B.C. Kowalski/City Pages
Go Getter Graphics owners Brittany Tepp (right) and Austin Pflager, and illustrator Drew Bouche (left), with T-shirts they designed and printed for Malarkey’s Pub, including their shirt The ‘Sau.
If you want to buy a T-shirt celebrating some of the cool things about the Wausau area, you’d be hard-pressed to find one. A new company in Central Wisconsin is looking to change that.
Go Getter Graphics formed late last year and started printing orders in October. While the Stevens Point-based company is focused right now on custom orders, they’re also developing a number of Wausau-centric designs. The first in production is a T-shirt, now on sale at Malarkey’s Pub that harks back to Wausau’s lumberjack roots while celebrating one of the city’s popular nicknames, “The ‘Sau.”
It’s one of more than 250 designs offered by the company. Community-pride graphics will become a main prong of their business, says Brittany Tepp, who along with Austin Pflager, started Go Getter Graphics. Those graphics are the creations of Go Getter illustrator Drew Bouche, who grew up and lives in Wausau (Tepp lives in Nekoosa and Pflager lives in Wisconsin Rapids). They include images celebrating Wausau staples such as Granite Peak Ski Area, curling, kayaking, ginseng, the 715 area code and the famed downtown umbrellas. They can be printed in a number of different applications.
Tepp has worked at a number of screen printers in Wisconsin and Colorado, but wanted to start her own business to offer a high level of detail and precision, she says. Go Getter Graphics, which primarily produces clothing, is currently co-locating with a business in Stevens Point, and Tepp says they are working on getting their own location. They’re focusing right now on Wausau designs because of Bouche’s roots, and will expand the concept to other Central Wisconsin communities.
Go Getter Graphics is sponsoring Wisconsin Arm Wrestling, and one of its Appleton-based wrestlers. Tepp’s uncle is Tony Kitowski, who won the world championships last year in Las Vegas in both left and right arm divisions. They also are in talks with the Wausau River District to produce shirts that help promote the area.
The community-specific designs are something Go Getter Graphics’ owners hope really takes off. Tepp says they started with Wausau because their designer, Bouche, understands the city well. “Everyone we’ve talked to so far, they say there’s a real need for this,” Bouche says. “There’s a whole lot of people who are proud of either living here or being from here.”
Go Getter Graphics is in the process of offering the designs online and through local retail businesses. Find them on Facebook.
