This is Part 1 of an ongoing series on how Soft Goods started.
Creepy Peter, playing a high school show — the night that started it all.
PART I: WHY T-SHIRTS?
When I was a kid, my parents took me to see my older cousin Steve's band play a show at his high school. The band was called Creepy Peter. I was just getting into music myself, so I left that night completely inspired; convinced this was the coolest band on earth (my parents and Steve still disagree, for the record).
But the thing that really stuck with me wasn't the music. It was the merch table.
My other cousin actually helped Steve airbrush a batch of shirts in their garage using a homemade stencil. It said "Creepy Peter" in slime letters, with a little cartoon guy on the side. I got one, wore it constantly, and loved it more than any shirt I owned. It was homemade, it was rock and roll, and it felt like it captured a moment in time.
The actual shirt — homemade, slime-lettered, and still one of my favorites.
That night planted two seeds in my young self: a love of loud punk music, and a quieter idea, that a t-shirt could be more than clothing. It could hold a memory, just like a smell or a chorus.
From then on, I never stopped sketching designs for my own t-shirts. I also started collecting shirts that marked moments: hockey tournaments, pop-punk shows, school trips. I still have a drawer full of shirts that don't fit anymore but I just can't part with.
Twenty-some years later, looking back, that concert was the real start of everything. I was hooked on t-shirts as a way to capture emotion and a moment. It was only a matter of time until I'd start my first business selling clothing, which I'll share more about in Part II.
Thanks for reading.
- Josh
