the test as Team Honeybadger tackled the Living History Farms Cross Country Race, another awesome outdoor adventure race, this time using two feet instead of a two wheels.

Honeybadger teammates John and Signe close in on the finish at the LHF race.

 
Before we knew it, the holiday season was upon us, and as a retail store, we had no choice but to participate in the craziness of Black Friday. Fortunately, the Black Friday Market Day is a much more sane experience than the stay-up-all-night shopping binge that occurs across that country and generally results in bloodshed (or at least pepperspray) of some kind. With some help from our first official seasonal employee, Black Friday Market Day successfully launched Honeybadger into the Christmas season of conspicuous consumption!

Throughout December, we were inundated with screen-printing orders, web site orders and even special requests to make sure that everyone got the Honeybadger present they were looking for this Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza or other holiday. It was a bit hectic, but Mat, Luke and I kept our heads on a swivel and worked like oversized elves to make sure everything was completed on time!

Phew. That about wraps it up. To all our friends, family, fans, patrons, and supporters of any kind we would all like to extend a very VERY big THANK YOU! Whether you bought a shirt, designed a shirt, helped us set up for Market Day, wore a shirt in public and told someone about it, posted a picture of yourself in a Honeybadger shirt to facebook, or just said, "You own a t-shirt company? That's awesome!", thank you, thank you, thank you for your support.

To start our 2012 off right, Juice Magazine featured Honeybadger in their made in Des Moines article for Jan. 4. Check it out! And then if you haven't had enough of us yet, or you're looking to kill more time at work, take a look at some more Honeybadger pictures from 2011.

Cheers to a happy 2012,

Dave

Our friend Signe sent us this great action shot of the bike tee.

Rachel rocking the bar. Peacefully, of course.

Goo! Be Gone! The dirty work behind screen-printing.

Real men drink big beers...And sometimes wear purses apparently...

Emily is straight gangsta'

Dam to Dam.

Hand grenade, hand grenade, hand grenade.

Photo shoot on bourbon street. I've really got to get my friends in Honeybadger tees.

Can you see the pain on my face? Marathons hurt.

You motorboatin' sunuvab****

Best faux-wedding that never happened.

The ink has to be just right. Luke's an expert on the matter.

Mat doin' work!

Another glorious screen-printing job.

Salud! A Honeybadger birthday shot for John's bday.

Serious pool players wear Honeybadger.

Preppin' to run!

Also preppin'

Running. Really Fast.

Porn stache.

Smile while you bartend, Eric! Isn't St. Pat's fun?

Future's so bright...

Twinsies!

Nice boa, Tommy.

Rocking out with none other than Party! Party!

Happy 2012 from the Honeybadger gang!

Motorboating for a cause

It's that time of year again, when people get dressed up and walk around in pink. No, not Halloween, it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Each year more and more people get involved in this great cause, and no, unfortunately watching the NFL and commenting on Aaron Roger's new pink hat doesn't count. Never fear, we have a painless (and humorous) way for you to contribute. We've teamed up with our good friend Collen Hjortz, better known around town as Coco, to create a truly awesome t-shirt that will support an equally awesome cause.

Each year, Coco and another friend of ours, Kelly Shell, team up to guest bartend at a local establishment and donate all tips to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This year's event will be held at the Fremont on Thursday, October 20 with the theme of "Motorboats." (If you don't understand, please see the Urban Dictionary definition). Enter the V-Neck Motorboat t-shirt.

Along with several ladies donating their um...selves... for $5 motorboats, Honeybadger will be selling these beautiful V-neck motorboat t-shirts for $15 with half the proceeds going to the Komen Foundation. If you can't make it to the event, you can get your awesome motorboat t-shirt and support the Komen foundation by ordering your shirt on the Honeybadger web site. Men's and Women's sizes are available. Join us in Motorboating for a cause!

Des Moines: Better than Sex

Okay, I have to admit, I've been swept up in the "I love Des Moines" mania sweeping the city. It seems like every other day there's a news story about some study that shockingly puts Des Moines above other cities in just about every category you could imagine. Case in point: our recent ranking by Forbes Magazine as the #1 city for young professionals. Hooray Des Moines! These congratulatory studies make us Des Moinesians feel vindicated somehow, like the unpopular girl in a cheesy romantic high school comedy who after lots of struggle and drama with boys manages to become cool. "See Chicago, we can win prom queen, too."

