ACCENT: Local entrepreneur lets people wear their pride
Local entrepreneur reppin’ the neighborhoods with T-shirt line
TEXARKANA — From College Hill to Sandflat, Mandeville to Mt. Addition, Rosehill to Beverly and Sunset, Texarkana shines with plenty of small neighborhoods that, taken together, make up these Twin Cities.
People in Texarkana are also proud of where they come from, and so the idea to promote one’s neighborhood is a natural extension of local artist Lonnie Thompson’s interests and his Life Junkie brand.
Thompson has started making T-shirts with those neighborhood names and more for folks who want to represent their home while out and about. He’s a busy artist with his own work, having also worked on projects like the art murals at Bringle Lake and wall paintings at Yasir’s Art World, and now has more on his proverbial art plate.
Billed as Neighborhood T’s, they creatively showcase a little flavor of the neighborhood with white lettering on black T-shirts.
“I was really just trying to bring people together through fashion and art, especially with everything that’s going on right now. I just thought it would be a good idea to have those Neighborhood T’s,” Thompson said, noting people have been cooped up inside through these quarantine times. This is something of a community appreciation antidote.
“I don’t know anybody that’s not proud of their neighborhood, where they come from,” Thompson said. “I just thought it would be a good way to get the city involved and do something for the city.”
Each neighborhood design reflects just a touch of what makes that neighborhood distinctive. Take Mandeville, for example. “They have horse shows and horse rides and all that, and that’s why I chose to use the rope,” the artist said about his design.
Thus, each neighborhood has its own font for the name emblazoned across the T-shirt.
“Sunset, all it is is a sunset inside of the word ‘Sunset,’ if that makes any sense,” Thompson said, adding, “I just wanted to use a unique way to let everybody represent their neighborhood, their community, where they’re from so it’s something they can be proud of.”
So far, he has roughly 10 neighborhoods done. Because so many neighborhoods are out there, he prints them as T-shirts are ordered. “Once we got those out, we’re ready for the next wave,” Thompson said.
He aims to do most neighborhoods in Texarkana and the surrounding area. He’s
“I just thought it would be cool to have everybody in Texarkana wearing their neighborhoods so they can be proud of it. It worked.”
—Lonnie Thompson
fielded interest from people even outside of the region.
The late rapper and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle, one of Thompson’s favorite musical artists, was another inspiration because of his clothing line with T-shirts that were black with a white picture. They simply said “Crenshaw” across the front.
“That’s the concept that he pushed for a while,” Thompson said, noting he follows Hussle’s blueprint for doing business.
“How to do all these amazing things you can do on your own,” Thompson said, adding, “I just thought it would be cool to have everybody in Texarkana wearing their neighborhoods so they can be proud of it. It worked.”
The artist also aims to open a clothing boutique downtown. He doesn’t have an exact date yet, but he says it’s also part of the business inspiration he finds in Hussle’s method of building things from the ground up. It’s a blueprint he’ll follow.
Life Junkie is Thompson’s brand, which includes art and design. His designs usually find life on the canvas. They typically go from the sketch pad to the canvas to a T-shirt and a website. But technology now helps him streamline it all.
“Now it just goes straight from our brains to the tablet to the shirt and the website, all in one day,” the artist said.
As for the T-shirts, which sell for $20, he will take suggestions on new neighborhoods to do, but they have to maintain the same sort of design concept.
Thompson appreciates all the support he’s received with his art. He’s been at this about eight years, teaching himself to draw, print and make his designs.
“Everybody that’s ever helped me or contributed to Life Junkie in any kind of way, form or fashion, whether you’ve modeled for me, gave any kind of information or advice …. people who know who they are, I just want to say thank you to those people,” Thompson said.
To find Thompson and his brand, check out his Instagram (@lifejunkiebrand and @manhefresh) and LifeJunkieBrand.com. The best way to contact him is through the Instagram pages or his personal Facebook page.