Start-up throws a t-shirt TP employees’ way

“We don’t back down,” says local designer Gerald Haessig of his fellow New Orleanians. “We take a catastrophe or two, live through it, move on and allow those events to influence our art.”

So when Haessig heard that The Times-Picayune was ceasing daily publication, it seemed a perfect mesh of civic concern and art.

“We were in the midst of creating a graphic t-shirt company, Zoux Orleans, when the story broke about the TP,” Haessig says. He and partner Tish Douzart quickly decided to capitalize on the news.

The result is a “Throw me a daily newspaper Mister!” t-shirt, with 25 percent of proceeds going to dashTHIRTYdash, a nonprofit organization that will assist Times-Picayune employees affected by the changes at the paper. The t-shirts are available online at geraldhaessigdesigns.com, at a cost of $20 each plus $5 handling. TP employees are getting a discount on the shirts as well.

Zoux Orleans isn’t the only outfit in town supporting dashTHIRTYdash. Euclid Records, at 3401 Chartres St. in Bywater, which specializes in “used and new vinyl,” gets in on the act with a benefit for the organization from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, July 8. Thirty percent of the store’s receipts will go to TP employees who lost their jobs. In addition to music and free beer (“while it lasts; folks are encouraged to bring their own”), store manager James Weber will raffle off a record player.

Also this week, Plum gift shop at 5430 Magazine Street is donating 20 percent of sales of 20 New Orleans-themed items to dashTHIRTYdash this Thursday-Saturday, July 5-7. Among the featured items are king cake baby charms, a Marie Laveau necklace and earrings and Heather Elizabeth night lights.