"Raygun" town t-shirts started with Decorah

Raygun's Jenn Mitchard models a Decorah t-shirt

It started with Lutherans gone wild.

Raygun, the company known for its funny Iowa t-shirts, owes some of its success to Decorah.  Owner Mike Draper tells decorahnews.com that his first test of whether the public would buy t-shirts with funny sayings about Iowa towns started with a t-shirt with a Decorah slogan: "Decorah: Lutherans gone wild!"  The t-shirts--sold at Fancy Pants in Decorah--were a big success, so other town t-shirts have followed.
 
"We go for the ironic," Draper tells decorahnews.com, saying that when Lutheran celebrate, "It's not exactly Mardi Gras."  He has worked with Fancy Pants to design other Decorah t-shirts, including one that features the slogan "Decorah: Once you go Nordic, you'll never go back."

Draper helped to set up a trunk show Friday at Fancy Pants on Water Street.  He says Fancy Pants was the first store outside of Des Moines to carry Raygun's products.  With the support of Fancy Pants and lots of loyal customers, Draper has been able to expand from having one employee--himself--to creating two businesses with a total of 25 employees.

In addition to t-shirts from Raygun, Fancy Pants on Friday afternoon featured creations from two other Des Moines businesses--Locally Grown and Hill Vintage, businesses that agreed to be part of the trunk sale at Draper's urging.