Nice tiara, Des Moines. The popular boy who originally made a bet on how long he could live here, actually grew to like you. A lot. Whoa. Slow down, Des Moines. Let's not drop the love bomb just yet.

But I feel we need to be wary not to pat ourselves on the back too much. Downtown has come a long way, but it's still difficult to find anywhere downtown to eat between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on the weekend. (Or anywhere at any time on a Sunday). Late night food options are growing, but the city's ban on food carts after 1:30 a.m. is perplexing. There's no grocery store, no movie store, no Chinese restaurant, no ice cream shop, no bowling alley. (Come on. How sweet would that be?!) Anyway, the point is there's much more work to do. Don't get complacent, Des Moines!

What if we raised those expectations, yet continued to exceed them? Hmmmm....

Right now, I would say that Raygun's t-shirt above about sums up Des Moines: we will exceed your already low expectations. But what if Des Moines became a destination for young people. When I start hearing college kids or other friends from across the country say, "I really want to move to Des Moines. I hear that place is awesome," then we'll know that we've made it. Right now, we're simply not that city, no matter what Forbes says. But, and maybe I'm seeing the world with the rosy-colored glasses of a Des Moinesian, I honestly could see this happening in the relatively near future.

The arts scene and just the general "living" scene has grown a ton. The full court press bars impress locals and out-of-towners alike on a regular basis, and new restaurants like Americana and Open Sesame and Cuatro are really helping to round out the entertainment/dining arena. Big events like 80/35, Winefest, Art Fest, and even more routine events like Farmer's Market and Market Day make Des Moines, and especially downtown Des Moines feel so much more vibrant as a city.

Now we just need to keep growing and recruiting other young people to keep moving the city forward. Eventually, we'll take over! To get you inspired to think big about Des Moines, check out the new blog titled: What if Des Moines. As simple as it sounds, this is a great place to see others ideas and share your own. Like What if Des Moines really did have a downtown bowling alley? As a matter of fact, I might just add that to the blog right now.

Anyway, as we work toward making Des Moines a destination city, get out and support your local businesses and events. Come see Honeybadger at Market Day this Saturday, 9am - 2pm, at the new Des Moines Social Club location on 400 Walnut St. Hooray locally-run events downtown!

Cheers,
Dave Murrin-von Ebers
Chief Entertainment Officer
Honeybadger Shirts

Honeybadger does 80/35

I recently sat down and took some time to fill out the 80/35 post-festival survey, and I was stumped by one very simple question: How would you rate your 80/35 experience this year compared to past festivals? a) better b) same c) worse. First of all, if anyone selected "same," you're just being lazy. How could any two music festival experiences possibly be the same?! Impossible. Next, I tried to break down "better" v. "worse" as simply as possible, but there are so many minor details that make one festival better and another worse. For example, this year, I was lucky enough to win VIP tickets thanks to Dwolla! But did that make my experience better....Well, quite honestly, yes; but just having access to Vodka Red Bulls and indoor plumbing isn't everything (though it is a lot).

Hipsters, hippies and yuppies alike descend on downtown Des Moines

 On the one hand, this year's 80/35 seemed to really be coming in to its own and running without a hitch. Even when stages were behind schedule, the brand new 80/35 app kept those with a smart phone or those who knew someone with a smart phone (which was probably 80-90% of the attendees) updated on the status of the shows. The new layout of the stages and vendors really kept the festival contained around the main stage as opposed to years past where most of the booths and food were scattered farther down Locust St. On the other hand, there was a noticeable decline in star power with the lineup, and I have to say I was not blown away by any of the acts this year. But then again, I didn't get rained on for an hour and ruin my phone this year. I also didn't get to see an awesome show while standing in said rain like I did last year with The Walkmen. So 80/35 was better and worse. But before we get too carried away with saying, the acts were subpar this year and 80/35 has gone downhill, let's just think about how lucky we are to have 80/35 in the first place.

I still remember the feeling I had just over four years ago when I saw an ad in Juice proclaiming a brand new music festival right here in Des Moines that would bring the Flaming Lips and the Roots to town for two days of music awesomeness. I immediately reached out to all of my college friends living in various places across the country to gush with pride and excitement about having such a fantastic extravaganza occurring right here in the backyard of where I grew up. It was a major moment for Des Moines, and 80/35 is still the most exciting thing to happen to the city in a long time (a lot more exciting than the sculpture garden, that's for sure).

