The unbelievable true story of Idea Farm!

Hello, my name is Beau Warren, and I am addicted to t-shirts...

As far back as I can remember, I have been obsessed with t-shirts.  I remember asking my mom for whatever the hip t-shirt brand was back in 1987, and her instead taking me to the craft store to buy puffy paint, so I could make my own version of that tee.  I would draw yin yangs, killer whales, and peace signs all over my boring blank t-shirts, and wear them to school proudly.  When kids saw what I did, they wanted me to deck out their shirts, shoes, jackets and backpacks!  This was my first foray into a t-shirt business, as I started trading my puffy paint skills for snacks at school.

Fast forward a LOT of years, and one film degree from U of M(where I furthered my love of all things cinema) and Graphic Design degree later, I worked an internship with Little Blue Alien Apparel.  Never heard of it?  Not surprised, it was an extremely obscure company, with a great group of people, based out of Toronto.  I designed over 30 different t-shirts, onesies, and more based on several alien characters I created for them.  I wish it would have come to fruition, because the designs were REALLY good, but like so many other companies, it eventually disappeared.  

So I took matters into my own hands....literally.

Cue Chicago, the city where I learned how to screen print.  I fell in love with it because, like so many other great art forms, it really seemed to be bursting onto the scene in Chicago.  I saw local artists doing incredible screen printing everywhere I went, and ultimately, I thought, "Why can't I do that?"  I landed some amazing gigs at bars, concert halls, and more, where I attempted the impossible, live screen printing(i.e. My second foray into the t-shirt industry).  It was an incredibly stressful, and messy operation, but some of my favorite memories of Chicago were the events I worked at(*Thank you Chicago Afrobeat Project!).  But it wasn't meant to be, not yet anyway. 

Growing bigger and bigger, I took on a job for a law firm for about 500 shirts. Because it was such an important client, I invested in a new, fancy water based ink.  What I didn't know was that this ink needed to be cured differently, something I learned soon after my client called me to ask why the design on all the shirts was literally running off in the light rain at the event.  I can laugh about it now, over a decade later, but at the time, it was horrific.  I lost thousands on this job, and retired the printing press, vowing to never look back.

Third time is a charm. 

My wife and I moved to our home town of Traverse City to start our beautiful family.  Soon after arriving home, I began working as the chief designer for TentCraft, an awesome event printing company.  Every so often, a customer, and sometimes an employee, would turn to me for help designing a t-shirt, since that was something I used to do.  In time, I spent far more energy and enthusiasm in the occasional t-shirt jobs coming through than I did for my actual job!  I started designing funny tees after hours, and one such design was based on a wonderful woman named Sweet Brown.  Sweet Brown had arguably one of the first truly viral videos, which featured her saying "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!"  As soon as I heard it I had to put it on a t-shirt, so I did, and I threw it up on a makeshift website.  Next thing you know, I am printing thousands of these.   I am so screwed now, because just when I thought I could leave the t-shirt industry, they pulled me back in!

This planted a seed which took a couple years to fully germinate, but when it did, it dominated every waking thought.  I was obsessed with designing, that obsession turned into planning my new business.  I went back and looked at every mistake I made, every reason previous attempts at running an apparel company failed, and I realized that it was very simple; I needed help.  So I recruited the most beautiful, most intelligent business manager I knew, my wife, to handle customer service, invoicing, and vendor relations.  She helped me focus on what I am best at, which is designing fun apparel that puts a smile on your face, breaks the ice with passerbys, and most importantly, ties in with memories you have of your home town. Our tagline is a simple homage to growing up on my Grandpa's farm...

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