Movement, motion and fun are the inspiration behind Fluid Flair Tees, the new name for Signal Mountain resident Julie Romeo’s Run Happy Tees.
“It’s the same idea as Run Happy Tees, just a new twist and a new name,” said Romeo.
“We’re trying to evolve into a company that helps women connect through fitness and fashion,” said Amy Clarke, a North Chattanooga resident who was brought into the company in October to help with marketing and retail sales. “I see it as more than just a T-shirt company.”
Quality, customer service and the positive messages the T-shirts convey are what keep her customers coming back for more, said Romeo, who closed her Signal Mountain boutique, Romeo’s, this winter to focus her attention entirely on her T-shirt business.
“She really honed in on an incredible niche,” said Clarke, referring to the large number of women looking for shirts they can wear to go for a run but are still stylish enough to wear out and about.
The nine new designs introduced with the recent name change also include styles for children – a first since Romeo started Run Happy Tees four years ago.
“We want to pass along to children the message of staying healthy and fit, being strong and keeping positive,” she said. “Our T-shirts are like billboards of how we want to describe ourselves.”
Romeo, an avid runner and mother of four, travels to races across the country to sell Fluid Flair Tees and said women of all ages are attracted to the designs.
“They are shirts that are fashionable and flattering that you can wear out with jeans,” she said.
Printed on high-quality cotton with a vintage feel, the T-shirt designs change on a revolving basis, with new editions typically introduced at a race and then put into the online store, said Romeo.
“Traveling around to races is nice because we get a feel for what people are into,” said Romeo. “Different parts of the country are into different shirts, and lots of women travel, run and buy shirts together.”
Clarke said Fluid Flair has now made an Internet sale in each state, and the shirts are available in over a dozen independently owned retail stores from Bend, Ore., to Hartford, Conn.
The shirts can be purchased locally at Front Runner Athletics and Lula’s in North Chattanooga and at Fly Boutique on Signal Mountain, as well as from Romeo at the Chattanooga Triathlon on Sunday, July 11.
“I love what the T-shirts stand for, and I like that (the business) offers me an opportunity to pitch something that I believe in,” said Romeo, who seeks to inspire and bolster the self-esteem of the women who wear her designs.
She said one of their best sellers is a long-sleeved burnout T-shirt emblazoned with “Peace, Love, Run.”
Fans often give her ideas for new shirts on their website and Facebook page, and she said her son came up with her new “I run this crib” design.
Romeo said she would like to help runners who are also juggling the ups and downs of motherhood connect through their site, and she has also started writing a blog which should be available to the public by the end of the month.