Admittedly, there was not so much excitement this year, and a noticeable amount of grumbling from Des Moinesians feeling a bit slighted by headliners Girl Talk and Of Montreal. I'm ashamed to admit that while in year's past I had gleefully invited friends from out of town to come visit Des Moines and enjoy 80/35, this year, I did not extend the invite. I was frankly too ashamed of the small acts and wasn't sure it would be worth the time and money for my friends.

But then the festival came, and I admit my excitement level was back. It wasn't just the fact that I won VIP tickets a week before (though, again, it didn't hurt), but rather I was just excited about the opportunity to be outside on a holiday weekend drinking, eating and listening to music. Does it get any better? Why would you want to do anything else? Though I wasn't blown away by any of the acts, that's not to say that they were bad. In fact, I enjoyed feeling free to roam the festival grounds and check out stuff I probably wouldn't have checked out if there had been big acts every hour on the main stage.

Hanging out before Edward Sharpe. Did I mention we were VIP?

 The local artists playing on the aptly named Independence Stage were some of my favorite acts of the weekend. Christopher the Conquered and Poison Control Center absolutely killed it. There was no one who played with more passion. Not even Girl Talk jumping around to get the crowd amped on Saturday night came close.

Poison Control Center rocks harder than just about anyone. I enter into evidence this sweat-laden t-shirt. That's some fine rockin'.

 
And speaking of the much maligned headliners, they weren't half bad either. Face it: Girl Talk is fun. Girl Talk is a dance party. Girl Party gets everyone, and especially white people excited to dance. Honestly, he couldn't mesh better with Des Moines, Iowa. In the 80/35s that I've attended (which is all but the first year) Girl Talk was by far the best at getting the crowd fired up. And Of Montreal, from what I was able to hear while arguing with security about ripping off my friend's taped on wrist band, which he had stupidly taken off the night before, sounded like a fun, interesting live show.

Hate all you want, but Girl Talk puts on a sexy, fun time.

 
The big problem is that as more and more summer festivals have popped up and continue to pop up, 80/35 will struggle to compete. This year, Kanrocksas took a lot of great acts that would have been great for 80/35, and then they had the balls to take a vendor booth and basically rub it in our faces that they snagged the better acts. (Better acts, yes, but it's being held at a speedway. Lame).

So what are we to do with this competition with bigger festivals from bigger markets? Role over and let 80/35 die? From all the negative talk leading up to the festival about how it was a down year and not work going to, I was afraid this might be 80/35's destiny, but when I showed up for the festival, I could see that there were hoards of music supporters still willing to support 80/35 even in a down year. This was extremely heartening, and the more I've thought about it post-festival, the more I realized that the only way we can compete with a Kanrocksas is to up the ante in our support. 80/35 and the Des Moines Music Coalition need Des Moines' support, and more important, the support of the young people who could easily sit back and accuse Des Moines of being a small city with nothing to do.

80/35 is too important to Des Moines and its growing class of young professionals to simply sit back and let it fade away. Next year, whether 80/35 brings Kanye West or a band even more obscure than Of Montreal, we need to be there to support it and promote it to our friends here in Des Moines and throughout the country. I certainly won't make the mistake of not inviting friends from out of town again. 80/35 is a unique festival, in the heart of the city and it is worth the trip (you hear that, out of town friends?) The bigger the turn out, the more support, the bigger the musical acts we will see come through our fair city, and the happier we'll all be.

So this is our call to Des Moinesians, Iowans and music lovers everywhere to support 80/35 and the DMMC year round. Because Rock and T-shirts are like Hank Moody and women (they belong together), we're asking you to go to shows when they come through town. Donate your time and/or money. Become a member of the DMMC, and you'll even get some kickbacks from local businesses. Do whatever you can. Just don't sit back and criticize a great event that Des Moines wants and needs!

Cheers,
Dave Murrin-von Ebers
Chief Entertainment Officer
Honeybadger Shirts

Market Day!

So if you follow us at all (and if you're reading this right now, that probably means that you do), you saw our constant Facebook updates and tweets about this past week's Market Day. Ok, I was a little excited, and as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm dedicating an entire post to the event, I'm still excited.

