Who doesn’t love buying a snazzy, souvenir t-shirt when you’re on vacation? Not the cheezy, overdesigned ones sold by make-a-buck -quick hackers. The well designed, evergreen, soft, sustainable, beautiful t-shirts you’ll hate to throwaway, come the day.
Below is a mashup of our 16 favorite Midwest city and state souvenir t-shirts based on outstanding design — creative use of fonts, colors, city icons, and local sayings.
Did we nail it? Which is your favorite among the 16 tourism t-shirts below?
Chicago T-Shirts
Via Etsy. Chicago, or Chi Town is known for its iconic buildings (Sears Tower), celebrities (Oprah Winfrey), and athletes (Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls). So, what better to represent this buzzling city than with a black-and-white t-shirt with Chicago icons, including the infamous Cloud sculpture (The Bean). Buy this vintage, retro t-shirt on Etsy for $16.99.
Via Esty. This Chicagoland Brew Pint Glass T-shirt salutes all Chicago’s great breweries along with a nod to the Chicago flag. This gorgeous grey shirt can be yours for $25.
Des Moines T-Shirts
Via BozzPrints. Over the past 100 years Des Moines has transformed itself from a cornfield. Into a cosmopolitan mecca with thousands or bars, restaurants, art galleries, and 800 miles of bike trails for millennialsl to enjoy. Dial up your tee wardrobe and style by wearing this shirt with the area code 515. Yours for $24.
Via Etsy. Traveler’s Insurance dots the Des Moines skyline with its big red umbrella. We love the Bozz Prints design of this white and red ink on a blue/grey shirt. Pure class, pure Des Moines. $24.
North & South Dakota
Via Etsy. The Badlands are 244,000 acres of sharp, eroded buttes in South Dakota. The Badlands are also world’s greatest fossil beds of animals from the ice age, including skeletons of ancient camels, three-toed horses, and saber-toothed cats. This pink tee takes the edge of those images with a beautiful skyline shot of the national park on a sunny day. Yours for $19.54.
Paul Bunyan Fargo Shirt Via Etsy. Two things scream Fargo – the dark comedy movie made in 1996 and Paul Bunyan the larger than life American folk hero and lumberjack. You can take your picture by the first Paul Bunyan statue and his blue ox in Bemidji, MN. Order this red t-shirt classic promoting Fargo, ND, for $16.99.
Kansas City
Via Bozz Prints. We love this striking shirt with the orange shuttlecock tip accent. It looks perfect with a pair of shorts or worn underneath a blazer to dinner. Leave it to Bozz, based in Omaha to come up with such a timeless design. Yours for $30.
Via Charlie Hustle. The Shuttlecock tee got bumped for the 2020 Shuttlecock Heart Tee by Charlie Hustle this year. With the super bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs, and American League winning Kansas City Royals, and the iconic shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins museum, this t-shirt shows the love Kansas City desires. If you love it, it’s yours for $32.
Michigan
Via InkDet. Detroit is the home to the big three automobile companies and the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you love a good riff and legendary guitarists, Eric Clapton, Prince, Jimmy Hendricks, this is your shirt. $25.
Minnesota
Via Minnesota Awesome. Minnesota folks are just plain nice. The weather is too cold to get hotheaded about anything. We love the simplicity of this shirt, which we’re sure is a terrific conversation starter anywhere it’s worn. $25.
Via Etsy. Minneapolis’ Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture has become synonymous with the city. While you can find realistic designs of the sculpture on merch, we love this surreal drawing that accentuates Lake of the Isles and the skyline. $24
Nebraska
Via Charlie Hustle. Lincoln Nebraska is where the heart is for Cornhuskers. Sport this Nebraska Heart Tee for $32 and show the University of Lincoln some love.
And we LOVE, Nebraska tourism campaign: Nebraska, Honestly It’s Not for Everyone. We didn’t show the T-shirt, because it’s the saying not the design that sells this shirt.
Ohio T-Shirts
Via CleCothing. Two friends joined up and started spreading Cleveland pride one shirt at a time in 2008. Fast forward and you can pick from 50 different designs, but we really love this $28 art deco, heather navy crew neck t-shirt. Check out CleClothing’s Instagram page for more outstanding designs, like their No Bark All Bite bulldog merch.
Via RayGun. This shirt pokes fun at people getting Iowa, Idaho, and Ohio mixed up. While Iowa grows the most maize corn, it’s not the potato state. The potato is the national vegetable of Idaho. Nevertheless, you can strut your potato head in this Ohio shirt for $23 and contribute to the continued confusion.
Via Homage. We couldn’t resist giving a shout out to Skyline Chili a restaurant chain that. Designed this cheese of chili and spaghetti entry and shirt for $32. The restaurant won’t reveal the recipe, but it’s a Cincy favorite on a coney or bowl of chili.
Which was your favorite shirt of the 16 shown above? We’d love to know. And, if you like to travel, eat, drink, you should subscribe to our monthly newsletter below. We send really good stuff.
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