SweeTea Shirts Offer Southern-Style Smiles

 Nancy Pardue

Two Yankee girls married two Southern boys, and communication was … interesting, at first. Southern sayings such as “fixin’ to” and “I swanee” put Karen Hall and Susan Bashford “in a tizzy,” until they got the lingo figured out.

Now, Hall and Bashford share their love of Southern speak via SweeTea Shirts, their apparel line designed to celebrate and preserve this colorful dialect.

“Bless yer heart” was the company’s first big T-shirt hit, and still ranks among top sellers. But with more than 200 retail stores in 25 states now offering SweeTea products, there are always new opportunities to add to the fun.

Women’s lines, featuring pigment-dyed shirts in soft colors, have expanded to include men’s apparel, sleepwear and accessories.

And the latest SweeTea sayings include Plum Tuckered Out, Whoopsy Daisy, Tell yer mama I said hey, Hallelujah and pass the cornbread, and Dawg Tired.

Also new at SweeTea is a change in fabric sourcing, from the cotton itself to the shirt tags: The company now purchases all materials to manufacture its women's shirts from seven North Carolina counties, to help create products born, raised and sold in the South.

“Our customers are thrilled about the shirts being made in North Carolina,” Bashford said. “We've been able to prove you can buy domestically — in fact within the state — and keep prices the same or lower.”

“Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit!” It’s SweeTea sayings like these that make people laugh, and fondly remember family and friends who perpetuate them.

As for Hall and Bashford, one saying is true for sure: “We weren’t born in the South, but got here as fast as we could.”

SweeTea products are available locally at Peggy’s Hallmark, in the White Oak Shopping Center in Garner. For more information on the company’s products, visit www.sweeteashirts.com.