Our booth at the June 25 Market Day

My excitement is in large part due to the fact that Saturday was the first time Honeybadger has entered into the real, live world of retail (as opposed to our "virtual reality" shop online). And if I do say so myself, it was a huge success. But I don't really want to talk about how awesome Honeybadger is or brag that we were the greatest addition to Market Day since the new Des Moines Social Club space in the Kirkwood Building. No, I'd rather just talk up the event and some of the super-cool, creative and friendly vendors with whom we shared space for one rainy Saturday. First up:

PaperCake Creations

The first person we met upon arrival was our closest neighbor, Daphne of PaperCake Creations, who was immediately apologetic for taking up less than 1/4" inch of our booth space with a ladder that she used as part of her display. We were pretty upset (read: we wouldn't have even noticed if she wouldn't have called it to our attention), but her immediate and sincere apology was enough to placate even the grumpiest Saturday morning Honeybadger. Besides being incredibly friendly and overly polite, Daphne puts together some pretty cool journals and scrapbooks using old hardcovers from books that you may have read growing up, like Nancy Drew. She also has lots of clever, crafted cards and more. Check out her stuff at www.papercakecreations.etsy.com

Don't lie: You used to read Nancy Drew, and you liked it! I know I did.

Van Holmgren

The next booth that caught my eye was that of Mr. Van Holmgren. I had seen his fantastic artwork popping up on Facebook, so I was excited to see some of his stuff up-close and personal. We're big fans of Van's style, which has a definite street-art feel, and he was nice enough to trade one of his smaller prints for a Honeybadger t-shirt. Thanks, Van, and keep up the good work! Check him out at http://vanimalfarm.com

Dig it.

Hill Vintage

As the morning progressed, and caffeine started flowing through my veins, I took the chance to introduce myself to Erica and Jessica at Hill Vintage who had a booth across the way from us. Hill Vintage searches out brilliant thrift store gems so you don't have to. And let's face it, it can be a lot of work to slog through the crap at the DAV in order to find that one perfect shirt. We here at Honeybadger have been discussing the prospect of selling our own vintage line--that is, taking cool, vintage stuff and printing on it so it's sufficiently "Honeybadgered"--so I was excited to see what the girls at Hill Vintage had been able to find. Suffice it to say, they have found some very promising leads. While Vintage Honeybadger is still a distinct possibility in the future, for now you can find your next vintage buy without spending hours at the thrift store by going straight to Hill Vintage at http://www.etsy.com/shop/hillvintage?ref=pr_shop_more

Calling all Hipsters.

There were so many more great stands at Market Day this past Saturday, but I won't go into all of them so it will force you to come down to the next one and check it out yourself. It is definitely worth the trip. The next Market Day will be Saturday, July 30. Hope to see you all there!

Next up for the Honeybadger Blog: "Honeybadger does 80/35...VIP style." (That's right, I scored VIP tickets. Thanks Dwolla!)

Cheers,

Dave Murrin-von Ebers
Chief Entertainment Officer

Party Postponed...End of the World Cancelled

So as we sat down to discuss our epic party for the end of the world, we took some time to think logically and decided that 1) The world probably isn't going to suddenly turn into a fiery ball of Hell on Earth this Saturday (although can you imagine if it actually did?!), and 2) We've been too busy printing shirts and drinking bourbon (sometimes simultaneously) to organize for a party. We like to think that we threw a pretty kickass little party for our website launch, and we didn't want to responsible for a half-ass Debby Downer of a party with our place looking like poop.

Therefore, we will NOT be having an end of the world party this Sunday. But we WILL be hosting a get together in June to celebrate the official arrival of summer with our friends, fans and much-beloved customers. I don't want to say a date right now and have to renege on another promise, so the next time we announce a party, I will guarantee you a party. Our sincere apologies.

Oh yeah, we also went ahead and released our beautiful spring shirts on the Honeybadger website. Ch-ch-check 'em out:

Astronaut Honeybadger

Big Bear

Paper Cranes

Dandelion

Boxer

We've still got plenty more up our sleeves, so keep checking in on your favorite Honeybadger. We'll be rolling out designs throughout the t-shirt wearing months!

Cheers,

Dave