Chucktown on a Tee

“It’s really cool that I get to just walk around town and do my homework, picking up designs for the shirts from whatever I think is cool,” says Jason Johnson, an art director at Charleston ad agency Hook. (You’ll recognize their work from Taco Boy, Suite Sole, and other cool local companies.) From 9-5 Jason works at the ad agency, but he finds another creative outlet in the work he does after hours.

After attending graduate school at Boston University, Jason moved to the Lowcountry and soon after started up his own T-shirt company, Darwin Avenue. “The name of my company wasn’t really type specific. I used to live on Darwin Avenue back in college, but the name wasn’t meant to signify any one place.”

Starting out with Charleston-themed T-shirts, Jason hopes to soon branch out to other big American cities like New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. These comfy American Apparel Ts are around $20, and can be found on his website and at the Old Towne Carriage Company.

“The whole idea was when I’ve traveled around a lot I never found anything cool to buy, so I just wanted to do something that would be true to the culture of the city but not too cliche.” Mentioning Charleston only through its epithets, and pairing the name with a simple image, Jason has definitely created a tee cool enough for any Chucktowner.

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