2008 Woodie Awards
MTSU grads make inking a legacy
Laura Raines
Issue date: 8/28/08 Section: Features
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Fortunately, though, as proven by three MTSU graduates, needing someone else to hire you is not necessary for a job.
Those former students, Troy Cheairs, Pete Patel and Semaj Thomas, decided to create a business of their own.
That business, Legacy Ink, is a screen-printing company born in the minds of the three as undergraduate students living in Monohan Hall in early 2000. They came to college from different areas and backgrounds, but found each other through the love of fashion.
"We all met in our first fashion class," says Cheairs, who has been screen-printing since 2001.
Cheairs started out in the recording industry, but had changed to fashion merchandising by the end of his sophomore year.
"[Fashion merchandising] has always been something in the back of my head that I wanted to do, but I guess it just came out when I got to the point of really figuring out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life," Cheairs says.
Each of the guys brings a different aspect to the table with their majors and experience. Patel, a business administration major, remembers his favorite class, business policy.
"It was one of the classes that I enjoyed taking," Patel says. "The professor made you think a lot and there is no right or wrong it was just think and write it down. There are not a lot of business classes like that."
Cheairs still keeps in touch with his mentor, Professor Teresa Robinson.
"She's a wealth of knowledge," Cheairs says. "Plus you can tell she cares more about what a student is trying to do more than just, 'here's a test, take a test, keep carrying on.' Personally, I love her. She's cool."
They began humbly in a small Nashville basement. Since then, Legacy Ink has come a long way. The team's current project is a clothing line called Lovers and Fighters, a line they began to develop as undergrads. The clothes are available at the Legacy Ink's main location on Church Street and at Hang Time on Clifton Avenue in Nashville.
"We took a big step of faith coming here, and we still are because being young and being without financial backings, everything is done on a shoestring budget," Cheairs says.
But with all business comes conflict. When asked how they handled spouts, Cheairs cites loyalty, trust and respect.
"No matter what we've done outside of this, I feel like we'll still be friends. Personality-wise, we just click," Cheairs explains.
Patel says it's a group effort.
"Everybody gets to say their piece and you just have to prove your point," he says.
The alumni are looking for ways to give back to the university community that has given them so much. They are always looking for graphic artists and multimedia artists.
"Another thing we want to do is work with bands," Cheairs says.
Legacy Ink searches for people, like themselves, who want to produce individual style. The storefront is filled with its own shirt designs and campaign shirts for the upcoming presidential election. In a few months, however, things will be very different.
"What we are trying to do is create a lot more [shirts] and basically black out the windows and create a retail shop in here," Patel says. "There's nothing like that around here where the shirts are printed downstairs and for sale upstairs."
Rapid Release is another idea formed by Legacy Ink. Certain shirts will be printed in small amounts, and after about a month, will be discontinued. New designs will come out right after the previous ones.
Also in the works is a new line of MTSU shirts.
"Sooner or later, we will try to get MTSU's license," Patel says. "All the stuff available at the bookstores is nice, but it could be better."
They envision moving away from strictly game day apparel to a more comfortable and trendy look like Afliction that will become a common sight on campus.
"That is a gap that needs to be filled," Cheairs says.
The Legacy Ink story is one of determination and dream realization. Today the three business partners are thriving at their Church Street location.
"Just doing this is a means of getting our ideas out 100 percent on our own," Cheairs says. "We came into this wanting to start a clothing line, which we have done, but we want to do many more things other than that."
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