Treetop Tees is a small, locally-owned t-shirt shop based in Juneau, Alaska, specializing in unique designs that capture Alaska’s wilderness on cozy tees, sweatshirts, and kid’s apparel. As co-owners of Treetop Tees Davy Anderson and Camille Jones (pictured below) put it, “Alaskans have a lot of state pride, and not many options when it comes to non-cheesy apparel. We are proud to share our fun designs with locals and world travelers alike!”
That’s where we come in. Nothing Too Fancy has the honor and privilege of custom printing those shirts for our friends up North - Treetop Tees, and we’re excited to introduce them to you here in our first ever customer spotlight blog! We asked our friends Davy and Camille some questions about their business and about working with us on custom-printed tees that Alaska loves.
Davy Anderson and his wife, Gin, started Treetop Tees in 2016. At the time, now co-owner Camille had been working for the Andersons for some time already at their zip-lining business, and she became the Store Manager for Treetop. Camille became co-owner when Gin decided to go back to Grad School in 2018, and they’ve been working together ever since to try and provide the best shirts and gifts for everyone who comes through Juneau.
Despite the physical distance, Nothing Too Fancy and Treetop Tees had a connection from the very start. Davy grew up in Tennessee and still has family here, and as these things tend to happen, the two small businesses connected via a mutual friend. On that friend’s suggestion, Davy and Gin stopped by NTF on a visit back to TN. They felt that the local, vintage vibe of NTF was something that was missing back in Juneau and that inspired them to move forward with the dream of their own t-shirt shop in AK.
“NTF suggested several great graphic designers to work with and provided all the info about the timing and cost of orders. We were now familiar with the quality of NTF’s shirts and knew that we wanted Treetop Tees to have the same high-quality, soft shirts printed with water-based inks. We placed our first order in the spring of 2016, and have been working with NTF ever since...Lisa and Dustin are always quick to answer any questions and are always a great sounding board for us to bounce ideas off of to see if a certain design we have in mind will work. The turnaround time is great, which really helps us make the most of the boom-and-bust cycle of the tourism season in Juneau.” Some of you may recognize this Resting Bear Face design by our friend, Knoxville artist and designer Nick Kikanis.
When Treetops opened its doors in 2016, they started with just a few cool, locally-inspired designs. “People come from all over the world to see the amazing landscapes and wildlife of Southeast Alaska, but we felt it was hard to find shirts that really captured that spirit in an original way. From the Mendenhall Glacier, the Tongass National Forest, and the ever-abundant wildlife, there is no end to the inspiration. Luckily, we’ve been able to work with some amazing artists and graphic designers to bring their unique styles to the shop. From clever puns, detailed Juneau sketches, and fun retro fonts there is truly a shirt for everyone.”
We know at NTF that it’s hard to pick a favorite design, so we asked our friends at Treetops if they had a favorite project or line of shirts that they’ve done: “Last year, we wanted to create a line of tees representing all 8 of the National Parks in Alaska. We were lucky to work with the amazing [Knoxville based] artist Matt Brass, who drew a different animal to represent each park’s unique wildlife. The line looked fabulous, and was a fun conversation starter with everyone who walked into the shop! Most people we met had only been to 1 or 2 of the parks, but would get a tee for the national park they had hopes of visiting!”
In 2020, Treetop Tees is working on a fun new line of Summer designs and is also very excited to start working on some custom tees for other local companies in Alaska, as well as participating in more fairs and markets around the state. Thank you so, so much to Treetop Tees for being incredible customers, trusting us with their printing needs, and for answering our questions for this blog post. To keep up with Treetop Tees, you can find them online at https://treetoptees.com/ as well as on Instagram and Facebook @TreetopTees - and if you’re ever up in Juneau, Alaska, be sure to stop by and say hi!
THERE’S ALWAYS MORE TO COME SOON - FOLLOW ALONG ON OUR INSTAGRAM (@NOTHINGTOOFANCYKNOXVILLE, #NOTHINGTOOFANCY) AND FACEBOOK. STOP IN AND SEE US ON UNION AVENUE IF YOU’RE IN TOWN - AND IF NOT, NO WORRIES, YOU CAN ORDER YOUR FAVORITE T-SHIRT RIGHT HERE ON OUR WEBSITE. AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR KEEPING IT LOCAL, Y’ALL!
Blog written by Shelby Sparks of Nothing Too Fancy
Photos provided by Treetop Tees