RETAIL : OP Sunwear Plans Illustrated T-Shirts Linked to News Events

In case young people aren’t getting their news from television or newspapers, Ocean Pacific Sunwear Ltd. is betting that they will pay attention to T-shirts.

The company has decided to print political slogans on T-shirts to coincide with news events. For instance, the latest one has the in-your-face slogan “Vote or Shut Up” emblazoned on the front.

For the Olympics, OP, based in Tustin, says it might have tried “Go for the Gold, but don’t forget to have fun.” And for Dan Quayle bashers, there’s: “How do you spell Vice President? S-T-U-P-I-D.”

“The goal is to put out a product on the retailer’s floor using current events that reflect an opinion of a great majority of people, and to do it in a timely way,” OP President Bobby Klotz said.

Each month, the OP art staff plans to choose an issue--anything from abortion to earthquakes. The resulting printed T-shirts will be offered to retailers and shipped within five days after an order is received.

Who knows what future shirts might say? OP, which has been struggling to put its bankruptcy filing behind it, might print a slogan for itself, something like: “Chapter 11 Stinks.”