Can a T-shirt in-still a fierce sense of love and pride in one’s school or alma mater? Can it make you cheer a little bit louder at a sports game? Can it make you bear your message proudly with a smile? Can a simple shirt revive school spirit that was thought to be long gone?
This T-shirt can! If you are from Manila’s premiere “Green” university than you probably already know what I am talking about. But for those of you who don’t, let me — proudly, I might add — introduce you to the fashionable and funky tee-shirts of Animoism.
Animo-what’s that you say? Animoism! The young highly creative and passionate team composed of equally talented and passionate De La Salle University students and friends who have brought us a fabulous funky line of highly spirited school shirts, that is. Though you may not know them by name (if you are a La Sallians, though, you should!), I am sure you’ve seen these awesome tees by now. On the heels of the major upset that won De La Salle University the 2007 UAAP Championship Crown these T-shirts have been splashed all over everyone’s television sets worn by proud La Sallians who sported them to the games. You know which ones I’m talking about — the multi-colored tees with screaming messages such as “Live the Dream, Animo Team” and “Green Cohesion, Animo Nation” just to name a few. They have been donned en masse at basketball games by loyal La Salle students who want to show their passion for the school.
Now, some may be thinking, what makes this school shirt different from the others? The answer to that is: everything! Not only are the messages funky and unique but the designs are fashionable and fun and make students as well as alumni want to wear them everywhere and not just to the games. In short, the shirts have revived a deep love for the school in the current students and have brought out the spirit that had long since been kept quiet in the alumni. Indeed, I should know — I am one of the former La Sallians that have felt that reawakening! (I have three of their awesome tees!) And I know I’m not the only one! (Recall the sea of green at all the UAAP games!)
So how did this T-shirt revolution begin? Like most great ideas it began in the unlikeliest of places as a simple suggestion between friends. Back in June of this year friends Jad Deveza and BJ Pascual were at the LRT2 station. After seeing a fellow rider wearing the non-descript run-of-the-mill La Salle shirt, Jad pitched a business idea to BJ. In the midst of all the regular school shirts why not make a unique school tee that people would actually want to wear?
It was a simple yet great idea and BJ agreed instantly. With the La Salle pep rally coming up the following week the two friends decided to get to work right away. From the LRT Station Jad and BJ went straight to the bookstore to purchase items they would need. They were, however, disappointed to find that they couldn’t get everything they we looking for. Undaunted, they rushed straight over to Harrison Plaza to look at the bookstore there only to find it was incomplete as well. Deciding they needed to split up to cover more ground they got what they could from the two bookstores and met back in their condo later that evening.
Once they arrived there, Jad and BJ pitched their idea to their other friends Eizel Nocon, James Go, Princess Barretto, and Bernina Pascual. The idea caught on immediately and excitement spread like wild fire. That night they gathered a small pool of money and a lot of excitement and passion and Team Animoism was born. The next step was coming up with initial designs for their first batch of T-shirts. This proved easy enough since everyone on the Animoism Team is highly creative and fashionable (believe me, I was not this cool when I was in school!). They decided on bright colors and loud messages much like the favored House of Holland T-shirts. It was the perfect inspiration for their shirts because as BJ intoned they wanted the Animoism shirts to “shout out” their messages. That night they came up with their initial slogans “Revive the Animo High,” “Push the Limit, Animo Spirit,” and “Green Cohesion Animo Nation.”
The next day Jad and BJ embarked on an adventurous trip to Quiapo to look for more materials for their shirts. “It was both exciting and dangerous,” BJ recalls, remembering that they almost got robbed on their excursion. Plus they didn’t really find what they were looking for so they tried another tactic that turned out to be more successful — they looked at the few products that were available in the bookstores and copied the addresses of the suppliers, many of which were around the area. By the next day they had all the materials they needed for their first batch.
The next part was slightly trickier, though through study and trial and error Team Animoism were successfully able to create their first four silk screens adding the logo “Live the Dream, Animo Team.” Then with a lot of patience and practice they successfully produced their first batch of shirts. That was not enough, though — with the pep rally looming ever closer they rushed against the clock to let the shirts dry properly while preparing to release publicity materials. When the tees were finally dry they held their first promotional shoot with Jad as the photographer and Eizel, James, Princess and BJ as models. Right after that BJ took the photos and worked on them, digitally producing the flyers for the rally. The next day right before the event Princess reproduced them and they got them out to the students right in the nick of time!
