Wear Your Hoboken Pride on Your Sleeve

Do you have so much Hoboken pride that you just want to wear it on a t-shirt? Meet Rachel Mehta, the founder of Me On A Tee, a local apparel company whose designs celebrate nationality, ancestry, and the Mile Square. 

Mehta, who has lived in Hoboken for nine years, began the company  a little more than a year ago, when she was looking for a new project that would allow her to stay home with her two children, ages five and two.

She began selling one-of-a-kind t-shirts that expressed the expressed the wearer’s heritage: one design features a pole full of international flags, another a pie chart of countries.

“I thought of them as a way to get children talking with their elders about family history,” said Mehta. “Most of their relatives came from far away and did a lot of to make their lives possible. It’s about keeping those stories alive and celebrating America.”

Soon, Mehta set her sights locally: on Hoboken t-shirts.

“When I had kids, I wanted them to have Hoboken t-shirts, but I couldn’t find anything that I liked," she said. "So I set out to make those."

Current designs feature the name Hoboken in a heart, below a cupcake (a tribute to the city’s bakeries) and next to either a tricycle or a scooter (the transportation of choice for urban kids). Mehta sketches out all of her own ideas, and works with a graphic designer to make them print-ready.

“So many people have a connection to Hoboken, whether they’re a Sinatra fan or they love 'Cake Boss,' or maybe their grandparents lived here,” said Mehta. “Someone in Maryland actually ordered a Hoboken t-shirt, because she was a fan of 'Cake Boss.'"

Mehta is familiar with the other t-shirt shops in town, like and United Decorating Co., but explained that she just set out to do her own thing.

“I just thought I could do some niche t-shirts that no one else was doing,” she said, while acknowledging, “competition is a good thing” and that the market for t-shirts is a wide one.

Currently, Mehta sells her t-shirts online, from her home office. She is toying with the idea of setting up a booth at the Hoboken Arts and Music Festival, though realizes that must be a “calculated risk” for a fledging entrepreneur.

“It means printing up a lot of t-shirts, and I would hope that it doesn’t rain,” she said. “I don’t want 300 t-shirts in my apartment!”

She describes the business as “a labor of love,” if anything, and that the best part is when she receives photos of customers wearing the designs.

“I like what I sell and I am proud of what I sell, it’s making a difference to people,” Mehta said, specifically of the ancestry t-shirts. “It’s not a typical t-shirt, there is a story behind it.”

For the future, Mehta has more designs in the works, and specifically more women’s shirts. She would love to see her tee’s being sold in neighborhood shops, through wholesale or at local festivals.

As for the name “Me On A Tee?”

“It’s the idea that it’s me on a t-shirt,” explained Mehta. “It’s about celebrating your identity, celebrating your life.”