Trends for custom clothes change with the times

Jim Phillips can gauge the culture of casual Friday by what companies are ordering for their employees.

"When I started 24 years ago, everyone gave away a jacket," said Phillips, who runs the one-man custom garment company Jim Phillips LLC. "Everyone did high-end denim shirts, because corporate casual was just coming on and, if you could wear a denim shirt on a Friday, that was a big deal."

These days, with more and more Internet start-ups and smaller companies, higher-end T-shirts are in the lead.

It's a business Phillips didn't expect to find himself in. But, as any English major looking for a job would do, he saw an opportunity with a start-up in 1986 and took it.

"What do they say? Wear a lot of hats."

Or, in Phillips' case, make them - since that's part of what he did when, straight out of college, he joined a small screen printing and embroidery company in Greendale.

"I was graduating and needed a job and this company needed someone to come in and do a little of everything," Phillips said.

By the time the company was bought out 12 years later, Phillips had not only worked on the floor making hats, shirts and other promotional products, he also had learned about scheduling, purchasing and customer service.

It wasn't a huge leap, then, for him to start his own business - a one-man operation that offers everything from hats and jackets to soft-side portfolios and beach bags.

Now 12 years into that venture, Phillips said, he's really come to enjoy the creative side of the business, developing ideas for clients, then farming out work to local artists and manufacturers.

Those products are then sold in local shops, schools and coffeehouses. Some, like Alterra Coffee, even outfit their employees with Phillips' T-shirts, which are also sold to coffee-drinking customers.

It's the kind of synergy Phillips likes to see.

"It keeps it local," he said.

To suggest a business for this spotlight, email news@jrn.com.

JUST THE FACTS

BUSINESS:Jim Phillips LLC

WEB: JimPhillipsLLC.com

PHONE: (414) 259-1020

OWNER:Jim Phillips

INCORPORATED: 2001

TYPE OF BUSINESS: custom garments and decorations

PEARLS OF WISDOM: "What do they say? Wear a lot of hats."