About Us

The Birth of NationaliTees Co., Inc.

NationaliTees Co., Inc. was formed in November,1995 when my family gathered to attend the funeral services for a dear uncle.  My cousin, who is a free lance artist, started discussing the war that was going on in our homeland of Serbia and how our people were being negatively perceived by those who did not understand why we were fighting or what we were fighting for.  We talked about ways that we might raise funds for our churches, organizations, and especially our people "back home" who were in need of so many things.  Somewhere in the conversation the subject of designing tee shirts was mentioned, and while we did not realize it then, that discussion was the conception of NationaliTees Co., Inc.

Cousin Dale worked his wonders and created two beautiful designs of our great Saints, George and Sava. He also designed four tee shirts that we considered as "fun" - one of the designs is of our famous "Life's a 'Vich©" tee shirt.  While the war in Serbia was a very serious subject and was escalating at a disturbing pace, we felt that our humorous tee shirt designs were just as important as our Saints George and Sava tees.  Sometimes humor helps people to deal with accepting that we cannot always be where we want to be and that feeling helpless in those cases is normal. 

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So, NationaliTees Co., Inc. was born, and we are proud to say that all six of our tee shirt designs have sold quite well, giving us the opportunity to help our families who have suffered the atrocities of the war in Serbia. To this day I like to believe that our beloved Uncle Jody, whose death brought us together on that cold night in 1995, was the driving force in the birth and the success of NationaliTees Co., Inc.

 Myself and the Birth of a Fibro-Tee

Before the time that NationaliTees Co., Inc. turned from an idea to reality, I was diagnosed with the syndrome Fibromyalgia, and it was not too long after that I was presented with a personal computer.  To this day I cannot imagine where I would be if it were not for my computer.  In record time I learned enough about it to hook up to an Internet server, and when I began searching the web I was surprised when I found a Fibromyalgia support group.  I had no idea that these groups existed on the Internet when I found the first one, and as I continued to search I found at least five more.

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Joining an Internet Fibromyalgia support group immediately gave me the chance to not only correspond with other victims of this syndrome, but to also become very close friends with many wonderful people; and although it may sound a little crazy, I feel that I am now "blessed" with this affliction. 

It wasn't long after I joined the support group that I began thinking about designing a tee shirt with a Fibromyalgia theme.  I wanted to create something that would help to educate those people who had never heard of the syndrome, help bring understanding to those who were misinformed, and help to "open the eyes" of those who just didn't seem to care.

As I worked with my cousin Dale to begin designing the Fibromyalgia tees, I became like "a woman with a mission," and began to put all my energy into their creation.  Dale did a wonderful job of researching this syndrome, and I spent a lot of time on the telephone with him, answering questions and helping him to formulate an idea in his head that would result in a graphic representation of the symptoms of Fibromyalgia; and of course, Dale's creation of the "Fibro Fog©" tee shirt design was perfect.  In a sad way this "drive" to see the completion of the tees resulted in our allowing the ethnic Serbian tees to "take a back seat" to the new Fibro-tees, but I felt that there was an urgent need to begin manufacturing the Fibro-tees.  My goal was to raise donation money for research into finding a cause and a cure for this syndrome.

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And the Fibro-tees were born.  The "Fibro-Fog©" tee is a graphic description of the many symptoms of the disease.  The "Dragon Within©" tee is a beautiful design of Saint George, whom I have chosen as our Patron Saint, battling Fibromyalgia, which is metaphorically depicted as a terrifying dragon.  I chose Saint George because I felt that he was the ultimate symbol of the warrior whom Fibromyalgia sufferers truly need on their side, and I feel that this symbol is destined to remain as a sign of hope.