It was really a whirlwind,” Jad relates, remembering how hard they worked. “We all pitched in and got everything done in four days! From Wednesday to Sunday night that week we bought the materials, made the shirts, shot the photos, and fixed the flyers. And Monday when the rally came, we released the flyers by 10 a.m. and by noon we were already receiving orders!”
And the rest, as they say, is history! Though Team Animoism had originally only planned on releasing a batch of 70 shirts their orders just kept growing and growing. “We were excited and amazed at the response to the shirts,” BJ says with smile. “It was unbelievable,” Princess agrees. “At first, we really made an effort to reach out to our clientele and get them to look at our products, but now they come to us and sometimes we’re really so swamped with orders it’s challenging just to keep up!”
But they are not complaining. Not only are they happy their shirts were met with such an encouraging response, they are also ecstatic with the positive effect it has had on the student body. “We’re really happy that both the students and the alumni are wearing these shirts so proudly,” James explains. “We can’t help but feel that we are really getting our message out there. And it feels good to be able to reach out to people.”
“We can’t help but feel really lucky throughout it all,” Jad says. “We’ve been getting a lot of breaks and support in this endeavor, including the basketball players wearing our shirts as well. Not to mention people sporting them on their Friendster or Multiply accounts. It’s just really spread far and fast and with it the school spirit we were trying to bring back all along.”
Impressed yet? You should be, on the heels of their immediate success Team Animoism isn’t sitting back and resting on its laurels. With the first batch of shirts gone almost the minute they came out the group set to work creating their next slogans which included a line of player shirts with slogans like “Give me Fever Rico Maierhofer,” “Lead the Gang TY Tang” and “What’s Your Flava Cholo Villanueva,” among others. They also came out with a shirt paying homage to the DLSU Team’s magic man and Coach Franz Pumaren. In addition they released a special-edition silver foil version of the wildly popular “Push the Limit Animo Spirit” shirt which has been selling like hotcakes!
To be sure, this group is amazing! I was very impressed by them and their passion and creativity. Though it began as a simple idea, Animoism has erupted and these young dynamos are responding to their success like seasoned entrepreneurs pushing themselves to be both students and businessmen. “We knew with the success of this comes more responsibilities,” BJ recounts, “but we really believe in the products and the line and we all want to make it happen so we all do our share to help each other run the business and do our schoolwork at the same time.”
And true to their name this group of friends really do work as a team dividing their responsibilities equally from updating their Multiply site to manning the condo for customers to answering the multitude of text messages and inquiries, they stick to a system and get the work done including press releases on questions they have been receiving such as the meaning of “Animo” in their slogans. “Some people have stated that they were concerned that Animo Spirit is redundant seeing as how Animo is a Latin word pertaining to courage and/or spirit,” BJ says. “In our case though, since many other schools uses it for that meaning, we use it pertaining to La Salle, that’s why the word Animo is in green on our shirts to distinguish it from the rest,” he explains.
And it’s obvious that La Sallians get it with shirts selling out almost faster than they can be produced. The future looks bright indeed for this dynamic group of friends and business partners. So what’s in store for Team Animoism? They will, of course, continue to produce quality funky T-shirts for DLSU students and supporters but they would like to eventually branch out further into fashion including accessories, tote bags, and hoodies in the near future. “The success we’ve had is amazing,” Jad happily relates “and it’s made us all work harder and realize our responsibilities. We may have not taken certain things to seriously before but we do now and we’re all working hard to further this dream. But, on the flip side, we’re working with our best friends and having a lot of fun doing it as well. What more could we ask for?”
I couldn’t have put it better myself. Keep your eyes open, people, because I have no doubt more exciting, funky, fabulous, and unique things will be coming from the creative passionate individuals of Team Animoism!
Animoism can be found at Unit 2109, EGI Taft Tower, Malate Manila right beside the Gokongwei Building of De La Salle University Manila. You can call or text (0915) 2423302 for inquiries or appointments. Or check out their multiply site at http://animoism.multiply.com for their complete line of shirt designs and ordering procedures!