Fancy T’s began quite by accident in 1991 we were searching for comfortable, and attractive shirts to wear while working in the small grocery store in Waterville, Kansas.

A trip to the discount rack and another to the fabric department supplied us with T-shirts and fabric to experiment with. We experimented with fabric appliqués and other adornments to create affordable comfortable, and attractive shirts to wear while waiting on customers, unloading trucks, and cleaning in the grocery store.

Customers began asking where we had gotten our new T-shirts and then asked if we would make them some. Soon there were T-shirts and Sweatshirts hanging in the Grocery Store for sale. We began haunting fabric stores and looking for good deals on shirts everywhere. Before long we each had a bedroom set up with a sewing machine, yard goods galore and supplies to create our own designs on all kinds of shirts. We worked independently after work and on weekends to create interesting designs.

Our first venture was to a Craft Fair on the 4th of July in a small town nearby. We packed up two dozen designed shirts to sell, an old wooden clothes rack to display them on, red, white, and blue plastic flags to decorate with, and headed off to our first retail show. Meeting with success at the first show, we decided it would be fun to continue and see what would happen. For two years we traveled around Kansas selling our collection of designed wearing apparel. Taking no money out of our account except to buy supplies, we earned enough during the two years to fund a trip for us and our husbands to Las Vegas.

Not long after returning, we decided to see if the Pharmacist in the neighboring town would let us hang a few shirts for sale in his shop on consignment. He told us if we would put the name of his town on them he would buy the shirts. We decided if he would buy them, maybe other shops would too, so we loaded up our merchandise and visited about 20 other places in a 100 mile radius. Having success with this venture we got a little braver and headed out for Branson, Mo. Even though we were shaking in our boots, we approached gift shops and theaters in the Branson area and were rewarded with orders form places like The Mel Tillis Theatre, Yakof Smirnoff Theatre, Country Tonite Theatre, Legends Theatre, Mulberry Mill Gift Shop, and the Country Barn Gift Shop.

Before long , we had outgrown the bedrooms in our homes, so we bean to look for space to store our supplies and work on designs. We found a two room shop in Waterville and made the move. Because we didn’t really need the front room, we decided to put in a gift shop to showcase what we do best. With no money to stock this shop, we decided to invite our friends that we had make along the Craft Show route to join us and offered them space for a small commission to sell their creations in our shop. We opened the Gift Shop on April Fool’s Day in 1995 with 30 friends offering their creations along with ours.

After a time of taking our wears on the road, we decided to take the next step and let our wholesale customers come to us. We now sell our designs at wholesale gift markets and retail shows around the country, through a sales representative who travels Kansas and Nebraska, and at our own shop, Fancy T’s and More in Waterville, Kansas.

Some of those friends are still with us along with an expanded array of others items. Our goal is to stock a little bit of many different items for all ages and occasions. We know we can’t compete with the big chain store on price, so we offer the best service you will get anywhere.

We are very proud of the fact that to date we have never borrowed money to fund our business. It was started when we each contributed a sewing machine and $50.00 to purchase the first supplies. From there we have grown by using the profits of our sales only.