SH
READ IS
A Royal Oak
businessman
designs
sweats with
an attitude.
BY CARLA JEAN
SCIIWARTZ
he phrase "Shut Up and
Workout" may be rude, but
it's a business to Torn An-
derson of Royal Oak. This 30-
year-old entrepreneur has taken this
catchy expression and put it on a
clothing line called T wear.
"Everywhere I go wearing these
clothes, people stop me and ask
where they can buy them," said An-
derson. In fact, word-of-mouth was
basically how the collection was
developed.
He began selling clothes at Per-
fect Life, a now defunct fitness cen-
ter on Northwestern Hwy., a few
years ago to promote the club. Cus-
tomers would come in off the street
and purchase the clothes, even if they
weren't patrons of the club.
Club members and friends en-
couraged Anderson to continue with
this funky clothing line, which em-
blazons "Shut Up and Work-
out" on the back of T-shirts
and on the buttocks in
sweatpants.
"The other
day I was in
T
Available at
Leotards Et Cetera
26. SUMMER 1994 • STYLE
the Coffee Exchange in Birmingham.
By the time I left, I sold 10 T-shirts
because I was wearing one. People
tell me this is how Calvin Klein got
started," he said.
Working with local manufactur-
ers and graphic artists out of his Roy-
al Oak apartment, he is putting his
logo on T-shirts, sweatshirts, bike
pants, sweat pants, and tank tops.
His clothing is sold in Michigan and
a few other states. Anderson hopes
to sell his collection across the coun-
try and expand the collection to in-
clude a varsity team theme.
I was recently on -The Company"
with Marilyn Turner and that helped
sales," said Anderson.
"We've reordered it again," said
Trudy Foster of Leotards Et Cetera
in the Bloomfield Plaza. "It says it,
just like it is."
UT
This fitness clothing line seemed
to evolve with Anderson's career
which includes many different-
professions.
After living in Lansing and at-
tending a hotel and management pro-
gram in Switzerland, Anderson
returned toMichigan to work as a fit-
ness instructor. His resume also lists
a stint as an insurance
agent and a cre-
ative director
for Dayton
Hudson's.
But it
was the
Reebok
National Aer-
obic Cham-
pionship in 1990 where he received
third place in the Midwest region that
catapulted his fitness career. Al-
though he opened and closed a fit-
ness club, he still managed to teach
aerobics. Today he teaches at the
Fitnesse Exercise Co. in Birming-
ham and has been working there for
six years. His collection is on sale
there in the boutique.
Helaine Keller, owner of Fitnesse
Exercise Co., just returned from an
exercise convention vvhere she wore
the hat and many people noticed it.
"Everyone wanted to know where
I got the hat. I think it's note-
worthy that whether you're an
aerobics participant or a
teacher, you like it," she
added.
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